I went to l’ Isola for lunch recently and was very disappointed. I ordered a risotto which took for ever to arrived and when it finally came it was almost uncooked
As I had a limited lunch hour and could not wait any longer, I ask to pay for the small salad I had from the appetizer buffet, I was outraged to see that they charged me ? of the price of the set menu even though I only had the starter, I complaint to the manager who’s response was that this was not a fast food restaurant and that the uncooked risotto was how it was suppose to be etc….
I know that this restaurant is famous for its bad service but to have the manager respond to a complaint with such disdain attitude was very upsetting.
I was left on an empty stomach!!

Review: Went there for lunch coz it’s difficult to find a table in IFC without advance booking. Quite noisy. There is a salad / dessert bar, but dessert is standard one, no surprise.

Review: I have had both good and bad experiences here. Good: the truffle pizza is very good - the flavour really comes out. I think the calamari is pretty good here too. Bad: had a live caterpillar in my salad, which managed to walk off my plate and across the table. Thank god I didnt eat it! When I complained, they told me that it was because the salad is organic and didnt even apologise! I forget if they didnt charge me for the salad or gave me a free coffee, but I do remember that they didnt do much and that left a bad impression of the place for me.

Review: Originally, I intend to keep it to myself but somehow, after reading others’ views, I think I should let them, or hopefully, the management (Mr Pino Piano?) know.

I am, naturally, as a ’supporter’ of Va Bene, attracted to this place. I tried it on one lunch occasion but the results have made me decided not to go there anymore - for these reasons:

Reason 1: I have called to reserve a table, but when I was there, as you would all expect, they said, ’sorry, there is no such record’. After about 5-minutes’ wait/exchanges, they finally found me a not-so-pleasant table. I can understand that it could be a teething problem.

Reason 2: I ordered some tagliolini with clams and zucchini . But surprise, it came some certain linguine, okay, okay, they said it’s homemade, so, it’s just lacking on my side.

Reason 3: When the pasta was served, the waiter only gave me a fork. When I asked for a spoon, he seemed so puzzled. Ok, pasta is not on the set and, again, it’s just a training problem when could be all corrected.

Reason 4: the clams were without their ‘litte shells’ and could be fresher. ok, the price for this dish is on the cheap but it would be nice if they can tell me this beforehand.