Service with a smile makes all the difference in the world, and in Italy too!
Our visit at this hotel was one of the best experiences of the entire trip. Commencing with check-in, everything was done efficiently and with a smile. We were provided with information about the nightly wine tasting (reservation required) and also information about the continental breakfast each morning and the opening time for the restaurant for the evening meals.
Our ground-level room was pleasant, but small. There was a patio door and outside there were two chairs and a small table. The view from the little patio was of a church with steeple off in the distance. It was a pleasant view.
We decided to attend the wine tasting on the afternoon of our first day. We went into the wine cellar and were greeted by “Marco”, a certified sommelier. There was another family at the tasting table for six when we arrived. We were provided with a tasting of three local wines and two olive oils. There were cheeses, breads and water available for cleansing our pallets between each tasting. Marco did a great job of providing a thorough explanation of each wine and answered each question with confidence.
Hotel Restaurant:
We visited the hotel restaurant for both the morning continental breakfasts and a few of the evening meals.
Each morning when we arrived at 07:30 for breakfast, everything was already set up and ready to go. The staff was already bustling around and approached us as soon as we entered with a big smile and a good morning greeting in English. Also in the background was very pleasant music playing each morning– a variety of current American pop hits. Later I was told the music was via Spotify. If management or staff chose the selection of music, well-done...
The most memorable thing about the morning experience was the attentiveness and perky attitude of the food servers. They were all just great. The only downside of a few of the mornings was a loud group of tourists that sat at the outside dining area of the restaurant each morning. The tour leader was the loudest, each morning standing up and then blaring out the day’s itinerary for everyone within the restaurant, both outside and inside to hear. He and some of his group were extremely distracting, taking away from what could have been a beautifully quiet start of the day.
But I was so fed up with this blowhard that one morning I said to my wife so that one of their group could hear, "I wish that guy would tone it down a little, he's so rude".
The intent was that somebody in his group would pass along my comment. Evidently it worked because after that he seemed to have lowered his volume a little. Not the restaurant’s fault and I believe there would have been little they could have done without creating an incident.
Our evening meal experiences were all beyond our expectations. One of the really neat things about our evening meal experiences was that our wine sommelier was also one of the evening meal waiters. Marco was the most pleasant and accommodating waiters of the entire 20-day trip. He engaged with us about our visits and yet was not intrusive. The service he provided as a waiter was exceptional. This hotel and restaurant has a real asset with Marco.
The food that we ordered was prepared with a high degree of expertise. The only negative surprise was on the one evening where our meal was included. On this occasion when we tried ordering from the menu the waiter told us that this item or that item was not included in the pre-paid meal. So we were a little disappointed because the items that were explicitly excluded were actually the ones that sounded most appetizing. While somewhat of a disappointment, the outstanding quality of the service and the superior quality of the food more than made up for the momentary setback.
Would we come back? Absolutely!
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