My husband and I decided to book a table in one of the best Italian restaurants in Vienna. Although I didn´t know what to expect after seeing a not very flattering score of this restaurant on the TripAdvisor, we gave it a go. And that was right! Benvenuti a Martinelli!
First of all, it is quite tricky to find this place. If you are not from Vienna, better use your google maps to navigate yourself. Martinelli restaurant is hidden in a small courtyard on the Freyung square. We needed to stop for a while and look around. After finding the house number we went inside of the courtyard and here it is, Trattoria Martinelli Ristorante in front of us. At first glance, this restaurant looked rather shabby, very narrow corridor next to the bar, leading to the main dining room.
The waiter asked us if we had a reservation. After a few moments, we got seated. This place consists of 1 dining room with around 14 tables. We were pretty lucky to even get inside as I booked our table “last minute”. High walls, dimmed lights, and high-end looking guests suggested us this would be placed with good quality food and wine. While looking at the menu card we realized this restaurant offers many different types of fish and they actually specialize in cooking fish.
We decided to go for 7- and 4-course menu degustazione, where the courses are chosen by the head chef. I kindly asked the waiter to not bring me any fish as I do not really eat fish that much. First thing that the waiter brought us was so-called “regards from the kitchen” and that was a small piece of fish. That was first “no go” which I would see as a negative and leave a bad feeling – this is also a minus in my review. Also, I am not really able to write down the name of that first small course, because the waiter didn´t care to describe or even name it – and none of the others, as well.. During the service that evening I spotted some chaos and insufficient preparedness of the waiting staff. Thanks to the owner who tried to fix everything, was the overall experience at the end “good”.
To sum up:
– food and wine (I drunk Pinot Grigio): excellent quality, even the olives, and home-made focaccia were delicious
– waiting staff: friendly and nice but quite chaotic, they didn´t introduce us the specific courses and that is a shame
– the unexpected wow effect: Limone sorbet is served in prosecco glass which was absolutely the best of all such drinks/cocktails I have ever tasted
– ambient: very nice, costly, romantic
– price: quite pricey
Our overall experience at that night was positive.
We enjoyed good Italian food in the heart of Vienna.
Surely, we will come back and would know that we can
expect only the highest possible quality of Italian cuisine in Vienna.
