At the close of a beautiful 4 days and 3 nights in Bellagio, staying at the wonderful Hotel Belvedere and exploring the picturesque towns, abbeys, and gardens -- we inquired around for the perfect restaurant and dinner to cap our Como experience... And landed at the worst restaurant experience we have had in Europe: La Punta of Bellagio, Como Italy.
In short:
- the restaurant could not find our reservation which I made personally by phone days in advance
- from the moment we arrived it was clear the restaurant was rushing our party of 5 through dinner to maximize our bill and minimize our time enjoying the meal
- we ordered three courses (antipasti, primi, secondi) - they all arrived at once (!) with apologies from our server that the kitchen was "in a hurry" - the food came so fast there was no room for the plates on the table
- the food was not just disappointing, it was inedible. Even simple dishes (prosciutto e melone) were clearly plated hours before dinner and had been sitting -- drying out and getting soggy at the same time
- we asked for a wine list and our waiter came back to the table with an open bottle of a "local favorite" white - I asked again for the list. She set the bottle and 5 glasses down and walked away. We didn't drink the wine and had to request it be removed from our bill.
- once all courses arrived (at once), we never saw our waiter again - she was reassigned to another overwhelmed area of the restaurant
In short, the service and food were a disaster. What a sad waste of a beautiful location and potential.
With so many great places in and around Bellagio (Barchetta, Alle Darsene) - don't bother with this place. It won't be around for long.