Urban Vineyard Area-uva - GENOVA

Beautiful, rich food and lush local wines to taste. Lovely little open space lunch in a quieter part of busy Genoa.

We stopped off here without a reservation and were glad to be greeted by a friendly waiter. The meal selection was excellent and to our taste. It wasn't a huge menu so you know they put time and effort into preparing it right. The wine were great. I would recommend the wine tasting which is 4 glasses for 15€ great value for money and can be shared between 2 people.

Mesmerised by the wonderful tasting menu, we also persuaded ourselves to accompany each course with wines selected for our food. Each dish was an absolute delight. Starting with a false oyster (served very attractively in an oyster shell), the dishes were all as beautiful as the next, with quirky names like 'Il Rosso e Il Nero) a mix of meat, liquorice flavours. Having enjoyed not just the food, but the excellent service so much for dinner, we could not resist returning for lunch, which we had sitting outside in the little front yard opposite the entrance and just by the door to the wine shop that supplies the restaurant. Just a light lunch, but the pasta was very tasty and needless to say, I couldn 't help myself not not have two courses!

The ambiance and service is great, the menu appealing and the selection of wines really fabulous but sadly the food did not live up to expectations. The porcini tort appetiser was good but needed at least a hint of salt there seemed to be absolutely none and also the accompanying sauce was a bit strange and not flavourful enough. My companion's main of frito miste was really great but my main dish of manzo was a big disappointment. The meat was incredibly chewy, so much so that I couldn't finish it. The flavours on the plate were very bland couldn't taste even a hint of wine as described the two sauces on the plate seemed to be cooked fruit with nothing added to compliment them. Finally, I was not in the least bit full after these two courses. I usually don't like to eat a big amount of food when I dine out but this just wasn't enough and I left hungry and more drunk than I should have been.

We were walking the historic part of town when we walked by this place and immediately were attracted to stop. They have few outside table and sat for what originally was supposed to be just drinks. Upon looking at the menu we could not resist to order a few appetizer and were happy to have done that. The baccala mantecato was delightful to look at and more importantly to eat. Too bad we were just visiting the city and can't go back for more