Badia Hill

Yesterday, me and my wife, we visited the restaurant Bistro Badia Hill in Badia Hill Hotel. We were not staying at the hotel. We wanted to have a quick dinner and take one meal with us for our sick daughter. The ambience of the restaurant is very pleasant, decent and cosy at the same time, wine lovers will be pleased to see the glass fridges with selected bottles of wine. We were one of the first guests to arrive and were taken in by the friendly staff, a young woman named Anastazia who spoke fluent Russian, Italian and English with the guests. She seated us and offered us pastries with delicious oil from Sicily. She measured the oil into a small bowl and took the carafe away, leaving the salt and pepper on the table. If the oil didn't go well with the pastries, you had to ask for it again. My wife has a gluten allergy, which we mentioned when we made the reservation, and she appreciated that they had great gluten free baked goods. The menu is just long enough, with a choice of seven starters, five first courses, four mains plus six specials designed for two or requiring a longer preparation time. We both chose an appetizer and a main course and later the same to go. The starters were excellent - beef tartare and an unusual interpretation of vitello tonnato. Unfortunately, the young waiter mixed up the side dishes and brought my wife my fried potato squares. The girl made us sure they were gluten free. At the last moment, it turned out that not only did they contain gluten, but they were intended for my dish, not hers. With such a small menu and in an establishment of this level, the staff might know what side goes with what. We probably wouldn't have bothered with such a long review if the evening had gone on without a hitch. The other courses - fish (sea bass) and white truffle gnocchi - were tasty. For drinks, we ordered still water and sparkling wine by the glass. The restaurant started to fill up and there were only two waiters on the set, the lovely Anastasia was running out of smiles, she was literally running around the set. We had to wait quite a while for the bill. We paid 304 Euro plus tip. We left feeling moderately satisfied. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited us upon our return home when we presented our daughter with the food we had brought - the gnocchi for 35 Euro was completely without any truffle, only with butter. Since we live about 20 min drive from Bistro, we didn't have the energy to go back for this.We took a picture and share it. We hope it was an isolated mistake and not malicious intent. However, the restaurant, which has Bistro in its name, would have benefited from more staff on set and a more relaxed, less rushed atmosphere, even when the space gets crowded. That's kind of what belongs in a bistro anyway. I'd rather not discuss the prices. They have nothing to do with the bistro anymore.

We stayed four wonderful nights in Badia Hill and after a warm and friendly welcome we felt really at home. The rooms are spaceous and styleful, with a great big bed. The breakfast and diners in the hotel are outstanding. We really will come back.

Overall stay was amazing and the servers were great. Mikhail, Enrico, Thomas and Giuseppe were very personable & friendly. I would give this a 5th star if it wasn’t for one incident that happened. We made a dinner reservation for the fine dining restaurant the night before and decided the next morning that we wanted to eat at the casual bistro again because we wanted the same steak/cut that we had our first night on arrival. It was that delicious! Staff (front desk employee) had told us it was too late because they started preparing stuff for us already. The fine dining restaurant offered two tasting menus or the al la carte menu. We never specified what we would be choosing. I understand that sometimes extra bites/amuse are sent out from the kitchen as a welcome and thank you for dining with us approach. I work in fine dining at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada and would never speak to a guest the way I was spoken to about wanting to change a reservation. We could have left the hotel to spend our money elsewhere but we still decided to stay and spend 350$ on a lovely dinner. We dined at the hotel all 3 nights we stayed on property. We had many of other options in the nearby towns. Hopefully in the future when we visit again things will be a little different.

My wife and I spent 6 days at Badia Hill and we were thrilled with the overall experience. The service level is impressive ( kudos to Michaela the owner, andher staff such as Thomas and Anastasia) throughout. We had high hopes and were not disappointed. Everything from the building/facilities, rooms, finishings, food services and wine options put together created a great experience in the Dolomites. We warmly recommend to all ! Alain and Pascale