Best of Europe 2010

Best and worst restaurants:

Best: Il Pirate, Vernazza and Golden View Bar Florence, Italy
Why: Il Pirate-Excellent food and pastries and unique and fun owners. Golden View Bar- Huge, tasty menu with a terrific view.

Kristen in Gail, TX USA 08/22/2009

Best: Y Ming Chinese Restaurant and the Busaba Eathai Thai Restaurant
Why: The food at Y Ming was fantastic. Even though the restaurant was busy, it wasn't too loud and didn't feel too cramped. The service was good. Reservations are recommended.

The food at Busaba Eathai was excellent. The atmosphere was loud (bad acoustics), cramped, and chaotic and the service was poor - it is a good thing the food was good. The restaurant does not accept reservations and the line gets very long after 7:00 p.m.

CW in The Hague, Netherlands 02/02/2009

Worst: Restaurace Nad Úvozem
Why: A delicious traditional Czech meal left a bitter taste in our mouths after receiving the bill, which was a full 25% more than we anticipated. The bill itself was just a list of prices with no descriptions and included 3 surprises: (1). Bread that was placed on the table without comment was 60 cK (2). a 10% obligatory service fee for our group of 3 was automatically included (3). an exorbitant fee for water -- 110cK for a small pitcher. Because of your recommendation, we avoided the beer and decided to order water with our meal -- it appears as though we may have been better off with the beer! Our main complaint about the water is that it was placed on the table in a pitcher that appeared to be tap water. When we received the bill, we asked about the water and were told that it was NOT tap water, but was mineral water that the restaurant paid 350 cK per 1.5 liter bottle. Later at the grocery store, we noted that this bottle is in fact closer to 15cK.

The waiter spoke English very well and was very informative and helpful throughout our meal, which caused us to be even more disappointed with the apparent deception that had taken place. We were also bothered at the manner in which he had slyly added items to our bill. For example, while ordering our meal he quickly said "It's very traditional to share Czech dumplings during the meal, so I will add one portion of mixed dumplings to your order, ok?" And walked away before there was even time for us to notice what exactly had just occurred. Luckily, the dumplings only cost 39cK, but we fear that he could easily use the same technique with much more expensive items on other occasions.

THE PUNCHLINE: If this restaurant remains in your guidebook, there needs to be a clear advisory that service fees will be included (despite the quality of service received or group size), and that you will be charged for everything except the placemats! On a more positive note, thank you for recommending the plum sauce, it was delicious! This was truly a great meal until we received the bill.

Joe Randazzo in San Jose, CA USA 10/26/2008

Best: Hostaria dei Bastioni, Rome.
Why: Pasta was excellent and prices were easy on the budget (bottle of red wine for only 8 euros). The owner even showed me the Christmas card Rick sent him.

Ferdie Pernia in San Francisco, CA USA 07/26/2008

Best: De Halve Maan Bistro
Why: I had a great Flemish rabbit stew. Very tasty. (Service wasn't wonderful, but OK.)

Heather Cameron in Coldstream, BC Canada 06/13/2008

Best: Saran Restaurant in Salzburg, Austria
Why: We had a great meal. They have menus in 7 languages and our waitress spoke 6 herself. They have a varied menu of Austrian specialties, as well as some Italian, Indian and vegetarian dishes. We had a wonderful dessert of Apple strudel, after our meal of Wiener snitzel and beef goulash. Our waitress was great and Saran himself served our meal. Overall a great find.

Lynn in Manchester, MO USA 03/25/2008

Best:
Why: We found several of your favourite restaurants (including the bakery in Madrid) and enjoyed them all

Wendy Fox in Saanichton, BC Canada 02/28/2008

Worst: Wagamanna Noodle Bar - London
Why: Price might be cheaper and that goes with the quality of the food. My currie sauce was thick and jelly like that I could possibly pick up the sauce and throw against the wall. My friend received his noodle soup warm and noodles was not fully cooked. Did the chefs take any cooking lessons?!

Steve in GTA, ON Canada 01/22/2008

Best: PARIS - CHEZ JANOU
Why: Very fresh and very good. The best mussels I've have ever had!

Worst: VIENNA - Cafe Restaurant Palmenhaus
Why: This is was one of the WORST recommendations. We apparently had to pay a cover fee (per person)which we WERE NOT aware; we had their famous beef broth and beef soup for 21 euros which was basically like Knorr beef broth that would cost $5 US and they charged us for "fillings" for the soup that we WERE NOT aware that would cost extra...Least to say we were VERY DISSATISFIED and felt RIPPED OFF. ALSO, the people that left before us did not leave tip. The waiter stopped the customers and made a big scene that they only make money from tips and they have a small salary. Anyhow, we left a tip b/c we wanted to avoid the scene.

Karen Canada 10/29/2007

Best: the hostel in Cesky Krumlov
Why: a bit out of the way from our pension (Wok), but the food was excellent, and it was fun to be around the activity in the hostel.

pam carlson in encinitas, CA USA 09/26/2007

Best: Il Pirate in the Cinque Terre
Why: The brothers who own the place were HILARIOUS. Ignoring the fact that it was THE BEST pastry experience of our trip (and not to mention the granitas!), these two men made our breakfast entertaining. We only wished we had discovered the place sooner. :)

Carly Bean in Moscow, ID USA 07/15/2007

Best: Chimes English Restaurant, London
Why: the cider was delicious and the ambience warm and wonderful

Brenda Paull in Mercer Island, WA USA 07/08/2007

Best: Cafe Restaurant de Reiger in Amsterdam and Pasci's Snack Bar Bistro in Muerren, Switzerland
Why: I can't recommend these places enough!!! Everything Rick Steves says about them is true.

Katie Ramp in Monterey, CA USA 06/23/2007

Best: Zur Goldenen Rose (Rothenburg)
Why: We had a fabulous stay at this hotel and enjoyed having such a delicious and reasonable restaurant right downstairs. The portions are generous, and the prices are right. We enjoyed goulach soup, pork steak "Hunter's Style" in mushroom gravy with noodles, and a pork cordon bleu with fries. These were all amazingly delicious, and the outdoor seating is very charming, as well!

Worst: Ciudad Condal Cerveceria (Barcelona)
Why: Food wise, it was okay -- some nice seafood specialties at fairly reasonable prices. However, we got the sense that the staff took advantage of tourists. After ordering beer, we were brought out giant glasses (everyone else there had glasses half the size), and when we remarked at how big they were, the waiter said, "smallest one!" As more guests arrived, we noticed that the Americans somehow always ended up with the giant glasses, and everyone else had the smaller ones. Additionally, our waiter brought out tapas we did not order, but had discussed briefly when he made recommendations, and we didn't realize that they were not what we requested until we had started eating them (the ones we actually ordered then followed). Anyhow, we ended up spending extra money on "superflautas" of beer and extra tapas that we had no intention of ordering. Tourists beware -- this place seems to prey on us!

Melissa in Honolulu, HI USA 04/24/2007

Best: Il Pirata in Vernazza
Why: Food and price - very good and the two brothers very entertaining.

Maricel Lustre in San Diego, CA USA 04/19/2007