Dolce Forno - SPELLO

Wandering Spello midday in January most/nearly all restaurants are closed since it is a low season for visitors. We were wonderfully surprised by the menu of the day advertised outside and the a la carte/pre fixe combo prices. Looking in a lot of locals seemed to be lunching as well always a good sign. I ordered a primi a secondi (which we shared), my husband ordered an antipasti (which we shared) and a primi. All of our portions were wonderfully sized. The waitress was matronly in the best authentic Italian way. (She's the only server so she's busy, but awesome). Our food was EXCELLENT portions, made with EXCELLENT ingredients. Very Umbrian, very generous and made with pride. We also had wines and coffee. We were shocked to find that our combined bill was a total of..... 35 euro! (we paid cash). We were so charmed, we will definitely be going back again!

Stopped in for a quick bite and was disappointed. They wee woefully understaffed and it took almost an hour for the pasta. The antipasto of meat and cheese was poorly cut and the cheese was sweating. The pasta was way over salted and poorly cooked. Lastly we went on a hot day and it only got hotter inside.

We were offered no menus and the owner chose our food! We felt like we were in Mamma's kitchen! Our limited Italian and her lack of English challenged us especially as I do not eat meat. All that been said, we ended up having a tasty authentic rustic Italian lunch my finance' had a meat pasta (we think it may have been rabbit) and mine was fungi in a cream sauce. The white house wine was not as good as we have had elsewhere. The owner was friendly and tried to assist as much as she could.

Having stopped at this tiny restaurant, I ventured inside and was shown to my table it was a beautiful day out, and in order to make sure there was not a seating area outside, I walked to the back of the restaurant to take a look I did not pass any 'Private ' signs and the client tables continued to the back of the restaurant. I passed by the kitchen and the female chef, who looked like a crazy woman screamed at me. I jumped out of my skin and ran back up the restaurant as there was no where else in Spello serving lunch, we were stuck so we ordered food and when it came, it looked as though it had been prepared by a crazy lady. We barely touched it, paid up and left Spello, hopefully never to return. Beware of this restaurant.

What others have said is true. Nothing on menu was available because we came at lunch. I think most people forget Italians siesta . This is the only restaurant open around 1 to 2 Pm in Spello. So the older women who operates this restaurant basically offers you pasta in red sauce or a salami sausage meat cheese platter at a good price. Food was delicious and 5 star service after she warms up. As they say it's Italy.