So, a big thank you as I begin these travels and reports to all of the people her on H.O. who guided my thinking!
My cousin and I arrived in Bologna yesterday afternoon, and as he was arriving from NY and needed a nap, I put on my sneakers and took a little jog toward a restaurant I had been trying to reach for almost a week to try and reserve with no luck. (We are staying about a half hour’s jog from city center.) Every post I read said it was imperative to get a reservation far in advance, but I could not get them to answer their phone, much less reserve!
I arrived at Trattoria di Via Serra di Tommaso & Flavio as they were finishing their lunch service, only to learn from Flavio that they were fully booked for last night (Saturday). He suggested that if we got there before their opening at 7 pm, and we were “first on line” we might get a table. (I was a little dubious about this, as I did not know if my cousin who had flown overnight and driven to Bologna would even be awake by 7!) I asked about all of the other days we were going to be in Bologna, and he said they were closed, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday (turns out they are open for lunch on Tuesday), but we were due to leave Bologna on Wednesday and I was able to get a reservation for lunch on Wednesday!
I was completely happy with that, but it turned out my cousin was not only awake but game to get to the restaurant to wait for a spot last night! (He and I are as simpatico about restaurants as any two people, and he saw how eager I was for this hard-to-land reservation.) We got there first (much to the clear dismay of an older couple who did not know how to react to us, and refused to stand behind us on line.) Anyway, Flavio honored his promise, and we snagged the only open table in the restaurant while the others waiting filled the four seats at the bar (we would have been totally happy with these.)
We ate (and these are my descriptions, not the menu’s which we forgot to take a picture of, and anyway it did not include the specials):
Flat biscuits, just baked, with soft (ricotta?) cheese and fig jam. (So, my hotel is blocking downloading of my pictures to my computer…Going to pause this report till I can fix this issue!)
Okay, sorry for the delay. I can now upload pictures. That Sat. night dinner in pictures, but also we had lunch there today, so I’ll include all of that here. Both times we had a half liter of their house white and Sat. night a half liter of their house red, both excellent accompaniments to their food.
We had these meatballs both times we came (As described by the waitress, beef and pork, porcini mushrooms mixed in with the meat, and cooked first in steam in the oven, then in a pot. I a, definitely going to try this!):
Booking impossible at this restaurant unless you turn up at the end of a lunch service and make a booking for a few days ahead. Show up twenty or so minutes before they open (at 7) and might snag seats at the little ( 4 seat) bar. Worth eating here twice, though we had one extraordinary meal after another in Bologna–only one clunker. I will write the rest of them up in the next day or so!
P.S. I did take a picture of today’s menu, which was a bit different from Sat. night. Also we had a starter of fig roasted with Caprino goat cheese (no picture, sorry!)
just got back from travel and so glad to see that you got to go to this place nd that it is still just as wonderful. They started out and made their name as a country restaurant then moved into the city and I think still seem to be distinct from the other Bologna contenders in their cuisine and home-i-ness which you experienced . So glad! We went over there - this was some years ago - early for Sunday lunch without a res - having not been able to get in touch and they charmingly squeezed us in.
Sorry Maribel, I have been off line. Yes, reserved for walk-ins. Hope you got there, and I promise to finish this report during my post Christmas break. Feel terrible that I have been so long absent!
Back to start writing the rest: We had our first Sunday lunch at Trattoria da Amerigo. We definitely needed the car to get to this restaurant (and many of the others). Parking was not a problem in the main square; In fact, there did not seem to be a whole lot going on in town on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
We arrived at restaurant opening, and they gave us the pick of tables, so we sat up front. Here’s the wine we drank:
I was a bit wary, but over the course of hours, it was not too much!
Some prosciutto and bread (honestly, the only thing I did not care for, but apparently a local specialty):
And we shared a vanilla ice cream with balsamic vinegar (milk & cream gelato) for dessert.
A word about Sunday lunch in Italy: Perhaps my favorite meal anywhere in the world. I am definitely partial to it. We were certainly the only Americans in the place and maybe the only non-Italians. I did take a couple of pictures of people at surrounding tables, as it feels so hard to describe the vibe if this is unfamiliar:
An overarching feeling in this part of the world is that we were welcomed everywhere we went in special ways. Here it was family run and felt like we were immediately taken in as family!
I so agree with you about Sunday lunch in Italy!
Loving this report, and I want to go to Trattoria da Amerigo. Soon!
I’ve only been once to ER, so might be time to begin thinking about a visit.
So definitely best to have a car for this area, I think (??)
Definitely, the car was a must. We took the train one day for lunch (will get to this), but ended up having to take a taxi back to Bologna from Modena because the trains went on strike during our meal!
love this report. Sunday lunch is the best - but I prefer any lunch in Italy to dinner, the feeling of relaxation from the normal routine. Thats really super bad luck with the train strike! Ive driven in this region a few times and its fine, but it would be a big waste of time to have to drive in an out of Bologna repeatedly, if I wanted to stay there and if I recall correctly, the Via Emilia and other roads coming down through the area are very busy. Better to find smaller/country places to stay and dip into the busy cities for a day, I think. Bologna itself is worth a longer visit, I think we stayed 5 or 6 days at least, including a day trip down to Ravenna by train (this was 8 or 9 years ago) and then picked up a rental and worked our way back toward Milan.
We ate a late dinner after Amerigo at Trattoria da Me Nelle. This was a disappointing meal for us. The food was just okay, the service terrible (and really, it is rare for me to say this). I think they just wanted to go home, and we soon felt that way too! Everywhere we began drinking sublime Malvasia wines, and we had a very nice bottle here from a vineyard that we also found and enjoyed elsewhere.
The next night, though, we had another charmed meal at Lehti. I looked to see who had made this recommendation to me, but could not find it. I think it must have been either @andygottlieb42 or @beam, so I’ll just thank both of you, and if it was someone else, thanks to you too! It is a little drive outside Bologna, though I notice a 1/2 hour train ride and a 15 minute walk would also get you there.
This was a slightly modern take on E-R cooking, playful and creative as well as delicious!
The wine we drank (I think we loved every bottle we drank, and I am not knowledgeable, so we depended on wonderful recommendations):
A shrimp, in my memory three way (raw, grilled and something else) risotto. I would go back for this dish alone. I wouldn’t share it! Maybe the best risotto I have ever eaten. And like no risotto I had ever had before:
Tortellini in a cream and cheese sauce (I think it was at this point of the dinner that we discovered that our wonderful waiter was also our wonderful chef. We got to the kitchen eventually and met his mother who was helping him. Just incredible to me what goes on in unknown kitchens in the world, but particularly this part of Italy that I was fortunate enough to taste!
Running for my NYE dinner, but wanted to get this posted before. Wishing all of my Hungry Onioner friends and acquaintances a happy 2026 and lots of good food, wine, and company!
