Pizzeria Vecchia Tavernola

This is one of best little restaurants in Como area in northern Italy. Its unassuming appearance is hiding a gem of a restaurator couple - Italian citizens of Turkish origin who go to unheard of lengths to make their guests happy, not to mention fully sated with great examples of local cuisine. The highly experienced operator seems to know exactly what his hungry customers want. His wife is an extremely accomplished pastry chef serves a great selection of desserts which she makes in-house from fresh ingredients daily. Make sure that you have enough room left in your tummy for her creations, or else you will feel very uncomfortable if you succumb to the temptation of the desserts -which I bet your mom didn't know how to make- after the delicious meal you've just eaten. All in all, this restaurant deserves a dedicated trip to enjoy the excellent food, excellent wines and especially the desserts which are beyond excellent. Edited to add: After posting this review, I saw many negative opinions about this restaurant in these pages. Those are totally uncalled for and can't be based on totally objective honesty. This restaurant deserves to be recognized for what it is: a gem of a genuine family establishment.

Dropped into this restaurant along the waterfront after another local restaurant refused to serve us due to unknown reason. I checked the Google reviews and was a bit skeptical whether to try it. But we’ve been traveling for over 20 hours to finally get to Lake Como so we were tired out and just wanted to grab a meal and head to bed. The host/waiter was very attentive and welcoming. He greeted us immediately and had us seated immediately. We saw the place was pretty packed with people speaking Italian so we assume they’re either locals or tourists from other part of this country. That was a good indicator the food must be pretty good. We ordered a chicken salad, grilled sea bream, and an arugula pizza. The food took awhile to come out since we asked them to bring everything together. The pizza came out great and certainly did not disappoint. The crust is much like Indian nann, which I absolutely love! And the grilled sea bream were well seasoned and texture. It definitely was a lot better than the frozen fish I’m accustomed to eating in the states. The salad was good but I wasn’t expecting so much lettuce versus the greens I get with most other Mediterranean salad. There were only two of us but we finished all the pizza and sea bream. We didn’t finish the salad because we ended up swatting a mosquito that landed on it and it had some blood spattered over the salad. So we just left some of it uneaten. But clearly there were more food than our stomachs can accommodate. We were stuffed but the food is worth stuffing. I wish we had room for a tiramisu since they looked really good (cake like). Prices are really cheap but food is definitely wonderful. I’d strongly recommend giving this restaurant a try. They even have ample of free parking behind the restaurant. Well done, guys! Thanks for the wonderful food and your hospitality!

My daughter and I were looking for somewhere nice to eat after a late arrival in Como. We walked past this restaurant since it was very quiet and only had a couple of people dining inside and on the terrace, so it didn't seem too promising. Due to a lack of options within walking distance, we settled on trying it out, and we were delighted in every way. After a few days in Italy, this was the first time I felt like I was eating authentic, home cooked Italian food. Don't be fooled by its unassuming appearance. This place is a gem. Outstanding service and hospitality, delicious food and the kindest, friendliest people serving/running it. I'll be back tomorrow The only reason I didn't give 5 stars for the atmosphere is because it would have been perfect as a waterfront experience with music playing, but the terrace overlooks a parking lot. It won't stop me from choosing it as my restaurant of choice while on Como. They even made sure that myself and my daughter arrived safely back to our camper late on Friday night.

The place is tranquil with a beautiful view that overlooks Lake Como. We arrived (on a Wednesday) half hour past noon and the restaurant was not too crowded. The food was delicious. We were very satisfied with our courses but didn’t miss on indulging for some dessert. Tried a super moist chocolate apple cake, plus the staff were very nice. If you want to enjoy a relaxing lunch during the week I absolutely recommend this place.