This ended up being my favorite dinner of our entire trip to Tuscany. The staff was incredible and…read moregenuinely accommodating. I even called from the U.S. to make our reservation. I tried my best Italian, they met me with their English, and somehow we understood each other perfectly. This is clearly a place the locals adore, and it was evident the moment we walked in. I'm pretty sure we were the only tourists there, which made us love it even more. The menu was surprisingly available in English, though not everything made complete sense but that was part of the charm. Our server did a phenomenal job guiding us through the menu and offering thoughtful recommendations. The pasta dishes were exquisite. My husband decided to be adventurous and ordered a mushroom pasta (despite hating mushrooms) and ended up absolutely loving it. My ravioli with sage was unforgettable. I still think about it. I can't quite pinpoint what makes Ristorante L'Altana so special. It's a simple restaurant, nothing overly fancy, yet there was something about the food, the ambiance, and the beauty in its simplicity that made it stand out as the highlight of our trip.

Great food (nonna would approve), service is wonderful, it's like eating at your nonna's home!read more

We were just in Italy for our honeymoon. We went to Rome, Tuscany, Lake Como and Milan and visited…read morehere during our time on Tuscany. The truffle pasta was so Devine. The vibe inside is so cute. Highly recommend!

Hole in the wall restaurant serving amazing and very flavorful food. Nothing here disappointed!…read moreSomewhat limited seating, but it's a great place for a more intimate meal.

If you are anywhere in the vicinity of Lucca and do not take an afternoon to go to the Garfignana,…read moreyou are foolish. Go here now! Authentic slow food experience.

Ah, this was an experience never to be forgotten! We talk about "slow food" here in the US, and…read moreeven partake in it, but there's nothing like doing it in Castelnuovo di Gafagnana - in a hidden corner of Tuscany! If you are in Tuscany make sure you visit Osteria Vecchio Mulino for the most delicious sampling of food and wine. The tasting trays were never-ending - and this place is famous for its cured meats and fresh local foods. Andrea Bertucci is the owner, and you can see from my photos how gracious and welcoming he and his staff were to our group. Andrea gave us quite an education about the area, it's foods, and his presentation of it, and he was so funny and witty in all his stories. This was a highlight of my three week trip through northern Italy and Rome, and I would return in a heartbeat!

My husband and I found this small osteria in a tiny town, Galicano, in the Tuscany region. We ended…read moreup going twice because the service was fabulous, the food was marvelous, and the restaurant itself is in an old stone house built in the 1400s. What an atmosphere! The owner was meticulous and had each table set (by her own hand) with lovely cloth napkins, water glasses, wine glasses, and of course beautiful linen tablecloths. They had a great wine list, not extensive, but very good. We recommend d their Buonamici red. They spoke very little English and thanks to some months of studying some basic Italian, we could order in Italian. I had their minestrone, barley based and not like we see in USA - delicious! Both of the meals were amazing but the steak we ordered on the second dinner was melt in your mouth! The filled vegetables were also fabulous. We were in Italy for a month and we are huge tiramisu fans so we had tiramisu almost daily. This restaurant had the best tiramisu by far! Delectable!!! Also made in house. The ambience was perfect, the food was stellar, and the service was some of the best we enjoyed during our time in Italy. The second night, we tried some of their homemade grappa. That's an acquired taste .

This was seriously the best Italian food we have had in our trip. We are staying at the resort down…read morethe street and didn't want to pay the high prices for their restaurants and came here after reading other reviews. Paid about 70 euro for a bottle of wine, two mains, an appetizer, 3 desserts, a bottle of water, and a side and all was well with the money. Easy drive but the address listed on yelp when we went wasnt correct (tried to fix it on here) and will take you to the wrong place. The one on trip advisor is the correct address. It's directly across the street once you cross the bridge. Very friendly staff and definitely a place I wouldn't miss if ever here again. You won't be disappointed! The mushroom puff pastry was AMAZING. We also loved the chestnut ravioli and veal with 4 cheeses. Don't miss out on dessert either. Wowza!

"cucina tradizionale casalingha, pasta , dolci e pane di nostra produzione cotto al forno a legna,…read morespecialita' carne alla brace e baccala', patate cotte sotto la cenere verdure grigliate ecc." one of the best restaurants in the garfagnana! i highly recommend it.

This was probably the only place open when we arrived late in the evening on a Saturday- but we…read morewere in for a treat! My husband and I loved the casual and homey ambience, the friendly and funny waitstaff and of course the food- do yourself a favor and order the lamb chops; they are delicious. We paired that course with vegetable soup, the sausage and tomato pasta and a bottle of red wine, and enjoyed the complimentary basket of bread brought out with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Later on in the week we came back and enjoyed a cheese/meats platter along with some really good lasagna and previously ordered favorites - all was very tasty and the staff is so pleasant :)

This restaurant is awesome and I would have eaten here again if we had more time. We had bruschetta…read morewith tomato and mozzarella for an app, meat ravioli which was the best that I have had in my entire life, past with truffles (earthy but delicious, must try cuisine in tuscany), wonderful steak, and of course baller tiramisu for desert. We had excellent service and the staff spoke wonderful English and provided menus in English.

This is a fabulous restaurant. It is reasonably priced and the food is outstanding and so is the…read moreservice. The views are spectacular and the live music is wonderful. Great food, great prices, great staff, great music, great atmosphere. Highly recommend

Pizza at the weekend only is one of the best ever. Tortelli ragu also best in class. Avoid house…read morewines, though.

The food was incredible. The two dishes we had, the risotto and the truffle in pasta ranked up…read morethere as some of the best food we have experienced this trip.

From start to finish, my family thoroughly enjoyed our experience - not easy given the wide range…read moreof tastes of the group (including my vegan daughter). Especially good were the 'pasta fritta' with a charcuterie board, fried porcini mushrooms, and the made-in-house ravioli. I had the riso cacio e pepe, which was also very good, if a bit heavy. The service was friendly and informative. They have been here for a very long time, and I hope they will be here next year when we return!

I can confirm what has already been posted here. Yes, it is hard to find (look for the Hausbrandt…read moresign, see pic). Yes, there is in fact a grandma cooking the food (just as Jeff J. said, two in fact). Yes, the food is amazing. Maybe the reason this place is so hard to find is that it is a hidden gem that feels so authentic that you only hear whispers about it. But it is real folks. We started our meal with the fried polenta with ragu. The combination is a meal in itself. You can tell the ragu was fresh and well made because you could see the chunky bits of garlic, mushrooms and meat. The next course was the lasgna. It was rich with the ragu and ricotta. The noodles tasted homemade. It was a delicious dish blessed by a nonna. The last course was the steak Florentine. You can order it by weight. My conversion math may have been off because we got a HUGE cut of porterhouse. But it was absolutely tender and delicious. We enjoyed this delight to the bone. The service was exceptional. We were the only non-Italian folks in the restaurant but we were treated like family. I will also add that while I enjoyed our food selection, I noticed that the pizzas and pork/veal shank were also very popular and looked incredibly appetizing. My only regret is that we found this gem of a restaurant on our last night in Barga. I wish I had more time to taste more of the menu. The family owns another restaurant in Lucca (la Donna Clara) and one that's 3 km away that does seafood.

Writing this review is ridiculously painful because figuring out how we got there and its address…read morewas impossible. Their "webpage" is on Facebook, but their address on Facebook is inaccurate (stating that it's in Lucca city). On the receipt, there are two addresses, their page on TripAdvisor is matches one of the address on the receipt. When I put down the address here, the location on Yelp doesnt seem right. I tried to Google Map this place, but street images were taken in 2011, and this place wasnt opened yet. Long story short, we were driving down from Renaissance Tuscany Il ciocco resort on the SP20 looking for a restaurant, and happened to turn into this one off the side. It seemed like a traditional Italian restaurant you see on TV with cozy red chequered table cloths, a wood fire oven, and ladies behind the counter busy making pizza and pasta for you. We ordered a 4 seasons pizza (6EUR) and a personal sized lasagna (8EUR) - both of which came out of the wood oven! It was so delicious. We came in just before noon and there was only one other table filled but as we were leaving this place filled almost to the max and when we were driving out, people were waiting for our parking spot! WIth a beer and capuccion, our total was only 18.50 for too and we were so full.We really felt it was traditional Italian home cooking - awesome comfort food. We are still wishing to go back!