Osteria Francescana Modena - Buy Reservations

We booked 6 months in advance to celebrate an occasion based upon reviews I'd read several years before. I wish I'd read reviews here and elsewhere to see that it no longer lives up to the reputation it had. Based upon the tasting menu I'd agree with previous posters here; lacking any atmosphere, poor quality atmosphere (I'd agree with a previous poster that you'd expect it to have an atmosphere more reflective of Massimo's personality as opposed to a wake). The back to front dessert > main course menu is gimmicky and not worthy of 3 Michelin stars. Serving beer and 2 very large slices of sourdough that don't go with the course was a mistake. The snacks were chewy, the pasta was dry, chewy and flavourless. Adding liberal flourishes of truffle time after time to a dish doesn't elevate it if it's already poorly put together. There was no stand out dish. The risotto was about as good as it gets but it was pretty dull not only to look at but in terms of flavour. The red cabbage dish made to look like venison was awful, really stringy and also cold. The savoury dish supposedly meant to be inspired by what animals eat in the forest was inedible and I wouldn't have served it to them, as it was cold, weird textured, lumpy custard with cereals. Not pleasant. Some of the wine pairings were OK, but not stand out. The turbot (masquerading as porchetta) was dry and tasteless and I'd rather have had some of the lovely local produce served as porchetta. I'm guessing Massimo no longer cooks here from previous posts. A huge disappointment and overpriced for what it is.

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.. one of the best culinary experiences of my life. 3-4 hours of pure enjoyment, with a journey in contemporary Italian cuisine. The menu was well-designed with interesting contaminations from French and Japanese cuisine.The wine pairing was good, but I don't think it was exceptional - the Barbera, for instance, was underwhelming. Nonetheless I had one of the best pairing ever when the "chicken, chicken where are you?" was paired with a Sauternes; otherworldly to say the least.We also got the great chance to meet Massimo Bottura. What an honor! He's really charismatic and charming. Service has been mostly attentive for 95% of our meal. I didn't appreciate one of the servers pushing us to leave by reminding twice that our cabs arrived. We had this meal at Maria Luigia, as this was during lockdown. I wish I could experience one day the ambiance at the Via Stella restaurant.

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I’ve been to many exceptional and very good restaurants around the World, besides not been a Chef I think I understand at least a little about food and I had an accurate taste for good tables. I booked this table months in advance, and I took a long flight from anither continent to attend the reservation and meet some of my good friends, actually one of them is a former Chef assistant of a famous chef in NYC. The menu was not good at all, to be very honest for the entire menu one dish was ok, the others were not good at all, they even ask if someone has allergies, one of my friends does not eat fish, so the 1st. dish had fish, she left the plate untouched, so they asked why you did not eat? She answered I do not eat fish, so the next plate was I kind of past stuffed with different things, and one of the ingredients was fish, they removed from her plate 2 or 3 pieces of the pasta which was filled with a kind of fish and bring the other part, imagine my plate have for example 10 pieces of pasta, and her plate had 8, I’ve never see such a disgusting attitude, anyhow, the service was terrible, the food deserves no more than 1 Michelin star or maybe a Bib Gourmand, I can’t believe this guy is famous for this poor table.

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Absolute quality, technique and raw materials! one of the first risotrandi in the world not by chance! we are not always in Italy but it is absolutely a pleasure to return in Italy and in these restaurnt !

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I visited Francescana recently on my trip to Florence and so decided to pay a visit to Modena to dine in this legendary restaurant. All the food is creative, artistic and executed with great skill and technicality. It is truly one of the world’s greatest restaurants. I found both the food and the service unusually fun for a restaurant of this standard and not at all pretentious or “stuffy” as opposed to what others on here may say. This is a classy and sophisticated restaurant where tables are encouraged to chat amongst themselves and create their own ambiance. We also had a good conversation with Signor Bottura himself which was also lovely. We added on to the tasting menu two signature dishes, which were the five ages of parmigiano and the lemon tart. These were served as half courses as suggested by the waiter and I was charged for one course per dish despite being served in two portions to me and my partner. I suggest to those that wish to eat these world famous dishes to do the same instead of complaining. However, a “classics menu” in conjunction with a seasonal menu wouldn’t do any harm for those that travel far and wide to eat at this legendary restaurant, for who it may be a once in a lifetime experience. It’s also worth nothing that the vegetarian menu at Osteria Francescana is one of the best I’ve ever encountered and more or less mirrors the standard menu as the dishes are slightly altered in order to become suitable. The breadsticks are possibly the best I’ve ever eaten and I may hold the Guinness world record for eating the most ever in this restaurant. The wine list has some great Italian bottles as well as French and wines from further afield. I dined at Francescana for around three hours and just in time to be driven back to Florence and arrive at a reasonable hour. So it is possible to eat here if you are poor for time. A must visit and I hope to return one day…

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What I remember from Osteria Francescana last night:There were maybe 20 people outside when I arrived at 7:55, all couples, mostly middle aged, in varying formalities of attire, from the clean sneakers technocrat look to ornamental jewelery and suit jackets. I wore the black shirt that Martina made for me, and felt well fit to the occasion. Staff wore black formal attire, as well as a professional body language where their every movement was intentional. There was some art on the walls but nothing too striking, and the restaurant was divided into several rooms with high ceilings, plain color walls (ours was charcoal grey) and a floral pattern carpet that while colorful, I did not even notice until halfway through the meal. A light was 10' above each table, but instead of coming down from the ceiling, they curved up from the floor on tall slender stalks. The atmosphere was inviting, equally at home for a formal mood as a joyous one.We were seated and given menus, which revealed 12 courses with 9 alcohol pairings to come. Course names ranged from simple "Pasta, Butter and Marmelade" to descriptive "Textures of the North Adriatic Sea" to fanciful "journey to a beautiful countryside: ravioli are a container of ideas" and "think green is a state of mind" - however even the simply named dishes were not what they seemed, and it was impossible to predict what each would be from the name. For example, "Grilled Venison and sides" was in fact a radicchio filled with cream over which a venison sauce was poured. Drinks preceded each dish by a few minutes, and if finished early were refilled. Each dish arrived with a few sentences introduction by the waitstaff, who worked as a team at each table rather than dividing up the tables between them. For example, "Textures of the North Adriatic Sea" was introduced with a square of yellow translucent plastic covering the dish, and the waiter noted that we must remove plastic from the oceans so that we can enjoy them, before picking up the plastic and letting the smells out. Many dishes included a finishing sauce or broth that was poured at the table. All were unique and unexpected in flavor, of which most were delicious - I particularly enjoyed a fish beignet and a white chocolate pear in a shallow pool of cheese that, when cracked open, was filled with cream and diced stewed pear chunks. The menu's most delicious dishes were frontloaded, while the drinks became more and more satisfying over the course of the meal, and I found myself pleasantly drunk by the end.Midway through Chef Massimo came out, hair free and wearing white, and spent a minute or two connecting with each table's guests - at our table he told us about a project in New York opening in a few months that would be a very special soup kitchen through his organization Food for the Soul. When I asked for a photo, he drew my companion close with genuinely warm body language and smile. Later in the meal, when I did not finish one of the dishes, a waiter asked me with concern if I had not liked it - I demurred, and I feared as he left that my unfinished dish might be cause for some serious thought behind the scenes.The food itself I'm still struggling to describe in my head - the flavors and textures are memorable, and unique in their combination. I have slept since the meal but i still do not have the words to describe them. I can only say that I am eating the simplest food now, so as not to dilute their memory, as I continue to process them in my head. I do not think that eating the same tasting menu again would be a waste, in fact if offered a new one or the same again, I would be tempted to follow this particular journey another time and go deeper. The dishes do not rely on the surprise at all, many of the tastes felt like waking up and recalling memories from a dream. The whole atmosphere helped the meal to feel like a dream in another time and place, that I hope I can one day drift back to.

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After it taking a year to secure the coveted reservations to dine at this restaurant and then having to cancel those reservations due to Covid and having to postpone it by another 2 years I finally got the opportunity to check it off the list. Ever since seeing the chefs table episode I knew I had to go. Not sure if it was the hype built up over years of waiting or a combination of the actual menu but we were a little let down. Don't get me wrong the majority of the tasting menu was incredible flavors but it was 80% vegetarian. If it was the menu from years prior I would probably have said something different. At least I ordered the five ages of Parmaggiano Reggiano and that was a knockout. Absolutely delicious. That was the only thing from the original signatures that we got. One item that one of us were to thrilled about was the seafood soup. If you live the flavors of the ocean and really strong fishy game flavor then you would love it but in the U.S. we represent fishy ocean flavor with not being very good. It could just be a culture difference also. Overall we were very impressed and it was quite the experience, I would go again if I get the opportunity because I would love to try a new tasting menu when I go back or just order the signature tasting if they offer it.

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We got a last minute reservation for lunch and were not expecting to dine here on our 3 week Italy trip, but wow, was it worth it. Having looked over the tasting menu, we decided to order from the a la carte menu and get the classic dishes. We were not disappointed. Each dish was a delight of discovery and flavor. We requested the sommelier to choose a wine pairing for each of our courses and the pairings were perfect. The service was what you would expect at a 3 Michelin star restaurant - absolutely flawless. The highlight of the lunch was Massimo Bottura coming to our table to see how we were enjoying the meal. My son, who had just graduated from culinary school, was completely speechless at meeting this icon in person. This meal was an experience we will never forget.

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My expectations for this visit where sky-high, not so strange since it is one of the best restaurants in the world. The experience was great, and everything traditional was turned upside down. Even the food started with «dessert» and ended with «apetizers», yet the wineparing made the «dessert» taste like apetizers and the «apetizers» taste like dessert - so cool! I will however say the food did not fully meet my expectations. Service was great, but not fully up to Maaemo standards. However, definitely worth a visit - a fun night!

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We booked a trip to Italy and scheduled a trip to a Modena just to go here. We have been blessed and fortunate to have visited multiple Michelin restaurants aroundthe globe and were excited to visit Osteria. Unfortunately we were extremely disappointed. While the service was efficient and respectful it was not passionate. Once you have visited someof the finest restaurant you have an expectation. Osteria does not meet this expectation. Is this a bad meal? No, but when you are paying a thousand dollars for two your expectations are higher. This meal did not come close to those expectations. There is a reason they are no longer rated in the top five in the nation, actually they are no longer in the topFifty. Hopefully they can go back to the love and compassion for the food they had four or five years-ago. For now, it is no where close. I would suggest finding another place to spend your hard earned money for Osteria was most certainly not that.

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So expensive because I just ordered a pizza and it cost me 100 euros!!! Actually beggars were there and asked me for money........... Tragic

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A special culinary experience which will never be forgotten. My favourite dish was the ravioli with foie gras and black truffle! Absolutely delicious.

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My wife and I came here with great excitement and left disappointed. We both had the 12 course tasting menu. With a few of the courses, even though the presentation was fantastic, it seems they tried too hard to blend flavors that simply didn't work. To their credit a few of the courses were quite lovely and flavorful. Service was impeccable.

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One of the world's best restaurants so we had to try it and it was amazing!!! We wanted to experience a bit of everything so opted for the prix fixe. So many flavor combinations and unexpected twists (i.e. Florentine steak and the porchetta). Dessert tomato? Yes please!!! Such a surprise to finish our meal. Highly recommend!!!

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Atmosphere: ok-ish, not really what you expect from a 3 star. Cheap cutlery, little attention to detail. Nevertheless an interesting space in its own right.

Service: except the maitre D, staff seems aged below 30. Staff is polite but non-emphatic and you can tell they lack experience, despite being professional. We were rushed through the menu, literally: once we finished a dish, they already brought the wine glasses for the next dish. No breaks in between courses. It seemed very mechanic, as if they are programmed to put you through the journey ideally as quick as possible. We did not feel a lot of passion from the staff.

Food: good but - besides two dishes we had - not super creative / mind blowing

Summary: for having travelled to the place for 7 hours one way by train and having spent a whopping 800 EUR per person for a 12 course meal with wine pairing (approx 9 small glasses of wine), we conclude that it was nice to experience but we would not do it again. The place got hyped by the netflix series. A shame since you come there with a certain expectation which (in our case) just was not met. Nevertheless, a good and interesting experience. Massimo’s take on re-inventing traditional Italian cuisine is apparent throughout the concept. If they had more experienced service to guide you through this culinary journey, it would have been more arousing (in a culinary sense J).

My opinion: go there, try it but do not base expectations on the buzz around it: you will most likely not be overwhelmed.

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