Caffe Al Ponte - DESENZANO DEL GARDA

We visited here last week on our first evening in Lake Garda. We sat by the marina, overlooking the water and ducks. We ordered the beef and mushroom main course which was delicious. For dessert, we ordered a yogurt sundae and a chocolate cake. Both of which were yummy. Service was good also. We had friendly waiters. Recommended restaurant.

Pizza and dry white wine was great! The mussels were also very good but I was disappointed that it was served with toasted store bought pre-sliced white bread. The caprese salad was forgettable due to tasteless tomatoes, only minimal basil served with it and no olive oil or pepper on the salad. We still had a good time and the location is great.

If it wasn't for the location next to the water and the fact that it is a part of a hotel this place would be out of business in short order. Terrible customer service, no follow up after our order arrived; one person in our party was served with her burnt pizza about 10 minutes after everyone else was served. That pizza should have never left the kitchen. Multiple people left before there food arrived because the service was so slow. Avoid this place unless you'd like to still be hungry and thirsty after the check arrives.

The location is perfect, just right by the old port of Garda and at the foot of the bridge. The restaurant has a real chic upscale outdoor setting, nothing extremely fancy but you can tell it's not basic. Now let's get to the food: my Pizza Capricciosa arrived a little later than my companions but from what I gathered it's because the pizzaio was working alone (said the waiter , it wasn't an issue for me since we arrived for dinner (around 7:30pm . The pizza was delish btw, left out the mozzarella and the prosciutto. Here aren't a lot of vegan options (actually not at all, except, gasp, the salad. but that's understandable, we are at the lake, fresh fish must be their speciality. But I'm not choosy, this is italia, pizza is always a great option. Downed it with white wine too. Also not overpriced (around 4.50€? Most of them priced okay, and not overpriced just cos we are at a touristic location so that was great. Surely their other dishes (fish/pasta/Meat must be on the pricier side. Next time I'll probably go for their Paccheri Pasta without the cheese. The service is not bad, everyone spoke English amongst other languages they must speak there, their servers are from mixed races so everyone spoke english. The woman who was at the front assigning the tables though could be better, she must be sick of tourists asking random questions and so she was a little aloof, like she just wanna hurry everyone to their seats and not very open to answering questions about food. Overall: a great restaurant to have dinner at, relax and hang out with friends, or just chill with a glass of wine if you like to people-watch.

This was a very large restaurant with lots of covers and in a nice setting by a small marina. Very extensive menu with something for everyone. Unfortunately, that’s where all the good things end. Staff, and there were a lot of them so it was not down to lack of staff, were running around completely disorganised, trying to give dishes to tables that hadn’t ordered them. They seemed to be shouting/ arguing amongst themselves and were all over the place rather than assigned to set table numbers. It’s not the cheapest place to eat and I don’t mind paying but my starter was Luke warm, my wife had Carbonara to start and had nearly finished it when the Parmesan was put on the table. We didn’t get the wine until after the starters, and that was after having chased it up. There were at least 5 other tables adjacent to ours with similar complaints with the German couple next to us telling the waiter it was the first and last time he would be dining here. Looks great, menu is great, but there are far better places to eat with better customer service for a better price.