Villa Volpi - LUCCA

The good news is that the view is brilliant (from the terrace at the front of the restaurant not the one at the back), there is ample parking and the hotel management has spent money on surfacing, awnings and tidying up the surrounding olive groves. The building downstairs is not unattractive though the room upstairs is rather soulless and tends to be underlit at night. The bad news is that the food is just not up to the standard to be alongside a resort that touts itself as four star, and the service can be a little approximate, though the staff are friendly. The underlying issue is almost certainly that the restaurant, which is run as a separate establishment, is only open for six months and almost every year the hotel goes looking for new management which has to start from scratch. For the 2015 season the cook who is down from a ski resort, which makes sense, has decided only to offer meat dishes for mains (no fish, no veggie alternatives). There are a couple of non meat pasta dishes but the antipasti starter is tilted towards carnivores if you ask for it without meat, as I did, you just get a smaller plate no additional offerings. For such a limited menu the choice is uninspired as is the cooking,This must be one of the biggest wasted opportunities for a lovely location in Tuscany, if not in Italy. There is form here as this restaurant has been all over the place in recent years from rather too sophisticated cuisine to rather too basic cooking, and from dining at the front to eating at the back but service has been a perennial issue. Pity. Someone needs to get a grip, turn this delightful spot into a destination restaurant (there are others in the area) and find a way of keeping it going for most of the year so that it becomes a sustainable business venture. It could be brilliant in the right hands.

Simple but varied menu with lots of lcoal and traditional dishes. Chef certianly ahs some interesting flavours and chocies. Good wine list at good prices and as part of the hotel next door, not far to stagger back

You must visit this place for the view if nothing else. The day we went (for lunch) was fairly quiet so I can’t really comment on the food or service. However, the setting and surrounding buildings are stunning and I would recommend stopping by for a drink and a sit down to look at the view if nothing else.

This restaurant should be amazing given its location and considering how good the hotel is but it is a massive disappointment. The menu is totally uninspiring and I would suggest that if you are staying at the hotel then you take a drive into Lucca like we did after our first night experience of the restaurant where you can pick from some beautiful places to eat.

Only 10 meals in the offer, each is very poor, not the one you are used to in Italy. Breakfast is also poor, very narrow offer. On the top, you wait for the meal an hour easily... you should really improve that.