Il Vigneto

I always try to book dinner here when I'm visiting Langhe. On our latest visit, the cooking and service were still at a high level, and we enjoyed the fresh takes on classics such as Vittello Tonnato. The antipasti are stunning, so don't skip them. There's a very long wine list with a good range of prices and prestige. We were surprised that the mark-up was much lower than what we usually see elsewhere, which makes it a good place to try a high-end bottle with excellent food to pair.

The setting is the main draw: lovely scenery, vineyard views, and a romantic feel at dinner. The decor gets five-plus stars from me, the food four, and service three. The crowd is rather posh and dressed up. It's part of a hotel or residence that looks very nice and seems to attract mostly couples. We brought our 4-year-old and made sure she ate beforehand, though they did make a pasta for her. The menu has traditional Piemontese dishes as well as specials like snails. The fried shrimp snack was popular, and they brought three kinds of amuse, vegetable, fish, and meat, plus friandises with coffee. The starters were okay. I had the excellent cacao ravioli with gorgonzola, a rare dish, while my wife ordered tajarin al ragu. There was a hair in her pasta, which was noticed right away; they acknowledged it, took it away, and brought a replacement 15 minutes later. The dish tasted good, but an apology would've been nice. We couldn't really enjoy dinner together after that. They also made a special 'baby' pasta for our daughter, which she didn't like, though she loved the small brown buns. We enjoyed a very nice Pescaja (Roero Arneis). Service felt formal, detached, and inattentive. Our wine took quite a while to arrive, and then we waited much too long for the bill because the waiter seemed to have forgotten it. We felt a bit overlooked while other tables got all the attention.

We had salad, rack of lamb, and a new take on vitello tonnato, and the food was great. Dessert was excellent too. The staff were friendly. The only drawback was the really small wine glass, probably 5 cl.

The view is truly special, and the meal was amazing with excellent service. The price-quality ratio felt reasonable too. We'd gladly come back.