Bistro Nazionale

Super friendly staff and absolutely next-level food! I’m usually skeptical about eating pasta in Belgium since I’m quite the foodie and it rarely tastes authentically Italian—but they completely outdid themselves here. I celebrated my birthday with friends and every single dish was a hit. The cocktails were excellent as well, and the setting is just stunning. Highly recommended!

The VITELLO TONNATO comes in three sizes the waiter who I think was the owner said the medium was not enough and if we were hungry then we needed the large size at €31 so two of us took that. It would have been god for 4/5 people as an appetizer and more than enough for two to share. It was a ridiculous amount of meat and cream for one person- you feel sick by the time you finish it…which is such a shame as the food was delicious.

I would say it’s not worth it. The prices are normal/high, and the quality of the food is not great. The carbonara was quite salty and the guanciale not that good. The tartare di Manzo was much better. The locatjon is cool. The service was slow and messy, they forgot our drinks twice for the second round. The best waitress was an Italian lady.

This was my first visit to Bistro Nazionale, which is not far from my home. It’s definitely worth dining there with friends or family. The pasta was delicious, but the highlight for me was the tiramisu. Also, be sure to make a reservation to ensure a smooth dining experience!

Love this place. Very well located, a 3min walk from place Flagey. Food is of quality, and good portion too. There are vegetarian options and amazing mocktails for those who want to enjoy a good prepared drink without alcohol. I tried the Massimo cocktail (see photo) Little downside was the tiramisu, quite pricey and not well balanced in my opinion. I still highly recommend trying out this place!

Food wise it was super tasty and very authentic. What I found strange was lack of bread which is a must with caponata. There was one guy serving there and he was quite stressed which you can feel. Also, there was no music playing there which made the atmosphere quite awkward.

I was looking forward to try ir as I heard very positive things about it and felt a bit dissapointed. We ordered two pastas ravioli di melanzane, one plate of croquettes, two cocktails and a bottle of water and paid 80,20€ in total. The quality of the food is ok good but I thought it was expensive.

We had a very unpleasant experience here with a waiter that was completely unattentive. He didn't ask us anything and we even had to insist to get some drinks. In the end, the owners realised that we were unhappy and offered us some desserts, even to take home, but it was too late: our brunch experience was already ruined and we couldn't wait to get out of there. €38 was also too much for what we got in return.

I received a recommendation from a server at another restaurant to eat at Bistro Nazionale while in Brussels. I am so appreciative that I listened. The pastas were perfectly al dente and the sauces were delicious. Our server, Fabiola, was so helpful in describing each of the dishes to us and the service was wonderful.

I've been here a few times and the first time was the only time the food was great. After that, the food, the service, everything was awful! Which seems to be a trend with this company (as they also own cocina--there's hype when they first open and everything is good and then it just goes downhill). The last time I was there was the last time I'll be going as the staff was so rude. My friend got up to close the door bc it was windy and was promptly scolded for doing so. She could've been told in a nice way but the employee was over the top rude. As the dinner went on, the staff became ruder and ruder-- even refusing to give us another order of wine as we had to leave the table in 25 mins. Plenty of time for us to finish a glass. Then the staff proceeded to talk about us very LOUDLY only a few feet away. It was horrific behavior. The service alone is the reason I wouldn't go back again.

Only giving one star because of poor service which ruined everything. But there is room for improvement. Same owner as Cocina in Brussels, so great product to make great food, but not the same quality and even if it opened recently, there is a few things that deserved bad rating: worst table at the entrance when you book in advance and are the first customer in (no any other options hmmm?) , an entrance door which needs urgent repair (really you just opened the damn place?) , then a pushy unfriendly waiter asking your order many times, then pasta with way too much pepper/salt/butter, then we have been asked to move to the bar for our coffee time in order to make room for unhappy customers because of their own table (are you fuckin kidding ?). Thanks for the compensation with a glass of prosecco but that's not enough. There is room for improvement because of the quality of products chosen. But professionalism is key and it's missing here. Personally I'm not coming back here. I will stick to Cocina or other better Italian restaurant in Brussels and there are some.