Angelo Bonamici
Google
The rating is mostly due to the lack of clarity in the booking process—on our end. We booked a table in the garden assuming we would have access to the full menu of the main restaurant (Zelo). Once we arrived, we realized our mistake. To be fair, the staff did everything they could to accommodate us, and we reached a compromise: a table in the garden, but with access to the full restaurant menu.
That said, a room service-style menu with club sandwiches and burgers may suit some tastes, but it’s far from the lunch experience you would expect for such a beautiful courtyard setting at the FS Milan.
Things took a turn when a different manager approached us and, rather assertively, informed us we should expect a long wait (30+ minutes) for food, as we were bar guests—not restaurant guests. In other words, second-tier guests. Still, we accepted this and ordered a bottle of champagne to enjoy the wait in the gardens.
Unfortunately, after another 20 minutes—with no blanc de blancs, a wrong water order, and the sun turning our seating area uncomfortably hot—we had to move the furniture ourselves into the shade despite having asked the staff for help. At that point, I called Krishntha at the Bulgari, and thankfully they were able to accommodate us on short notice. We ended up enjoying the afternoon lunch experience we had been looking for there instead. The garden at Bulgari is stunning.
This is the second time in a short span I’ve had a disappointing experience at a Four Seasons property (the previous one being last week at one of their properties in the Middle East). Hopefully, it’s just bad luck, not a pattern—FS has always been my benchmark for luxury. I’m fully aware of the challenges in staffing these days, but unfortunately, the way things were handled today didn’t reflect the standard I’ve come to experience several times at FS’s around the globe
