Trattoria Osteria Buca Manzoni

Trattoria Osteria Buca Manzoni introduced me to a whole new Italian food item that I had no idea existed, sopaipillas!! Gnocco fritto, known in Bologna as crescentine, are served hot in a paper bag (no honey!) for you to spread cheese and/or drape salumi over. Included in the tagliere was coppa di testa, Italian head cheese, but not ciccioli. A family run old school Italian trattoria, us two non Italian looking foreigners got oh-so-kindly seated next to the bathroom where we could delight in the comforting sound of the hot air hand dryer every 128 seconds all night, a perfect pairing with our bottle of dry(er) Lambrusco. Tagliatelle al ragù, what sad USA people call Bolognese (a word that ends with the sound "ay" if you were even to pronounce it correctly), was quite dry. Tortellini alla Buca Manzoni was a bit short on brodo. Fried "milk" (custard) was straight out of the state fair. Torta of something (ricotta? Man I'm getting old) with hot chocolate to pour over was very osteriaesque. Giardiniera was suitably vinegary. Mamma at the cassa was charming.

Extremely good food and service! I would have loved to give six stars to this restaurant but I cannot because of the system! Don’t miss this opportunity to eat at this restaurant when you’re in Bologna!

We had a very good meal, service of both waiters was very good. Food very good, vine very good…. But the kitchen is a disaster. We were waiting for the first meal more the. 1 hour. Terrible. All tables were served before us whiile we came before them.

This place is totally recommended for coeliacs. Was welcomed really well and the staff kept checking on me to check if everything was ok. Food was delicious.

Very nice trattoria in a quiet spot a few meters from Via Independenza Better to book a table before you go Try the tagliatelle or the mushroom tortellini Senior Giacomo does an excellent job ! o

Wonderful first meal in Bologna. We arrived a bit earlier past peak lunch time and it was nice and quiet. The waitstaff recommended dishes and wine in a very sensible manner and everything was delicious and served at the right temperature. The best thing was the fact that they don’t try and push you to order more and the most expensive items/wines on the menu. Very honest and simple, well prepared food. Highly recommended.

Very disappointing experience. The restaurant offers traditional Emilian and Bolognese dishes, but unfortunately the quality was very poor. The tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms were mediocre at best, the lasagna was awful, and the meat was just as bad. Even the roasted potatoes were terrible, which says a lot. The only positive aspect was the staff, who were friendly, helpful, and polite throughout the meal. We ordered three first courses, one main course, one side dish, one glass of red wine (low quality and overly alcoholic), and two bottles of water. Total: €92. For the quality offered, the price is absolutely excessive. This is clearly a typical tourist trap. Never again.

So many customers Delicious food Nice staff There is 1 Thai lady staff 👍👍👍

We spent 5 nights in Bologna, and this was our dinner spot on our first and last nights Wifey started us off with charcuterie, which was a huge portion of meats and cheeses, accompanied by perfect pickled veggies (a bit agrodolce). More than half went home with us, as we were saving ourselves for the next courses. The roasted veggies were fine. The menu was a bit light on vegetables, but we were here in late winter. Sliced beef with "baked potatoes" is perfectly grilled ribeye with fluffy roasted rosemary potatoes. The potato gnocchi was gloriusly fluffy and chewy (our girls call it "pillow pasta"). The bolognese was wonderful! There may be witchcraft involved in this recipe. Highly recommend this place. We went back, since it was so good, as well as very well priced. We didn't see any other Americans either time we went. The staff was welcoming, and other diners were friendly. Fun nights!

Tried it for dinner. My main dish was so bland, it was like something they give you in the hospital when you are on the bland diet. Veal "meatloaf" was barely seasoned and comes without any sauce or toppings. Pureed potatoes needed salt and butter. Spouse's gnocchi was okay. Not terrible, but not great. Sorry to say it wasn't a happy dinner in Bologna, a food-centric city.

The food and service started out great then rapidly went down hill. When they brought the incorrect first course they barely apologized for the error. It then took 30 minutes for the posta we'd ordered to cone out and when it did it was under cooked. I'm a chef and author of an Italian cookbook - I'm keenly aware of what al dente pasta is and this was not that! When we let them know they wanted to tell us that's just the way the chef makes their spaghetti. Clearly a defensive stance for a sub par dish. We skipped this and went on to the next course which then took another 30 minutes to get to the table. They never offered another cocktail or apologized during that time or anytime after. Good food is an important part of a meal and service is an equally important part - especially in fine dinning. That was the real disappointment was with this restaurant. I would NOT return here.

We came here as a recommendation from a tour guide we had the previous day. His recommendation did not disappoint! This place was pretty large and we saw a lot of tourists coming in (including ourselves) which we usually try to avoid but we knew our tour guide recommended this place for a reason. Meat platter (5/5): absolutely get the house meat platter if you can. It comes with a large assortment and quantity of sliced meats in which you eat with the crescentines (5/5) and pickled veggies that came with it. The crescentines were so warm and perfectly doughy, it worked amazingly with the meats and pickled veggies Breaded Veal with prosciutto (4/5): very decadent and heavy dish as it also comes with a thick cream sauce. It was very delicious and well cooked but a little too heavy to eat during lunch time Tagliatelle with asparagus (spring special) (3/5): this was good but nothing super exciting about this dish. Overall this was a good experience for lunch time and I'd recommend coming here!

We had the best single dish or our entire trip here. Stinco di Maiale con Patate. A pork shank slow roasted to perfection. The flesh fell off the bone and it was just the tiniest bit dry which increased the richness of the taste. The roasted potatoes were an excellent side. Carpone Malvoti Prosecco. Crisp and dry. €25 Il Montecino Barbera 2017. Smooth. €27 Lasagne Verdi. Soft noodles in a bechamel sauce with cheese and a small amount of meat. Delicious. The Stinco. Chocolate cake with mascarpone. Wow! Coffee and brandy. + Wi-Fi + Service was friendly and helpful from our Italian waitress of Filipino descent. I love globalization. + Tablecloths + Cloth napkins + Hefty flatware: Pinti, Italy. + Music was gentle jazz. - English menu. €98.50 for dinner for two.

A decent option, with good service, especially for walk ins and even if you are solo. I sat outside facing the street so I could entertain myself watching life roll by. I started with the spuma di mortadella con crostini di pane (mortadella mousse with croutons). I had been a huge mortadella fan this whole trip but this dish was just overkill, especially for just one person. If you are a group, give it a try. For my main, I tried the lasagne verdi alla bolognese (green bolognese lasagna). the lasagna was good, perhaps better than most back home in the USA. Still, it was slightly dry and I was expecting a bit more, since this was the alleged culinary capital of Italy. I paired with a house red wine. I think you could probably do better here in Bologna, but do your research. If all else fails, this place will suffice.

But for the lack of ambiance, I would give this place five stars, on account of the bollito misto. Our hotel clerk/concierge Christine sent us here after her first two choices were unavailable, We didn't expect much, the place was too brightly lit and we were handed one of those tourist menus written in five languages. But the wine by the glass was excellent. A shared antipasto of thinly sliced galantine of chicken with egg approximated the most delicious deli chicken you had, the mayonnaise that accompanied it tasted homemade. Even better were the primi piatti, tortellini for me, and fettucini with ragu for the missus. I followed this up with a killer bollito misto, beef, what I thought was tongue, chicken and what was identified as "pig head." The beef, tongue, and pig head were outstanding. The sauce was salsa verde, not mostarda di cremona. They gave me bowls of mashed potatoes and cabbage with the bollito, both were quite good. My wife's cotoletta alla bolognese was an enormous schnitzel with a light cream sauce, beautifully prepared, as was her side of spinaci. No room for dessert on this meal.

It's really close to the major thoroughfares, but it feels kind of removed from the hustle, which I do not prefer. The food is just so so, but the service is done very well. Their staff are pros, but their food is pretty bland. It will be a while before I go back.