All restaurant visits start very often with a phone call to make the reservation. The excellent telephone service was a delightful start. At first no table was available but after a few minutes they phoned and offered a table. Originally I wanted to book the gourmet but this does not open until the 3rd of March. In the bistro setting our San Martino journey started.

The restaurant is situated in a cellar and the initial impression was a little dissapointing, this is casual dining. After being seated we had to wait around 10 minutes for the menu to arrive. After this things improved rapidly. The menu is nice and contains a good selection of different dishes.

The Wine Experience

The wine list is not extensive. It contains mostly known labels from Germany, France, Spain and Italy. No big surprises. The margins on the wine are around 250%(buy for 1 sell for 2.5). Which lies on the average and is too much. Why not a standard markup for all the bottles. People drink more wine. The glasses for red are standard Riedel glasses which are ok. For white they use very small glasses and these to do not suit some of the nice wines on offer (2012 GG Riesling von Fritz Haag). Good wine deserves a good glass. Staff did not know a lot about the wines on offer. Nor did the wine list show the correct vintages and in many cases no vintage was noted on the wine list. A wine list should always be up to date. The decanters used are basic. The red was served way too warm. Tip set your wine fridge for the reds to 13 - 15 degrees celcius.  The whites were served a little too cold but this is not a big issue. The wine service was ok but not excellent. Staff need training on how to serve wine to the customer correctly and the have some information about the wines the restaurant has on offer.

The Food Adventure

The little amuse bouche with quark with herbs and bread was ok. The bread was of average quality and there is better bread available in Konstanz. Find a nice boulangerie.  So far ok. The startes of home made ravioli and angelhair with black tiger shrimp were tasty evendo everything was a little over cooked. Shrimp and pasta are ingredients that need immaculate timing and here the chef was off by a minute. Nontheless it was tasty just less salt for the shrimp. Textures of the ravioli all ok and the filling was wonderful.

 The Brasato was nice but could have used more flavour it was very neutral. Texture of the meat was good but served way too hot. The side of polenta was flavour less and could have done with some butter or cheese/cream to complement the beef. The sauce was way too thing and would classify as a "soup". This as well needs more attention. A dish like this should never leave the kitchen. The vegetables however were cooked to perfection. 5/10

Black angus beef with Gratin was cooked to perfection. The same for the beans with bacon. This dish was simple but well executed. 8/10

For dessert we ordered the Kaiserschmarren. This was good but little overcooked.The  home made ice cream was from another planet so delicious with exceptional textures and flavours. 

Service Galore

Overall the service experience was good. The team made the effort to ensure the guests are happy. Thomas the manager is a true professional and made us feel at home. Little things need improvement. It just did not feel like a well oiled machine. Imporve wine know.how. Do a quality check on dishes before they leave the kitchen. 

The Lounge Bar

This is a cool bar with a good drinks selection and cool setting. The big draw back is every body is smoking and the place smells like a big ashtray. The air quality is simply terrible and I cannot recommend this venue.  Stick to the restaurant Konstance has many other bars that do not smell like an old ashtray. Create a smokers corner and keep the bar smoke free.

• Thomas and Remy Thomas and Remy
• Angel hair pasta Angel hair pasta
• Red/Rot Red/Rot
• Brosato Brosato
• Fritz Haag 2012 GG Riesling... Fritz Haag 2012 GG Riesling...
• Kaiserschmarren Kaiserschmarren
• Lounge bar Lounge bar
• Ravioli Ravioli
• Lindau Schnapps Lindau Schnapps
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