Lezione di cucina a Bellagio con il famoso Chef Luigi Gandola

Not only was I able to experience a one on one cooking class, the experience was run in a functioning commercial kitchen of a family owned restaurant. Chef Luigi's family has owned and run their beautiful restaurant for 50 years. The class was informative, fun, insightful, and delicious!

We had such a great time! Chef picked us up at our hotel and gave us a quick tour of the cheese shop before heading to the restaurant to make fresh pasta. The atmosphere was warm and friendly and Chef Luigi is 100% delightful. The meal was fantastic! One of the best experiences of our trip.

This experience with Luigi and the team was the do not miss of our trip to Bellagio. Something we will be talking about for years to come and recommending to anyone who is heading to Como as a must do. We did the mushroom and truffle hunt followed by a cooking class that ended with the most amazing meal we had throughout the whole trip. Luigi thank you again, you are truly Bellagio’s Renaissance man and we can’t wait to visit next time we’re back! Hayley and Peter

Cooking with Luigi was an amazing way to spend our 40th wedding anniversary! Luigi gave us a quick tour of his property and garden, helping us understand the legacy of the restaurant and his dreams for the future. He is a talented and ambitious young man and we have only good thoughts about his realizing his dreams. This was as much a cultural experience as it was good fun! At the end we all got certificates and a cooking grade. My grade of B+ was very generous as I am lucky to boil pasta correctly. Thank you, Luigi, for making our 40th very special.

My girlfriend and I were so excited for our class with Chef Luigi given the rave reviews his classes generally receive. The class description promised a trip to a local market, multi hour cooking class, and samples of local wines and cheeses. But the class was NOT as advertised. We were extremely disappointed with the entire experience. Here are a few of the frustrating issues that made the class such a bust: To start, our class time was abruptly changed on us at the last minute with no reason given. When we arrived, we were shuffled around from room to room and given no direction. The staff were busily preparing food (for customers with dinner reservations, not us) and we were clearly in their way, which was awkward. When Chef Luigi finally got around to us, we were rushed through the cooking process. We watched him hurriedly mix ingredients and speed through explanations of what he was doing. We were repeatedly left alone as he frantically moved about the kitchen helping his staff prep dinner for other guests. Ultimately, we were shuffled out to a table so we could eat the pizza Chef Luigi had prepped. It was terrible. Our food had clearly been rushed through the busy kitchen. As the night wore on, it became clear to me that we were being more or less ignored so that the staff could tend to the regular dinner crowd. That is particularly infuriating given my girlfriend and I paid ~100 Euro each for the course. We raised our concerns with Chef Luigi - but after a fruitless back and forth, we ultimately decided to just get up and leave. I am shocked our experience seems to be so unique among Trip Advisor reviewers. Maybe it was a particularly stressful night for the restaurant or perhaps there were some other specific circumstances that affected the staff's attitude toward us that night. Nonetheless the level of service we received was unacceptable.

Me and my 6 friends signed up for the pizza class at Salice Blu and it was a COMPLETE SCAM. We signed up on the website where it had every time slot available, so we picked the most convenient time for us, which was 6:30. We also paid extra (25 Euro per person more) to start the class at the market picking out fresh ingredients. We received an email 2 days before the tour that our time had been changed from 6:30 to 4pm, which did not work for our schedule. When we called to ask why/let them know this time didn't work they said ok no problem we'll do it at 6:30 and pick you up in Bellagio at 6:15. They were 20 minutes late to pick up. When we got to the restaurant, they didn't know what to do with us. We stood in the middle of the restaurant while the kitchen staff sat down for their pre-shift meal and no one had any direction for us. Finally Chef Luigi came up and brought us into their kitchen, the same one being used to cook dinner for the guests coming in. Needless to say, other than being unsanitary and bizzare, it was crowded and NOT fit for a "cooking class." Also, we didn't go to the market and no one said anything about it. Luigi, who was clearly flustered doing 100 things at once (answering the phone, preparing dinner for the evening, and "instructing" a class) started quickly spewing out ingredients that he was throwing into a bowl (so fast we couldn't even follow) and then went to mix it in the mixer. He brought it back and had us roll out the dough. He was hardly telling us what to do and kept walking away. He came back for 5 minutes and told us to put the sauce and cheese on. He also had us roll out "baguettes" with pre-made dough and told us we'd be getting/tasting focaccia and "bread sticks." The website description also mentioned we would be getting tastings of local cheese which did not happen. He gave us all one glass of wine and when we asked for more he said "beer only." Without finishing the pizzas or giving really any explanation he rushed us out to sit down to start eating. We were SO confused. After a few minutes the staff came out with our pizza which was hardly cooked. When we said something they said "this is what italian pizza is like!" It was truly disgusting - and we never got any of the other food promised. When we complained about all of the above, they were very defensive and said the reason we did not go to the market was because we didnt come at 4pm (which they did not tell us would happen when we called). Ultimately, they did give us back the extra 25pp for the market, but were unapologetic and not accommodating on the other complaints. They happily shoved us out the door and we left starving, pissed off, and still paid 80 euros for a bizarre, rushed, unprofessional experience and half cooked pizza. Ultimately, poor experience I don't understand the operation this place is trying to run.