Cercando un ristorante carino e romantico a Verbania, più precisamente a Pallanza, ci siamo ritrovati avvolti dalla “magia” di un ambiente unico, circondato dal verde di una vite a pergola e da un roseto rampicante. Ci hanno sbalordito le deliziose proposte dello chef, servite con cura e passione per la cucina italiana, accompagnate da ottimo vino. Il sapore degli ingredienti, sapientemente bilanciato, mai scontato o banale e la materia di prima qualità esplodevano nel palato ad ogni boccone. Torneremo sicuramente a degustare le creazioni del Mago. Non perdetevi questa esperienza!

Mio marito non poteva farmi regalo migliore per il mio compleanno! Siamo stati accolti calorosamente dal personale e dallo Chef che ci ha elencato tutte le sue prelibatezze e ce le ha anche servite!!! Non saprei trovare miglior commento se non INSUPERABILE e UNICO! Abbiamo mangiato benissimo e la qualità dei prodotti è altissima.... Se cercate un locale dove mangiare BENE, qui non si sbaglia! Torneremo sicuramente! 😊 Grazie mille 🤗 vorrei pubblicare foto ma non me lo permette.... Peccato...

Ambiente accogliente e personale gentile. Non c'è la lista delle pietanze ma il cuoco presenta tutti i piatti. Pasta al pomodoro (offerta dal cuoco) 1 cacciucco 25 € 1 tagliata con cipolle 20 € 1 pozione di patate 3 € 2 calici di vino 9 € 2 coperti 4 € Totale 62 euro ottimo rapporto qualità prezzo. Lo consiglio perché si mangia divinamente!

Tutto ciò che si può chiedere per passare una piacevole serata a tavola. Accoglienza e cortesia non comuni, cibo ottimo cucinato con passione, grande attenzione ad ogni richiesta per rendere una cena veramente speciale. Complimenti sinceri. Era la nostra prima volta in questo locale e sicuramente non sarà l’ultima. Alla prossima!

Stefano H

Best Tartare with fresh Truffles ever! Passionate and professional Chef. We'll be back Mauricio

Galor Royi

We had the pleasure of dining at Mago’s restaurant, where Mago himself warmly greeted us and described the daily specials. We enjoyed the ravioli, carbonara, tartare, and dessert — each dish was unique and outstanding. After the meal, Mago joined us again, and we exchanged stories from our travels in the Far East. We highly recommend this restaurant — not only for its exceptional food but also for the personal, welcoming atmosphere. We only discovered it on our fourth day in Verbania… if only we had found it sooner!

leoca catalina

The food was delicious dinner, I’ve enjoyed the concept no fix menu and the company of the Chef who will explain the menu and make the recommendations. The selection of wine is good and the paring recommended was great.

+6

Alina Craciun

Very special and unique experience in this small and truly authentic restaurant, away from the touristic restaurants and food for masses… For the first time in a long time, I had the privilege to taste authentic food, prepared with talent, care and best ingredients by a real chef. Everything we had was wonderful! A delight. Atmosphere simple, authentic, no noise, a moment of simple relaxation and culinary delight. So rare to find authenticity nowadays!!! We very much loved and appreciated it.

Bridgette Bek

This is a wonderful place for a delicious lunch at a great price. The chef speaks English and gave us a choice of 2 dishes. I love that he cooks what he wants and you need to trust him. You won’t be disappointed!

Ismail Mohammad Saeed

We had best dishes suggested by the owner as well he is the chef Though we were a bit late to the booking, the chef was nice to offer his best option Many thanks for your good time as well It has been a while since our dinner

Caroline Rotter

Excellent meal, great treatment of the staff. The pasta was super fresh and well cooked. House wine extremely well chosen by the owner. The price is extremely fair.

Jakub Lesniowski

Hard to say enough good things about the place. Pasta dishes to die for, one of the best beef tartars ever, and the great limoncello tiramisu. And for the kids great, freshly-made tomato sauce... that you end up finishing yourself. If you like tourist traps with pretentious settings, that's not a place for you. If you like real food, served with passion and pride, go there... once, twice, three times. You'll keep coming back. As my family does.

Clemmentijn Treinen

This place is a hidden gem. What a culinary experience, everything is made with the greatest attention to detail. The owner takes his time to explain all the dishes in this adorable small scale authentic restaurant. Pure passion for food and wine.I highly recommend it!

Lt Dan

This is not just a "sit down, get some drinks and food to get full and leave as soon as possible for the next guests". This is: Slow down, take your time and enjoy. You`ll meet a nice guy who loves his creations, his dishes. The explanation of each primi and secondi is a presentation of his passion, of his work, his handcraft art. You can feel his love for what he`s doing there. Waiting for the food is a little bit like waiting for a christmas present. You´ll not only get full, you´ll be happy afterwards. It´s not about extravagance cooking from space with a range of non pronounceable ingedients, it´s home base cooking with a fantastic smell and flavour. The price is absolute fair. I´ve been around in Italy, mostly in Tuscani and visited lots of Restaurants but this Tavern is special, it´s outstanding delicious.

Scott Balaam

Wonderful Sunday lunch and also enjoyed their weekday lunch menu. The owner is really friendly and speaks English if needed. Would highly recommend it.

+3

Mae

Wow, we were totally impressed by the great service. The food was also very good so we can highly recommend this restaurant.

Alexander Schicho

A true treasure at Lago Maggiore! Fantastic food, beautiful location and an amazing host. You sit in a very nice garden, surrounded by flowers and fresh herbs, which is makes you forget the street outside. The host takes a lot of time to explain you the dishes of the day and what suits your personal taste. Same goes for the wine. The food is prepared close to perfection and served with so much joy that you can only enjoy your evening there. Can’t recommend this place enough, it’s a true gem hidden in a small garden near a shopping Centre and away from the tourist buzz.

+1

S F

I would say you should go here for the food, but that would be a disservice to the whole experience. The warmth that you receive during the experience is what all restaurants should aim to attain. The dishes are prepared expertly with care and the ingredients are top notch. Among the courses was the best gnocchi I've had. I highly recommend this restaurant. If you get a chance, have a chat with the chef, you'll be happy you did.

How wonderful it is to find a place oozing with passion and dedication. From initial impressions It is a simple taverna but when you realise that menu is presented verbally by the chef you understand…

Lovely Restaurant. Owner is the chef and there is no menue. He presents the dishes by himself. Our kids have been served immediately with simple pasta, but awesome taste (so we could enjoy our dinn…

Quando si dice che l'abito non fa il monaco, rispecchia perfettamente la location da fuori. Dentro è tutt'altra cosa. Interni molto curati e ricercati. Lo chef Merlo che ti accoglie, ti fa sentire già parte integrante del suo ristorante, sentire da lui stesso decantare i suoi prelibati piatti fanno volare la mente già prima di assaporarli ed infine ciliegina sulla torta, ti consiglia il vino facendoti virtualmente viaggiare su tutto lo stivale d'Italia. Le foto non hanno bisogno di alcun commento da aggiungere. Ahh dovrò tornarci per gustare il resto😉

Ottimo ristorante, provato per pranzo con il menù fisso. Per 11 euro si ha la scelta tra 2 primi e 2 secondi. Piatti interessanti e ricercati. Servizio veloce e gentile. Per cena il menù sale di livello con prodotti ricercati e piatti molto ben presentati.

Ambiente raccolto e intimo, il titolare viene personalmente a dire cosa c è nel menù e prendere le comande. Il cibo è’ di ottima qualità e i piatti sono citati nella scelta e accostamento degli ingredienti. Il pane fritto L ho trovato delizioso.

Bel posto a 2 passi dal Tribunale. Ci sono capitato per caso per pranzo in settimana. Si mangia discretamente quindi se siete da quelle parti lo consiglio. Riescono a valorizzare addirittura il menù a prezzo fisso con fantasiose ricercatezze...Prezzi? L'ultima volta che un pranzo (e sottolineo pranzo e non snack) l'ho pagato così il Presidente del Consiglio era Bettino Craxi.

Michael

I had a great evening and enjoyed the food. The lemon tiramisu was especially tasty.

Ristorante che si trova al di fuori del lungo lago, vicinissimo a Esselunga. Location con un bel dehor , spiegazione dei piatti sublime, anche se io preferisco un menù alla carta, pietanze risultate buone, piccolo neo è stato che il mio primo è arrivato freddo, vino particolare al di sopra delle ns aspettative , etichette non commerciali . Conto , mi aspettavo di meno, essendo un posto non turistico e per locazione e per il disguido dello spaghetto freddo

porzioni di cibo veramente scarse qualità decente, prezzo per quello che si mangia troppo alto, su google convenzionato per buono pasto e alla casa la sorpresa che non li accettano. esperienza da evitare !

Michel

Terrible service. Atmosphere ok.

Lured by the wonderful reviews, I went to La Taverna Del Mago expecting a nice meal for me and my friends. However, our experience couldn't have been more different. After arriving and being showed o…

The menu is composed of primi and secondi piatti that change everyday - so far, so good - with a fixed price on the menu that is available at the entrance of the restaurant. The waitress gave us a …

By far the worst meal I’ve had in Italy so far! Firstly the menu: we had seen a menu by the entrance, but were later told by the waiter the chef would be coming to tell us the available dishes, and…

The menu is composed of primi and secondi piatti that change everyday - so far, so good - with a fixed price on the menu that is available at the entrance of the restaurant. The waitress gave us a …

Mel Ide

This gentleman is just grumpy. I went there couple days back and felt very uncomfortable by the way he spoke to us. He has a bad answer for everything and seems to be really frustrated. The food was not bad, just avarage. Good luck treating your clients the way you do, I hope you learn some basic manners chef Ramsay :)

Ana Nunes

We were 5 friends that went for dinner and all the experience was unpleasant. After we sit, we asked for the menu and we were told that it didn't exist (in any language) and the chef would explain the dishes. He did it but he seemed annoyed when we asked him to repeat since we didn’t memorize it all. Then, when we asked for the wine list and we were told that there wasn't one available as well. When we insisted, we were told that our choice would be price-based if we would see it. Regarding the food, some dishes were okay but some were way below our expectations. We were never asked how we would like our meat done and one of them came without a side dish. When the check came we ended up paying a different and more expensive price than the fixed price set on the general menu at the entrance of the restaurant. This just feels like acting in bad faith making it a very unpleasant experience.

Luísa Vieira

Lured by the wonderful reviews, I went to La Taverna Del Mago expecting a nice meal for me and my friends. However, our experience couldn't have been more different. After arriving and being showed our table, the waitress explained that there was no written menu and that it would be presented by the chef. He showed up later on, and was ok, not the most welcoming, but made an effort to explain the dishes in English. However, once we asked to repeat the dishes since we couldn't remember 8 complex dishes, he became arrogant. (This could have been easily solved with a written menu). It only got worse when we were told there was no wine list (we like to select not only according to taste, but also according to budget). We were told "why do you want the wine list since you don't know italian wines, it won't serve you". We should have left at this point, but we remembered the good food reviews and stayed. However, the food was nothing to rave about. Amongst 5 dishes, two were ok, while the other three were bland. Also, we ordered two meat dishes and were not asked how done we'd like the meat, which was rare but slightly burned. At no point during the dinner were we asked for our opinion about the meal. We also had a dirty water cup, and when we asked for another one, we were offered no apologies and were asked if we wanted to transfer the water from the dirty cup to the new one?! To top it all, we ended up paying more than expected for this miserable experience, since the menu at the entrance stated the primi cost 13€ and the secondi cost 15€, and we were charged 16€ and 20€, respectively. I'd like to know what was the special ingredient that made the chef charge us more.. rudeness perhaps?! Definitely do not reccomend!! The worst dining experience I've had in Italy.

Inês Godinho

A very unpleasant experience. The menu is composed of primi and secondi piatti that change everyday - so far, so good - with a fixed price on the menu that is available at the entrance of the restaurant. The waitress gave us a table, but when we asked for the menu, we were told there isn’t one (printed or digital), and that the chef would explain it instead. He did so, but started getting arrogant when we asked him to repeat since we didn’t memorize all the dishes - which would have been easily solved with a written menu. Then, when we asked for the wine list, we were told (again!!!) that there isn’t one. When we insisted, we were told by the chef that if we saw the list (that doesn’t exist…) our choice would be price-based only. That was incredibly rude. When the food finally came, it was not at all deserving of the good comments we had read on TripAdvisor/google - the primi were okay but mostly bland and the entrecôte and tagliata (the secondis) were too rare (we were never asked how we would like our meat done) and one of them came without a side dish. Finally, when the check came we ended up paying a different price than the one set on the menu - 16€ por the primi (instead of 13€) and 20€ for the secondi (instead of 15€). That was just dishonest and ended a mediocre experience in the worst possible way.