Trattoria L'Oca Bianca In Salsomaggiore terme

15/07/2026: Excellent restaurant in Parma... quiet place, excellent service, very good food, typical dishes

12/07/2026: I pick the places we visit very carefully and don't often write negative reviews, but during our 3-week trip through northern Italy, this was probably our greatest disappointment - possibly because of the language barrier, but I'm not sure. I reserved weeks in advance, and told them that because it was my birthday it would be nice if they could add/do a little something to make it special. However, this was all in English, and it took them 2-3 weeks to respond. Although we speak English, French, and Japanese, we don't speak Italian, and the owner/boss did not seem very friendly or communicative from the moment we walked in. When they suggested we sit in the middle of the restaurant, we asked if we could have the corner (which was empty), but we were told that those seats had been reserved - and a couple did later show up and sit there. But if the part about my birthday was ever noticed, it has been long been forgotten, and we simply found the service awkward and unfriendly. In addition, although the food was good, the portion sizes were large, so we ended up asking to take the remainder how with us - which they kindly packaged up for us. The only thing that helped to salvage the evening was that I discovered part-way through the meal that one of our servers was Moroccan and that she could speak French. After that, we were able to commicate freely, she became much more friendly, and we enjoyed the remainder of the meal much more. I don't really understand why our experience was in stark contrast to most of the reviews listed here. All restaurants have off nights, but who knows.