I Chiari

This was an outstanding find! Though the address is Montepulciano, this restaurant is not located in the hill town, it's in the valley below and is actually closer to Pozzuolo.

The first time we visited, they were setting up for a large private party inside. Though we had no reservations, they made room for us on the terrace. The waitress, Nicolete, is from Romania and she was really sweet. As a first course, Lin and I shared what was by far the best penne with vodka sauce I’ve ever had. For the second course, she had veal in lemon and I veal in wine sauce. Both were excellent.

Even though there were many other choices, we'd enjoyed the first visit so much, we returned several days later. Again most of the place was taken up by a huge party and again they made room for us, this time inside. Once again Nicolete waited on us. She is so absolutely charming it’s amazing. Though she was running her legs off with the party, she gave us excellent service and even made time to chat with us. Nicolete is Romanian, and at some point I asked her about Romanian food. After explaining, she expressed regret that I had not asked on our first visit since she had yesterday off and would have been delighted to cook for us in her home! She asked when we were leaving Umbria and when I said Saturday, she asked whether we could delay it so she could cook for us next Tuesday! When is the last time THAT happened to you? We all just wanted to take her home with us! The manager also went out of his way to make us feel welcome and each time we visited, we were given wine to take back to the villa! Forget Olive Garden, HERE you're treated like family.