Via Bene - Menu

Not only that the food was great, but service was perfect and a really nice atmosphere in the restaurant. I would really recommend and will cerazily come back!

We both had pasta and then dessert, no complaints about the food. Our waiter got visibly frustrated by our poor language skills, however, and we felt a bit abandoned the whole time, too. All in all, our meal could have been quite nice with more effort from the staff.

Very nice small italian restaurant in a special neighbourhood in Cologne. Accomodated the whole family (we were 8) very quickly, although they were quite full. The risotto was surprisinly good and so were the artichokes and the truffel spaghetti. Will definitely come back!

Even with our tight squeeze into a small table we had a very good experience. The dining room started off quiet which had us questioning why were seated at such a small table given there were four of us. But not long after we got through our appetizers the tables around us had filled. The antipasto was delicious as were the entree and first course. Food was paired with an excellent wine making for a great experience. Would definitely recommend.

Being English we expect all menus to be translated, this one wasn't! The waiter Richard was very helpful and spent a good 5 minutes explaining every dish to us.Service was fast considering it was a busy Friday night. Antipasti was excellent as they slice the Parma ham fresh in front of you (if you sit near the slicer!). Pasta was freshly made in house and nothing tastes artificial.Atmosphere was vibrant and not too loud to hear someone across the table.Bravo!

We stumbled in here on a dreary, grey, wet day and happily spent two hours over lunch. We started with perfectly seasoned beef tartar garnished with sliced truffles and then had two of the daily specials - baby octopus with salad and veal tortolloni with green asparagus. The Sardinian red wine the waiter recommended went very well with all of these. It was not cheap, but good value, we thought.The service was very good but a little slow. It suited us, but this is probably not the place to go to for a quick lunch.

This is by no measure an inexpensive restaurant. The more surprising that - now twice - we had to pay cash (actually run to a nearby ATM and swallow the fees), as they were unable to process credit cards. Pasta is excellent, we tried several options on the menu, most dishes were good to excellent (we eat a lot in Italy, so we kinda know authentic when we taste it). The wait staff definitely tries to up-sell you on food and wine ("specials"), which we do not appreciate as much, as everything proposed was magically more than what we chose originally. Otherwise a nice place in a good location (near Friesenplatz).

A quarter to eleven, and knowing that most restaurants would close at 11pm, I quickly tried to find a place to have a decent meal after an exhausting day of travelling, sports and no food on my first ever visit to Cologne. The first Italian restaurant I stumbled upon had already closed their kitchen 15 minutes early. I walked further and found via bene which was still hopping. I walked in, not really expecting to find a table or to find out that the kitchen had already closed. The wait staff that welcomed me said that the kitchen was indeed making their last round of dishes but since I was solo, there wasn't going to be a problem. This was already a good sign. He quickly gave me a run down o...

We went here for a couples night out. First we ordered wine. We had already chosen what we wanted when the waiter suggested to try the daily wine special that he said was much better. I glanced behind my husband's back where the specials were written on a board and saw by sheer coincidence that the waiter' s suggestion was exactly double the price than what we had ordered. I managed to wave him down and cancel his suggestion before he poured it. He made a huge drama about it and said we wouldn't like what we originally ordered. Does that mean they have bad wine there? Don't get me wrong, we never cheap out on food or wine but in this case it really felt like we were tricked. Nevertheless we...