Augusto - Lyon

With grandparents and parents from Italy, I grew up with typical "red sauce" Italian. Eggplant, lasagna, ravioli, like Olive Garden only authentic, tasty and not loaded with salt and fat. Please don't eat here if that is what you expect and all that you like. First, the staff. Our French is non existent, and this is a locals place. The chef came out to do his best to explain the menu, and between his English vocabulary and our minimal French and Italian, everything was explained. They made us feel very welcome and made a real effort to communicate (Not a universal experience this trip. And yes, I should know French, but have forgotten it. Apoatently I needed room in my head for song lyrics of the 1980s) Anyway, we ordered two apps: eggplant parmigiana and asparagus with Parma ham. The eggplant was deconstructed. There were rolls of baked eggplant slices, mounds of pureed eggplant, and clouds of mozzarella foam, with fried basil and a piece of crispy parmesan cheese all sitting in a thin layer of tomato sauce. Certainly not what I am used to but life is about new experiences. It was amazing. Even my eggplant - loathing husband liked it. A lot. The flavor of the eggplant really came through. It was just delicious. His asparagus was fresh and tasty and without the presence of the eggplant would probably have sent me to asparagus nirvana (I love veggies), but the eggplant had my full attention. He liked it a lot though. For mains the hubs had ravioli and I had lasagna. We had lasagna a lot growing up and my feeling about it is - meh. This lasagna changed all that. First the pasta was the most delicately thin layers of fresh pasta I have ever seen. The layers included a beautiful sauce with large pieces of well cooked pork and beef. The cheese was a delicate burrata not a stringy mozzarella. And the whole dish was finished with rocket (arugala) and toasted pine nuts. Exquisite. The hubs ravioli were bite sized delicate clouds of pork and other stuff that tasted heavenly. No gummy or chewy pasta, but the same thin sheets, with an excellent tomato sauce that complimented the ravioli without overwhelming it. Finally we shared a panna cotta for dessert. I hate panna cotta, it makes me think of milk Jello. I opted for it because everything else had been astounding, so what the heck? This was no milk Jello. It was silky and delicious with an excellent raspberry sauce. So we could complain that this Italian restaurant was nothing like the ones in Italy, or like my Nona's, as some people have. Instead we elected to embrace the differences and enjoy a fine, reasonably priced meal that we will never forget. And kudos to the staff for making such an effort to make us feel welcome.

On January 31st, I went to Augusto to have lunch, all by my self. First of all, although being small, the restaurant was absolutely not crowded, so there was no reason for me to be installed in a table directly in front of the bathroom's door. My unique view for that meal was the bathroom's door. Everybody else was behind me. When I realized that, I have tried to call the waiter, more than tree times, in order to ask him for another table. Since absolutely nobody came, I moved myself to another table. That's when this waiter said in a very quick french that I was starting to bother him (Vous êtes en train de me gener, là). The problem is that I speak fluent french, since I have lived and studied in France. Finally, when I ordered the check, he asked how was everything. I simply told him that it had been not a good experience. He immediately started to shout out that I was at his house, that he was the one who decides where I shall sit and that he was not my slave. Then, I asked to speak to the Chef, and the servant said "I am the chef! If you have any problem talk to me". I insisted and then I spoke to Mr. Augusto, that apologized in behalf of his partner/waiter. I repeat. I have gone to college in France, I have lived in more than two french cities and this was the worst experience of my life. The food was nothing more than ok.

We booked online for for two people at this Italian restaurant that has a recommendation in the Michelin Guide. The menu offers a good variety of pastas with a few meat dishes, and the wine list is full of Italian varietals at reasonable prices. A few good wines are available by the glass. I had an entree of veal carpaccio which was excellent - thin slices of veal dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, with s scattering of chopped black olives and pine nuts; it was tasty, light and fresh. My wife had the zucchini spaghetti (spirals of zucchini) with tomato sauce and mozzarella which was also very good - this was a cold dish and the tomato sauce was perfectly balanced with tangy tomato and a slight sweetness. For the main we both had ravioli stuffed with guinea fowl with a light tomato sauce. This was quite tasty and gain very well balanced - for my taste, I would have preferred a little more guinea fowl in the ravioli, but overall it was excellent. For dessert we both had panacotta with fresh strawberries which was the perfect finish to an excellent meal. Overall, an excellent Italian meal well deserving of the Michelin plate.

This is a very nice restaurant, surprisingly. Not touristic at all which is not very easy to find in this neighborhood.The whole atmosphere is relaxed, crowd quite young, staff very friendly and the food is delicious and modern.Don't come here if you're looking for a pizza or regular pasta.Menu changes regularly so we're definitely coming back.

Seasonal menus, fresh ingridians in a warm place et the city cente. Great rizoto and very nice wine list Will come back to check other menus when ever in the city