"With no reservation on a busy, warm, Saturday evening, my partner and I identified Trani on tripadvisor and decided to walk over and try our luck. It is a few min (uphill) walk from the centre, towards the train station, but on a narrow side...street, with tables delightfully perched outside on the steep street, at different levels. We arrived around 20:00 and about half of the tables were occupied outside, the waiters welcomed us warmly and after a few minutes they offered us a table outside. The menu is a combination of Italian flavours with something for every taste, and is not overly exhaustive (an indicator of freshness and quality). We shared an excellent tartare to begin, followed by a beef fillet, and the highlight- a stunningly prepared octopus (crunchy on the outside yet velvety on the inside), one of the best i have had. The wine list (la biblia) is however exhaustive and must cover a few hundred pages, for every budget. The waiter recommended to us a very nice, local red to go with our meal. There must have been at least 20 other couples/groups that arrived during our meal also without a reservation, and most had to be turned away, so it is advisable to reserve particularly on the weekend and with nice weather. We did not go inside but the restaurant looked gorgeous from the outside in. For the quality of food, service, and ambiance, the bill was also perfectly reasonable, in fact very good value compared to other places in Switzerland such as Geneva. We spent 3 nights in Lugano and tried a different restaurant each time, all highly rated, but Osteria Trani was the most enjoyable of our stay."
