A group of friends from Portland, Oregon had a villa with a pool in Oliveto Lario, on Lake Como, and exactly zero interest in getting dressed up for lunch. They wanted to eat well — genuinely well, the kind of meal that felt worth the trip — without leaving the pool, without putting on shoes, without any sense that they needed to behave differently than they would at home. Just good food, served where they already were, in whatever they were already wearing.
That’s a completely reasonable thing to want, and it’s exactly what a private chef in a villa is built to deliver.
Premium doesn't have to mean formal
There’s a version of “private chef” that people picture as inherently formal — white tablecloths, a dress code, an atmosphere that asks something of the guests. That’s one option, but it isn’t the only one, and for a group of friends on their own villa’s terrace, it’s usually the wrong one.
There’s an assumption running the other way too: that lunch in swim trunks and a t-shirt, poolside, means settling for a sandwich or a salad. It doesn’t. For this group, lunch was Percorso Italia — a four-course menu exploring the country through regional classics, served exactly as it would be at any table, just without asking anyone to leave the pool for it:
- Deep-fried buffalo mozzarella, tomato and anchovy dip, sweet garlic
- Risotto with Castelmagno cheese, mountain butter and toasted hazelnuts
- Grilled dry-aged ribeye steak, carrot purée, olive oil and roasted salads
- Almond milk panna cotta, coffee gelatine and caramelized almonds
Four proper courses, served poolside, to a table in swimwear and t-shirts. Neither side of the assumption held up: private chef didn’t mean formal, and casual didn’t mean settling.
The quality of the cooking didn’t change. The atmosphere around it did, entirely on purpose.
The dress code is yours to set, and so is everything else
At your own villa, the dress code is whatever you decide it is, because it’s your house. But the freedom goes further than what you’re wearing. There’s no driver to wait for, no picking a time and hoping he’s outside when lunch actually wraps up. No renting a car, driving into town, and circling for a parking spot that’s rarely close to wherever you’re headed. No walking six or seven minutes under the midday sun in July because the restaurant’s the closest one you could book. Lunch simply happens where you already are, and the rest of the day carries on exactly as it would have.
How a poolside lunch like this actually runs
For a group with their own villa and pool in Oliveto Lario, the setup was easy:
- A conversation beforehand about the vibe they wanted — confirmed casual, poolside, no formality — and the menu itself, which the group chose as Percorso Italia, four courses served exactly as written, just outdoors.
- The chef sets up service near the pool or garden table, working from the villa’s kitchen but serving directly where the group is spending the day.
- A relaxed four-course lunch, with nowhere else it needs to lead — once the last course is done, the group can simply stay at the table, no pressure to free it up for the next booking, or head straight to the sun loungers for a post-lunch nap.
- Kitchen cleaned and reset afterward, so the group’s afternoon by the pool continues exactly as it would have without any of the effort that went into lunch.
Why this matters more on Lake Como specifically
Oliveto Lario sits above the lake with some of the more private, less touristy villa properties in the area — exactly the kind of setting where guests want to actually use the amenities they’re paying for, not leave the pool to sit at a restaurant table somewhere else. A private chef who understands that “premium” means excellent food and seamless service, not a dress code, fits naturally into a day built around the villa itself rather than around leaving it.
Good to know
- The level of formality is entirely set by the group — poolside and casual is just as valid a request as a formal seated dinner, without ever scaling back the quality of the menu.
- A relaxed setting doesn’t mean a simplified menu — a full multi-course, gourmet meal works just as well poolside as it does at a formal table.
- No driver, no rental car, no parking, no walking under the midday sun — lunch happens exactly where you already are.
- The service adapts to the group, not the other way around — no dress code is ever assumed or expected.
- Works for any villa with outdoor space in Oliveto Lario and across Lake Como.
If your group has a villa with a pool or garden on Lake Como and wants a genuinely excellent lunch without changing out of swimwear, get in touch with your group size and the setting you have in mind, and the service will be built around exactly the atmosphere you want.