FORTESSA San Marco 18/10 Stainless Steel Flatware, 20 Piece Place Setting With Table Knives, Forks and Spoons (Service For 4), Dishwasher Safe, Antiqued

Have only had this a short time, will update if review changes. We absolutely love this set. The pieces are very heavy, sturdy, they won’t bend. They have a beautiful and unique vintage look to them. No one in my family can feel the product insignia while eating. The Amazon listing says dishwasher safe, the insert in the packaging says that while you can dishwash, hand washing is STRONGLY recommended. I asked other purchasers and they think the set holds up well so I am hopeful, because we will only be using the dishwasher, daily. The knives and large forks and spoons are quite large, and the small forks and spoons are quite small. They looked a little funny next to our old set but we have gotten use to it quickly and they serve their purpose (daily family silverware) perfectly. The knives are quite sharp. For the look and weight, I feel these are a very good value. Other sets I was looking at with a similar aesthetic and quality were 4x the price. Very happy with this purchase and would totally recommend.

Absolutely beautiful set of silverware. The minute I saw it I knew that I had used something similar in an upscale restaurant in Arizona. The reason? The salad fork has three tines instead of four, and I found that to be unusual and perfect. The weight of the silverware is perfect, not too heavy or light, and it feels good in your hand while eating. The finish is not shiny, it's brushed or buffed, and that adds to the understated beauty of the silverware. I love it and guests have commented on it as well. Gold or black eating utensils seem to be the trend now, and I like those too, but after seeing this set, which was all about understated elegance, I didn't look any further. I think this set is perfect. Bonus, I put it in the dishwasher and have had no problems with spotting or damage.

About four months ago, I needed to get more flatware to have on hand when our son’s graduation gathering would have many more family members than we had forks, spoons, and table knives.I was so excited about my first choice, which I’d only seen online: Fortessa San Marco. In fact, all of the sets I ended up ordering I’d only seen online because we live in a small city without stores like Crate & Barrel, Sur La Table, and Williams-Sonoma. I loved the shape of the knives and how thin the neck of the stem was on these forks and spoons. However, when I received the Fortessa San Marco set, I discovered that those thin, delicate stems actually had an outer framing of the stems, resulting in not-so-delicate pieces. I disliked the fact that the pieces didn’t have what really was the biggest reason I’d fallen in love with them (online). Too, I found the overall look of this set clumsy and unrefined. So, I sent that back the Fortessa San Marco set.I was getting close to my son’s party date so I ordered the Liberty Chesapeake and Made In sets at the same time. That was good because once I received them, I found it so difficult to choose between them.I loved the sharp tines of the Chesapeake forks and I liked that the stainless steel appeared to have a whitish cast, much like old sterling silver flatware. This set had thin stems on the forks and spoons, which I loved. And while I loved the shape of its knives, they felt too light and, so, to me felt cheap.The Made In set had knives with good weight, the kind that when you pick it up or use it, makes you feel like you have a high quality and even heirloom-quality set of flatware. The forks’ and spoons’ stems are delicate and thin. Again, this was a feature I had sought out and was pleased with this feature in the Made In flatware. That said, there are some serious negatives to this set and they are bad enough that I wish I had returned this set. First, the knives—though serrated a tiny bit—do not cut through food that provides any resistance at all. For example, I just ate pizza for dinner and I had to work so hard to eventually tear through the crust with the Made In knife. This happens every time I use it and it’s incredibly frustrating. (My previous set I sought to augment is a very high quality flatware I received for my wedding: Ricci Argentieri Bamboo and, despite the fact that its knives have no serration whatsoever and are not sharp—just butter knives—I never struggle to cut ordinary food with those. I don’t know if the Made In knives are too thick, on a bad angle, or something else entirely, but they simply do not cut. My other complaint with this Made In flatware is that those dull fork tines make it nearly impossible to eat salad (spring mix) and so I end up having to scoop up under the leaves as if the fork were a spoon. I know many people complain about the large sizes of the bowls to both the teaspoons and soup spoons and, while I would prefer the small bowl to the Liberty Chesapeake, I really like the shape of the Made In teaspoon and find their size isn’t really an issue for me. My husband, however, disagrees and is baffled by their enormous breadth and depth. One last bit here is that the upturned end of the forks’ and spoons’ handles and the mismatched weight between the heads and the ends mean that the forks, spoons, and knives make the pieces fall off of dirty dishes as those dishes are handled, and that is really annoying.I have to say, I really expected a far superior product from Made In and I really thought it was…until I actually used it.So my final verdict is:- Fortessa San Marco is indelicate and ugly and, despite its high price, appears cheap.- Made In appears and feels like an expensive set and you will enjoy it if you put it under a cloche and only ever look upon its beautiful swooping lines, but the minute you start to use it, you will be monumentally frustrated at just how poorly all of the important aspects of flatware (that we never think about, until they are all wrong) are realized in this set.- And Liberty Chesapeake emerges as the set I so wish I had kept because now I have 8 place settings of Made In that make eating a frustrating chore. Ugh!

Just what the title says, they are so pretty and substantial but they are the size of serving pieces. Absolutely enormous.

We bought two sets of these just to test them out and we couldn't be happier. They are 18/10 stainless which is the best stainless available for flatware and we haven't noticed any tarnishing or dulling in the polish at all; even after multiple runs through the dishwasher.Reviewers of other Fortessa sets mentioned that they could feel the makers mark on the face during every bite. I must say that they must have the most sensitive lips because using an empty spoon or fork I could barely tell where it was. If there's food, not a chance. The mark becomes indistinguishable from the food's texture even if it's just tomato soup. They are heavy, almost twice the weight of our regular flatware but I consider that a plus. After a few uses you barely notice the heft and they feel very solid in your hand. Definitely won't bend even under extreme use. The design itself is very comfortable to use too.But, there are a couple of downsides. Four one serving set, they're expensive. We're going to have to purchase these one at a time so we don't break the bank. The salad fork is great but the tines might be spaced too far apart for some people. Peas won't slip through but anything smaller will if it doesn't clump like rice. The dessert spoon is very small, almost comical next to the dinner spoon and barely fits in my average sized hands. A 1/4" longer would have been nice. For a teaspoon it's the perfect size.Overall, it's a beautiful set and one we'll hopefully be using for a long time to come. If you can afford the high price, definitely give them a try. Highly recommended despite the downsides.