Hotel, Restaurante y Pizzería Locanda — Restaurant in Sámara

I have been visiting Samara for 15 years and have on most trips either eaten or had drinks at Locanda. On this occasion though my guest and I had two quite awful experiences that put this restaurant on a "never again" list. The service has become super slow. We waited 25 minutes on our first evening's visit for drinks before anyone visited our table. We ended up staying for pizza but during our meal there was an awful smell of raw sewage that wafted by every few minutes completely spoiling our dining experience so we moved on to a different location to re-approach dinner plans. A few days later we decided to give it another try hoping this was an isolated condition. We ordered a lot of food - tuna carpaccio, ceviche, pizza and fish. All of the food arrived at the same moment which was strange as two items were starters. As soon as the food was placed the table and all our food was covered in flies!!! Maybe a 100 which I wold consider an infestation. We tried to rush through a starter while swiping away the fees but it became impossible as our food quickly became contaminated. Quite a horrible dining experience of course as we just wanted to relax in the ocean breeze. But this is mother nature of course and these things happen. We called the waitress and showed her all the flies feating not he food and let her know that we would have to leave and find another place to have dinner once our indigestion from this experience subsided. This is where the evening became ugly. The waitress insisted we would have to pay for all the food even it it was impossible to eat and contaminated. We asked for the manager who's name was Maurizio. At first he seemed sorry for what had happened and agreed it was unfortunate - but then he insisted we wold have to pay for the appetizers we had managed to start. Worse than this when we said this was unacceptable. We'd has barely touched out food and now had indigestion from a horrible experience, his focus was on making sure that we paid the $10 per appetizer. Beyond petty!!! When we said this was not acceptable, the restaurant threatened us that they would call the police!!! We said we were happy to wait on them so they would be aware of this treatment of guests. They then changed tack and said just pay for once appetizer!!!! We did, just so we could move on with out evening. We will never visit this restaurant again, at least under this management. Maurizio is a horribly petty and passive aggressive host and I would warn any of the people I care about to not go there and run the risk of having the same awful...

April 2025 update: During our recent two-week visit visit to Samara and two previous visits, my wife and I were thankful to eat breakfast daily at the Locanda Hotel. We cannot imagine a better way to begin each day than at a table on the beach, listening to the waves and birds (and, several times, Howler Monkeys), and enjoying a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, Gallo Pinto, tortilla, sour cream, plantains, juice, and coffee. (Our children and grandchildren, who joined us for the first week, also enjoyed the yogurt/fruit bowl and pancake options.)  Outshining even the wonderful setting and the splendid food, however, were the wonderful servers, who are so helpful. kind, and friendly, making the start of every day happy: ‘Muchas gracias”, Pamela, Arlene, Maya, Tatiana, Chris, and Jeffrey; we hope that we will be fortunate to be with you again.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++ December 2024: As guests at the nearby Hotel Macao Beach for ten days this month, my wife and I were fortunate to be able to eat breakfast every morning at Restaurante Locanda. It was a pleasure in every way to do so: sitting at a table on the beach, Playa Samara, watching the waves and listening to them, while savoring our delicious “tipico” breakfasts - scrambled eggs, Gallo Pinto, tortillas, sour cream, and fried plantains - and drinking orange juice and excellent coffee - hers “negra” and mine “con leche”. (Note that other breakfast options are offered.) Completing our delightful experience were the wonderful servers: Pamela and Arlene, especially, always welcomed us warmly and were so kind and helpful.

My wife and I also chose to dine at Locanda two evenings during our stay, and we enjoyed those experiences, as well. We shared a yummy veggie pizza the first evening; when we returned another evening, she ordered a grilled tuna filet and I had Pasta Sorrentina, both of which were superb. With the latter meal, my wife drank a Daiquiri, which she...

Beautifully decorated but that's where it ends. (the 2 stars) Food is consistently mediocre, wait staff and owners are cold and careless- honestly a robot might be a better choice as you can at least program them to be nice and appear to care. Went in Dec and a staff member sprayed gallons of bug spray around all the tabs while we were eating, on a windy night, with no care of concern that it was all over the food. Having been in the business I gave it multiple visits and still the outcome is the same, a HUGE WASTE OF MONEY! There are SO many amazing restaurants in Samara where the people have a passion for what they do and love Samara. So not the case here. If you want awesome food go up the street to Ahora Si. Not on the beach but the food is REMARKABLE and the staff and owners are so kind!! Locando counts on the beach and cares little about repeat customers. Oh despite not being at your table for maybe an hour they will sit and wait for you to put payment down once the check is requested. Plus they do not give coin change. Intentionally giving you less that the correct change is THEFT! Give your mom to people who care for...