Restaurant Amo (Hotel Podstine) — Restaurant in Grad Hvar

I haven’t written a review of a restaurant before but I thought this deserved one. Let’s start with the good.

Setting: Really lovely outside seating area done up with aesthetic lighting and plants. Right over the sea and away from the noise of Hvar town. This being said, the indoor seating area looked like a sad 1990s service station (no one was sitting there).

Service: Fine. Nothing special, nothing bad. Food and drinks came out in a timely manner.

The bad.

Food: I guess I’ll go in chronological order. The cuttlefish risotto had no flavour at all. It was technically cooked well in the sense that the textures were correct and the rice was al dente, but no flavour. The pork ribs again, tender but absolutely no flavour or seasoning to the meat. As if the pork had just been slow boiled with nothing put on it and then doused in a sweet shop-bought BBQ sauce. The burrata was fine but I assume it was bought from somewhere. It was also covered in a cheap balsamic glaze one could expect from the value section of a supermarket. The few raw tomatoes around the burrata were the only thing in the entire meal with any flavour whatsoever. The steak was shockingly bad. We asked for medium-rare but it was served barely seared and completely raw for 95% of its thickness. I’m talking tuna tataki level of cooked. Again, nil seasoning, nil flavour. If you blindfolded me and asked what meat I was eating, I could not tell you. We had to send it back to be cooked more (I’ve never sent food back to a kitchen before). The chips were cooked in oil that was too cold resulting in greasy and soggy potatoes, again with no seasoning at all.

Value: Hvar is an expensive place to eat. The prices here are maybe just above mid range for the island. The outdoor setting is lovely and the service fine, but the quality of cooking is just absolutely terrible for the prices...

The service, the food and the ambiance are amazing! Five star for all. The exterior tables are very cosy, in front of the ocean. We came by the night, and heard the waves all night long, sooo nice experience. The waiter was atencious and sympathic. Food was delicious, and well prepared (not “fast food” like so many touristic places). Really...

We stayed at the hotel and dined here one evening. The food was good & the portions were large. The seating is on a lovely terrace over looking the Adriatic Sea. The only thing that would have been better is if there was more lighting, they have string lights but they weren’t working so it...