Bistro Alighieri — Restaurant in Grad Pula

We had dinner there with my family; we like to take our cues from locals; we do not like restaurants with pictures on the menu that much... Alighieri does not have pictures, and has a very nice terrace; two big pluses.

Our server, Nemanja, was very friendly and helpful. He talks me into ordering the Terra Istra cocktail, which was just what a day as hot as this one needed. We started with soup and carpaccio. The zucchini and shrimp soup had a very pleasant texture as did the tomato soup. Both were very fresh and well made. For our main course we had the meat special for my sons, my daughter had a steak, as did I and my wife had the shrimp skewers. The steaks were cooked to perfection and the green peppercorn sauce was amazing (!!!). The side dishes were fine and the amounts were more than generous. Against our better judgement we decided to get a dessert, Nemanja informed us about the pistachio and chocolate cake that they had but didn't have on the menu (which I then decided I needed). The kids ordered off the menu and they were not disappointed (lemon cheese cake, chocolate poppyseed cake and a tiramisu, all home made (!!!)). The desserts could have been ruined by being too sweet but they were just right! Very very good balance. We topped everything off with a local spirit on the house. All and all the food was great, the prices were good, the drinks were fine and the experience overall was extremely satisfying.

We just might have...

Walked to restaurant early in the day to make reservations for dinner, but we were told that they didn't make reservations anymore and recommended we do walk-in in the early evening. When we arrived we noticed at least 3 tables with a reservation sign and the waiter did say that they do reservations, so not sure why the manager told me they didn't early that day. The olive oil on the table was not Croatian-quality extra virgin olive oil... it was either rancid from sitting outside or just not top quality. When I looked at other tables, I saw the olive oils in clear plastic bottles. We ordered the black pasta with shrimp (Delicious) and the trio seafood platter. In the seafood platter, the white fish was bland, the calamari tasted burnt and the spinach was bitter. The only good part of the dish were the shrimps, but they came with shell and head, so you had to peel to eat. The staff tried to make my experience better (It took some effort and luck on my part), but the general reaction was that I ordered a dish I didn't like. For the number of excellent reviews, I was...

We came here on our first evening in Pula as we were staying very close by. We both had the stuffed squid, which was nice but lacked seasoning. They were stuffed with a very mild cheese. Garlic would have been a welcome addition. The chard and potato on the side were good. We both had desserts - baklava and cream cake, both of which were very nice. The house wine was a very good price, the service was friendly and efficient. Unfortunately, when we we visited two days later for lunch, we had a poor experience. We were given the a la carte menu and saw that the people on the next table had a different 'lunch' menu. I asked for this and was told quite bluntly that it was only for local people, people who visit every day. Some kind of loyalty card was implied. This just irritated us - a cheap menu for locals but the regular price for tourists - so we left. A shame really as it was so...