Kavana bar & cuisine — Restaurant in Grad Split

This was by far our most expensive dinner in Croatia & Italy. The tuna tartar was delicious and one of the best we have ever tasted. The difference is in the sauces & pickles which were delightful. Highly recommend to order this dish.

The next dish of fish & mussels was equally delicious with the orange sauce having a deep seashell taste and the mashed potatoes going very well with the grilled fish. Accompanying salad of arugula tasted zesty and fresh.

While we did enjoy dinner & service, we were completely appalled by how the waiter forced us into an extra tip.

Our server explain with insistance that the prices were not inclusive of service. We saw the answer of management (on another review) that “it was just a suggestion”, he insisted it was mandatory, he NEVER said it was a suggestion.

While we insisted that all other restaurants were price inclusive and Croatia is now part of the Euro, he insisted that it was not the case in ALL of Croatia (his words).

So if management wants to answer to this review and explain why it is not communicated anywhere (not on the menu, not on the website) that prices are non-inclusive of service, perhaps they can feel how baited we felt by the whole scheme.

Trust me, he insisted and argued profusely that it was like that in ALL Croatia (it is not).

Update: following management’s immediate apology and explanations, I fully respect their sense of responsibility and they never tried to deny the whole thing happened. I will turn down the offer for reimbursement for personal reasons but I respect management’s actions for making things right and I believe that management will get involved to avoid these types of situations in the future (maybe talk to David, the waiter).

Therefore, as a direct consequence of this professional answer, I am transparently reinstating the full 5-stars rating which represents that evening’s experience notwithstanding the tipping incident - you made...

My wife and I decided to dine here our first night in Split after reading many positive reviews. We were seated promptly at 7:30, right on time for our reservation. We perused the menus for a bit, decided on wine, appetizers, and mains, and then waited for our server. Then waited longer. It took 25 minutes for our server to first stop by our table and take our orders. Our two glasses of wine weren't served until 45 minutes after being seated, and the bread we ordered and paid 5€ for took almost an hour. On the bright side, the bread and flavored butters were very tasty. Main courses were finally served nearly an hour and a half after being seated, and were clearly sitting under a heating lamp for a while because they were barely warm and the tuna dish, which should have been seared, was just about cooked through and rubbery. We ate a bit before giving up and sitting around for another 15 minutes for our server to check in. When we told him the food was cold, he asked why we hadn't told him there was an issue so he could fix it. When we told him this was the first time he'd come by our table, he just stared at us, looking confused. We had also asked to order two more glasses of wine, because at least the wine list was quite good, but he didn't come back to take our order until we'd decided we were finished with our cold meals. If he had, we'd have told him of the issue. They did not comp any of the dishes, and we didn't push the issue. While we waited for our check, the hostess who seated us came and asked how everything was. When we told her, she just gave us a business card with a QR code and asked if we'd leave a kind review. Well, here it is I guess.

I'm not sure if the restaurant's newly expanded menu is just too much for them to handle, or if they were just short staffed, but service was atrocious and food that could have been tasty was left to sit while we waited hungrily. Better...

Came here for dinner based on great reviews. Service was great, staff was friendly. Sadly, food was just ok, the sauce for the seabass was way too salty that i am still recovering from it. Lobster in the lobster pasta didn’t taste fresh- was soggy and lost its bite. We spent 200+ euro for 5 mains and some drink, also got charged 10 euro for a big bottle of still water.

**Responding to restaurant’s reply below- first of all, thanks for your reply and I hope you know that we had best intention in mind when taking time to write a review. Regarding the still water- we asked for “still water” and never said Evian, so instead of suggesting we should have specified the brand, why not make an effort to clarify for the customers instead of providing the most expensive option by default? :)

Regarding the quality of lobster, sorry I’m afraid I don’t agree with you. We live by the sea and lobsters have been our somewhat regular dish for years- from the texture of the meat you can certainly tell freshness. And what was served was definitely not caught on the same day or the day before. I hope I’m being fair here.

Regarding why we didn’t make a remark on the spot, fair point. Please know that the restaurant was very busy and our (again, very kind and lovely) waiter managed to come by after we had finished our meal, we thought there was no point in making a fuss any...