Mazzgoon — Restaurant in Grad Split

We were seduced by Mazzgoon’s false allure. On our final evening on the Dalmatian coast, my lover and I ventured beyond the haven of our air-conditioned airbnb to sample Split’s culinary scene. We wish we hadn’t. Hoping to be welcomed into the embrace of trattoria’s serving chilled local wines and daring Slavic flavours, we were disappointed to find restaurants that have mastered the art of playing Dua Lipa on repeat over the speakers, but alas not that of cooking a simple pasta. Mazzgoon itself complies all too well with this diagnosis. My lover and I whetted our taste buds with the Mackerel Tataki (€18). What met our table was a sorry excuse for a fish, and a sorrier excuse for a starter. Little had been done, save for the random blobbing of some vinaigrette dots, to warrant the price tag of this dish. Edible, yes, as one hopes a mackerel would be, but nothing to write home about.

Alas, our culinary odyssey continued onto the main course. My lover ordered the carbonara, and I the ‘red wine must risotto’. Upon arrival, I was faced with what resembled more of a soup than a risotto. Lonely corns of Italian rice bathed, isolated, in a sea of overbearingly sweet juice. No redemption was found in my lover’s carbonara. Where guanciale should have been found, a fatty ersatz pork was in its place. This pork itself lathered in a creamy mess. I can only imagine that generations of Italian grandmothers collectively turned in their graves as this dish presented itself on our table.

Any credible review (and I do count myself as an honest Google reviewer) sheds light on both the good and the bad. Accordingly, I must admit that I did enjoy my Croatian blonde ale (the name of which escapes me). It is only a shame that this was to be the highlight of a meal...

We had the veal shank, the swordfish and the caprese salad, all of which were really good (caprese salad had authentic buffalo mozzarella, extremely creamy and tasty). The location is great (I would say it's even a little surprising to encounter such a high quality place in a centric touristic zone). The service was a little off, we had to wait a bit too long for the main meal and then the waiter forgot to bring the cutlery after he took it away from the capri salad, but this is somewhat understandable considering they are a very popular place and were packed. Otherwise the waiters and ushers are quite nice and professional. One major gripe though, and reason for 4 stars instead of 5, is the wine. The cheapest white wine on the menu is 240kn, which is about 30 euros. For a place that is NOT fine dining and in the centre of Dalmatia, I find that odd. But what really got our goat was, when we ordered per glass, which costs 40 kunas (5euros), the amount that came was ridiculously small (not 1/6th but more like 1/10th of a bottle). I really don't understand what is the need of robbing people in this way, they are making millions and even if they put a normal amount of wine the profit would have been huge because it's s wine you can probably get for under 10 euros. Like this they are making 10 times the profit, but also alienating customers. But who cares, there are a million people in the palace and I'm sure they are not worried too much about that. I probably wouldn't come back just for that because if I feel I'm being swindled, it sours the...

TERRIBLE! AVOID AVOID AVOID!

Bad choice from the start. After 10 minutes we had to ask for menu's, fair enough just a little oversight.

We ordered and 20 minutes later the waiter comes to tell us 2 of the dishes were unavailable... really, it took 20 minutes for your kitchen to figure that out?

So we decided to share one starter, Caprese salad as the other appetisers were very seafood heavy. Salad was quite nice if a little small in portion size which seems to be a thing in Split and Hvar. Mains were pasta and spicy meatballs with cheese, the other vegetarian "angry" pasta... apparently angry because of the spices used.

Bland as a drip of water... no taste... no seasoning. I'd have gotten tastier food from a can of Heinz tomato soup and store bought pasta... definitely not fresh.

This was 10pm... If we hadn't been travelling that day and not eaten since 11am we would have left but were already an hour into our visit before we got our main meals so were starving. But not even our hunger could make that slop taste good.

Actually the worst meal we had all week and the most expensive at 501 kuna/roughly £60 (Transparency: that included 4 glasses of red wine... we needed something to wash away the after taste)

Oh don't forget the sneaky cover charge thrown in... 18 kuna per person to sit down. For what exactly? It's hardly gourmet food. Also the cover(t) charge is presented on the menu as if it is a dish to select... very bad management in my opinion.

Absolute rip off of a place, avoid at all costs during...