La Tarappa (Real Italian) — Restaurant in Puerto Plata

We were invited for dinner on 14th Feb 2023. The atmosphere was great. A new clean, fleshly painted dining area with viewing access to the professionally run working kitchen. Great selection of Italian food on the menu all very reasonably priced. ~$1500 RD per head excluding drinks.

We were all looking forward to a great evening with friends.

Summary. The decore and back of the house the kitchen were excellent, the front of the house management left a lot to be desired stopping this from being 5 stars.

If the front of house services issues can be resolved this will be an excellent location to dine.

Here are our experiences.

Restaurant when we arrived was less than 50% capacity for reserved dining and was at about 70% when we left 2 hours later.

We were seated quickly for a 7:15 reservation. First round of drinks took 20 minutes to arrive with some coming quicker than others. The ice had melted in the early drinks by the time the last drinks arrived.

For red wine drinkers, I would recommend going with the house wine by the glass. We were served a very good full bodied red that was above 12.5 proof,I suspect is was 13 to 13.5 proof. $250 RD good value.

Appetizers. We had pizza and a selection of cold cuts and cheese for appetizers. All recommended.

Next round of drinks were ordered, but like us, other guests had to get up and go order their own drinks at the bar to get any timely service.

Main course. These started to arrive. Three of our table ordered what would have been mainly prepped meals; egg plant dish, gnocci, and lasagna. All were served on cold plates, and the food arrived to table was cold to lukewarm. We commented to our waitress. No reaction. We made a call that people should start eating as the food arrived as is was already cold and only getting even colder 🥶 and the waitress was not going to do anything else.

The food was very well prepared and presented, plus tasted good but could have been excellent if served on warm plates and been hot.

The beef sandwich was excellent when it arrived; on the menu is shown as a "sandwish"; as was the last dish which was fried calamari, served ANOTHER 5 minutes later. Both these plates had to be prepared from scratch, so arrived last on the table but were hot.

By the time our last plates of the main course arrived, our other guest had managed to consume their lukewarm dishes. The waitress came with fresh parmagiana after 3 guestshad completed their meal It took about 15 to 20 minutes to serve all the guest 🤔. Lucky the calamari was not a large meal.

Deserts. Only two of us shared a tiramisu which was excellent. 🥰.

We will try this restaurant again as the food and wine were excellent but we hope to get a better front of...

N.1! spettacolare ristorante italiano, che rappresenta la nostra cucina e cultura culinaria, anche meglio di molti ristoranti in patria. Franz, il proprietario e chef, oltre ad essere molto simpatico, è ospitale e fa sentire tutti a casa. Prima di raccontare la splendida cena fatta alla tarappa, ho la necessità di raccontare della qualità delle materie prima perchè mi ha assolutamente colpito. In questo ristorante si apprezza un'altissima qualità delle materie prime, da cui il sapore veramente italiano dei piatti, frutto di un profondo studio del territorio dominicano, e di una ricerca certosina, dei produttori diretti, ricerca evidentemente maniacale per trovare ricotta, pomodori, carne, etc. Etc. genuine e prodotte con sapienza. Non lo avrei mai detto prima di mangiare. Le porzioni sono assolutamente generose. Consiglio di provare tutto ma qui riferisco su quello che abbiamo consumato: Succhi naturali spettacolari tutti! I ravioli di ricotta e spinaci con salsa di pomodoro fresco e basilico, mi hanno commosso, sembrava di essere a tavola da mia madre. Il sandwich di carne res è la bontà e generosità nel piatto (se non lo dividete non potrete mangiare altro) vi consiglio di farvi aggiungere i peperoncini di Franz. Il petto di pollo ripieno è sensazionale, morbido e sugoso è ripieno con prosciutto cotto e mozzarella (porzione colossale). Un commento a parte merita la pizza. Incredibilmente originale a partire dall'impasto, lo spessore, la fragranza ed i condimenti. Abbiamo preso la classica margherita ed una 4 stagioni, assicuro che sembrava di stare in Italia. Il ristorante inoltre è bello, fatto con stile, ampio ed accogliente. Offre una veranda aperta attrezzata con ventilatori ed un bar ben fornito, ha anche una una sala con aria condizionata, oltre ad una sala per eventi privati. Presente anche un parcheggio interno. Utile sapere che si può mangiare in qualsiasi momento dall'apertura alla chiusura. Insomma assolutamente consigliato mangiare alla Tarappa prima che per gustare la migliore cucina italiana perchè si gusta...

Was my 1st time st Ls Tarapppa, it was a birthday for our friend which was a acknowledged by the staff who offered a complimentary dessert and all the staff sang birthday wishes with s birthday candle. The food was delicious 2 had the stuffed ravioli with cheese and spinach with style basil sauce which they enjoyed immensely. A basket of an assortment of bread with garlic was offered. I had a starter of beef carpaccio with arugula, parmesan cheese and capers. A fresh mixed salad and a pepperoni pizza. We ordered a medium and brought half it home. It was so good with great sauce. Lovely atmosphere, lots of space and open air concept. You need to try this...