Pomodoro — Restaurant in Cairo

This was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had during my travels. I visited Pomodoro because of recommendations, but it turned out to be a major disappointment.

First of all, the prices were unreasonably high — even more expensive than some fine dining seafood restaurants located inside clean and modern malls. Yet the restaurant itself was quite small and not particularly clean.

We ordered the largest portion of their mixed seafood pasta. The platter we received included shrimp, some shellfish, and two very small crabs — each barely the size of a tablespoon. One of them had no meat at all, completely hollow, which likely means it had been dead for a long time before cooking. The other crab had a small amount of meat, but the taste was not fresh at all.

Meanwhile, the table next to us (local customers) ordered what seemed to be the same mixed platter and received much larger crabs — one of their crab claws was bigger than our entire crab.

We called the owner to ask about this, and he pointed to the empty shell and said, “That’s the meat.” We didn’t argue further because we were in a rush, but we left hungry and ended up buying fried chicken elsewhere to actually eat.

If you’re not a local Arabic speaker, I strongly recommend avoiding this restaurant. From pricing to portion size, it felt like clear discrimination between...

The shrimps were great, I enjoyed its taste and the size was jumbo or big and the quality and the recipe were really good. Pasta wasn't amazing but it was okay. The food was good. The waiter and the service were horrible tbh. The waiter was only 1 serving maybe 2-4 tables. They don't have variety. It's pasta with either one of those (shrimps, calamari, oysters, crabs) or a mix and from 150-400 LE and it only varies with the amount of the seafood, but same pasta amount. They waiter didn't seem interested to explain what differences or how big or small the food they present looks like or how it is made. Then we had many leftovers, while taking them takeaway, he refused and didn't it necessary to pack everything. One pack had some pasta and shrimps but there were pasta left. I asked, can you bring another pack for the pasta? And he was like not interested. So I asked, do you throw this away? And he answered yes, in a very normal way like it's normal to throw food away that we pay for. The salads were okay but they're obligatory. No receipts or prices are written anywhere. No management I could see, it's 2 Chefs inside the kitchen and this waiter which made the service the worst I experienced in my life. And the first time I didn't leave a tip because of such an unprofessional and unfriendly behaviour/service. Great...

Disgusting food and service. Not sure what the hype is all about. There is a waiting time of at least an hour. Even after your number is called out you have to wait at least 30 to 45 minutes to get your food served. There are only 4 types of seafood served: shrimp, crab, calamari and lobster. All of them cooked in red sauce. You also get a side dish of pasta cooked in the same sauce.

I ordered the mixed seafood platter of shrimp and calamari. It cost 410 Egyptian pounds for 2 people. As someone had mentioned in the review that the seafood isn't fresh which actually is true. The red sauce is very bland and the shrimp and calamari are hard and chewy. So the long wait wasn't really worth it.

Someone in the review had pointed out that one of the waiters picks up the dirty plates with his bare hands and then serves clean plates without washing his dirty hands first. I found this to be true.

There is only 1 waiter, a bald guy with spectacles who could speak English and who seemed to have a little idea of...