Restaurant Corto — Restaurant in Bastia

Last night, my family and I dined at LE CORTO – beautifully located in Bastia’s old town harbor.

All our expectations were far exceeded. Not only were we still able to reserve a table just one hour in advance, but the service, the warmth of the staff, their attentiveness and professionalism were truly the best we experienced during our three weeks in Corsica!

From the very beginning – when the restaurant manager himself personally introduced the menu to us – right through to the attentive, highly professional staff who constantly made sure everything was perfect and kindly asked if we had any further wishes, it was an outstanding experience.

Our starters and main courses were served simultaneously for all four of us, so that no one had to eat alone. Great importance was placed on etiquette, with the table perfectly set, served, and attended to according to the finest gastronomic standards.

The restaurant manager kept a close eye on his team the whole evening, guiding and advising them, and explaining why certain details required particular attention. Even when I asked him a personal question, he took the time to give me a detailed answer: why, during our three weeks on Corsica, fish specialty restaurants are so rare – something that had puzzled us deeply. After all, when holidaying on the Mediterranean, I certainly do not wish to eat a burger or steak with fries; under the Mediterranean spirit, I long to enjoy culinary delights fresh from the sea.

At LE CORTO, every expectation is met, and one can enjoy a dinner that simply could not be served any better!

From starter to main course to dessert and even the double espresso, it was pure delight that we discovered this place with its charming old-town setting overlooking the harbor and the lighthouses.

This evening truly saved our Corsican holiday on the culinary side – and it was not even expensive! On the contrary: for the exquisite food, the competent and friendly service, and the refined yet cozy atmosphere, the price for four people felt almost “too reasonable” compared with what one pays elsewhere for far less satisfying, second-rate meals.

We extend our sincere thanks to the restaurant manager and his team, with a special compliment to the wonderful kitchen.

If you are vacationing in or around Bastia, you absolutely must spend an evening at LE CORTO! A quick tip: bring cash for the tip, as – by law – it cannot be added to the card payment. The team truly deserves it, so please make sure to reward them in cash for their perfect work!

1AAA+++ with stars – a “must-have” experience on...

Unfortunately we can only give one star.

We asked for a table between 6pm and 7pm on July 14th 22. A service employee (hair shaved very short or bald head) explained to us that they were fully booked.

No problem.

Another restaurant less than 100 meters away was not yet open, but we were allowed to sit down, bridged the time with a cocktail and had a delicious meal there. The bill there for 2 people was over 200 euros - of course the service there received a tip of over 30 euros.

We had a good view of the CORTA restaurant. After about 2 hours this was still only about 50% occupied. You must have wasted money there.

Now I wanted to know why we didn't get a table and why he lied to us.

So back to the service employee with the bald head and friendly again asked for a table.

He then had to think... looked at his list... difficult... but he still had a table. I saw the list of reservations, but it wasn't fully booked.

I then kindly declined and asked why he hadn't given us a table beforehand.

He then became abusive and explained that he had to work over 15 hours a day.

You can only laugh ... if he behaved sensibly, he would get so much tip that he would only need to work 8 hours. It's his own fault.

I felt like he was either drinking or taking something else (!). That's just not how you behave towards guests.

Why this pomposity? What's wrong with his ego? Maybe a job where he doesn't have customer contact would be better.

This was the worst experience of our 3 week vacation.

We will be happy to visit CORTA again next time, we hope to have a friendly employee to deal with.

We will then adjust our rating according to the...

Our first night in Bastia and to our disappointment this place was shut but they had us at fruit de mer. Second night we ate at Chez Vincent (also very nice) and headed down into the port area to get a taxi home and stopped in for a verre de vin (ou trois.) Night three, we reserved a table and got stuck into the fruit de mer (with the best prawns ever, half a lobster, a crab, some langoustines and we added some oysters for good measure. And some pommes frites because, well, we could.) All amazing! Fish so fresh and delicious - rouille, aioli, seaweed butter, bread. One of the most enjoyable meals of my life. Fabulous local white wine also. They probably don’t have a lot of that left now. Sorry. We thought about going somewhere else on our fourth and final night but were so happy to find ourselves there again, sharing 6 of those amazing prawns, I had a perfect sole meurniere and Louise went for the langoustine linguine. The mash was amazing and we had more of those frites because apparently we just can’t have enough carbs. No room for pud last night but I forgot to mention the enormous brick of light, delicately flavoured tiramisu from the night before. And before I finish, obviously the food is incredible but that can be so quickly marred by poor service which is totally not the case here. We felt very very welcome and incredibly spoiled by all of the team who are rightly so proud of the experience they deliver. Their limoncello is...