L' Altezza — Restaurant in Calvi

I normally don’t write reviews unless something is truly exceptional—unfortunately, this was exceptionally bad.

We were attracted in by the relatively high rating and the appealing atmosphere from the outside. Sadly, the reality was very different, and I feel compelled to share our experience in detail so there’s no room for deflection or excuses.

Service: 👎 The service on the terrace was shockingly bad. The staff member taking our order was unwelcoming from the start and barely acknowledged us. We don’t speak French, but tried English and Italian—neither made a difference. He was dismissive, uninterested, and unkind. For example, when I asked if it was possible to order fries alongside our pasta, his answer was: “It’s pasta 🥱”—and he walked away. It’s was so absurd that it was shocking. Zero motivation for us to ask for something else.

We understand that busy nights can be tough, but we’ve had far better service in far busier places. The only moment this staff member was remotely kind was when he asked us to switch tables to accommodate a larger group, which we did without complaint, this is was not a problem. Food: 🥴😪 We ordered two pasta dishes—Bolognese and Pesto. Pasta was overcooked in both cases, and sauces were tasteless and completely forgettable. We genuinely considered leaving when the food arrived, but we were very hungry given the late hour on a Friday night, we decided to stay and do what was possible with what he had. We ended up having to “fix” the dishes ourselves with salt, pepper, and olive oil (which we had to request). We also asked twice for some peperoncino and never received them. Eventually, another staff member noticed us struggling and kindly brought us a bit of parmesan. The food improved slightly by these, enough to eat it, but nothing about it was enjoyable or worth recommending.

At Checkout 🫥: When paying, the person at the cashier asked how things were. I explained our bad experience honestly. To his credit, he seemed embarrassed and offered us a complimentary digestive, which we initially declined, as that wasn’t the point. He insisted, and we accepted one out of courtesy. He also removed the cost of the water from our bill. Again, we said it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. We paid and left.

I’m leaving this review because my partner’s previous comment about the poor experience was dismissed by the restaurant, who claimed it was just due to us being asked to change tables. They also used the post-checkout “gesture” as proof that we were satisfied. That is untrue and manipulative. A bit of accountability would have been the least, a simple sorry instead of manipulative statement.

Was this a one-off? Possibly. But if you read the more critical reviews, you’ll notice a pattern of similar...

A restaurant in the Center of Saint-Florent which offers traditional corse food. They offer a lot of meat dishes, but also fresh fish, pasta and vegetarian options. There are also menus available, also for children. My wife took the vegetarian menu, I started with an Avocado salad followed by swordfish filet in honey Sauce. All food was very tasty and fresh, allthough not extraordinary. Service is very friendly, the menu is also available in other languages like English or German. Inside you have no telefone connection, but you get a free WLAN access. Prices are reasonable. For sitting you should chose outside, at least I did not like the cellar feeling. All in all a...

Bonjour,

Nous avons réservé la veille en signalant le nombre de personnes ainsi que 2 poussettes supplémentaires. Nous sommes arrivés en retard à cause d’un accident avec l’un de nos enfants. Le propriétaire nous l’a reproché plusieurs fois malgré nos excuses. Nous étions sur la terrasse en haut un vrai four un bébé était totalement mouillé de transpiration et le deuxième n’a pas réussi à manger (nous n’avons pas eu le choix pour l’emplacement). L’emplacement pour les poussettes n’a pas été prévu comme demandé. Une poussette n’était pas accessible donc le bébé est resté dans les bras de ces parents, la deuxième est resté dans le passage des serveurs pour que le bébé reste a proximité de ces parents. Vu que nous étions en retard le service a été expéditif, étant arrivé les derniers pour nous occuper de nos enfants je n’ai pas eu le temps de regarder la carte pour commander (le serveur était déjà venu 4 fois pour demander). Heureusement notre serveuse était très agréable et a fait se qu’elle pouvait pour que nous passions un agréable moment contrairement à son collègue de salle et au patron qui étaient pressés pour leurs 2eme services (la terrasse n’était pas remplie nous n’avons pas compris leurs empressements si ce n’est qu’ils voulaient justes nous dégager rapidement ). Niveau cuisine la dorade était trop cuite. Compliqué d’enlever les arêtes malgré l’habitude dans manger. Et pour le menu enfant spaghetti bolognaise c’est pas très pratique et très peu de bolognaise et sauce tomate. Nous étions en retard et nous nous en sommes excusés a plusieurs reprise par contre pour une telle prestation nous aurions préféré que vous refusiez de nous servir et qu’on aille voir ailleurs….. Vous auriez pu être honnête et nous dire que votre terrasse n’était pas adapté pour le nombre que vous étiez ou que notre retard va gêner votre service….. Fortement déconseillé pour les groupes et pour les autres si il y a plus le choix demandé à être dans la...