Il Re di Girgenti — Restaurant in Agrigento

Actually I would rate 3,5.

Of course, the location and beautifully decorated restaurant is a big plus, lots of eye for detail in the design of the place. Very inspiring decoration.

We sat upstairs and had an interesting view over the Valley of Temples. The balcony area also had some tables, so if you prefer to sit outside, ask for one of those, although you are a a busy road.

The service was disappointing. We asked for advice on the wine on which the girl said: 'They are the same'. Obviously she found it difficult to explain in English, but no one bothered of the other staff to help her out and give a more personalized advice on the wine. So we chose one ourselves, but from their extensive list, surely someone or maybe even a sommelier (not seen him upstairs at all) could have given better advice. The whole evening we had to 'ask' for service. Also the wrong plates were brought, which they did solve quite fast, but should not have been necessary as the girl wrote our order down and they still manage to bring something different.

For the main courses, the food was warm, but the plates were cold, which should not be possible in a restaurant of this allure. The food went cold quite fast and therefore was less enjoyable. The food itself was good, but not as full of flavours as I would expect it to be for a restaurant mentioned in so many restaurant guides. Interesting side dish, but overall I expected more of the service, wine and food presentation. It were big portions, so sharing would be a good option for some starters/anti pasti.

Downstairs the atmosphere looked a lot more vibrant. (so think if you prefer view and few tables upstairs, or a more lively atmosphere downstairs)

When we had to pay, there was someone sitting behind a cash register, counting the money. This might be the Italian way, but it seemed very uninterested and commercial for a restaurant like this. We had a nice evening, but it did not meet our...

We went to the restaurant because we saw the last reviews but we didn’t read all.

The restaurant is beautiful with a wonderful view to the temple.

The problem started with the service. There were 4 servers for the area but nobody paid attention to our table the whole night, even no eye contact. They took 10 minutes to bring the menu. 5 minutes more to bring water.

We ordered an experience bottle of wine that was out of stock, the server recommended a similar wine, but it came very hot. We ask the server for a bucket of ice, they bring a bucket without ice, they told us they run out of ice. So they took the wine to the cooler for 30 minutes. We had to asked them 3 times to bring the bottle back.

The server became very rude, specially a short lady with glasses. Our server was nice but we didn’t see him again in the entire night.

The appetizers were 3/10. A cake with zucchini and ricotta was tasty. The beef carpaccio was thick and hard, and the roasted octopus tasteless.

For the entrees we ordered: . calamarata pasta, super salty. . merluzo, we couldn’t eat it, I don’t understand what was it (the description in the menu is incorrect. Couldn’t find some ingredients and does not reflect the cooking method) . A pasta with octopus ragout that tasted weird. . A beef tagliata that was good.

The called the manager and he came to the table offering a new dish instead of the fish.

We decided to ask for the check without eating a dessert, coffee or dessert wine because the bad attitude of the servers, nobody came to the table offering anything.

My wife was so upset and left a 1 star review, instead give her apologies, the response was aggressive. Then we realized the always responded in a bad manner. Understandable.

I hope they improve the service and the quality of the food because the place is unique.

Please read all the reviews before make a...

First of all, the location of this restaurant isn’t near anything (except the Temples) so a taxi is necessary to feel safe when leaving at night. Since the view is the main draw of this restaurant, we asked to be seated outside, but were declined and told that this request should’ve been noted when making the reservation. Instead of enjoying the vista, we watched other tables arrive and be asked if they would rather sit inside or out as the patio outside remained half empty throughout the night. We wanted to start with a cocktail or glass of wine in addition to the bottle that would accompany our meal, but the wine list does not offer any by the glass options. We asked if cocktails were a possibility - specifically a negroni or spritz - and were presented with a prebottled “spritz” that is made in Argentina. The server did offer a glass of Prosecco which made me wonder why they would not also have Aperol. We had a great bottle of Catarratto, but the credit goes to the winemaker and not the restaurant, especially because the service was so inattentive that we refilled our own glasses and had to wave someone down every time we needed anything. The raw tuna starter was sloppily plated, a poor quality cut of the fish, not cold, and tasted extremely fishy and not fresh. The pasta courses were nothing more than fine, and certainly not good enough to make us want dessert, which is a shame because it was the second most expensive meal we ate in Sicily. I have to believe the Michelin Guide diners were drunk when they ate here - we had better service at holes in the walls and...