La Fontelina — Restaurant in Capri

Well first of all I have to say that I didn't eat/stay at La Fontelina, so I cannot rate the food etc. but what I can rate is the service and the customer experience. I have been to many beach clubs and I know that those "hyped" locations can always be a bit of a special experience, since everyone is always super snobby but Fontelina brought this to a whole new level. We were on Capri celebrating my boyfriends birthday and we wanted to spend the afternoon at La Fontelina. However, we had lunch at a different location before. So I check Fontelinas website which said, that I can only make a reservation for the beach club if I also make a lunch reservation. Now they have changed the text on the website but when I was checking it, it didn't say anything like "you can only enter the beach club with a lunch reservation" it only said, that I cannot make a reservation for the sunbeds. So we were optimistic and thought we will just go there and try to get a sunbed. We also tried to call them but nobody answered the phone, so we started walking there from the city center. The way is quite long and exhausting because of the heat and the many stairs. When we arrived around 2pm, we were pretty surprised because it was not busy at all. So we got even more optimistic to get a sunbed even without reservation. So we asked for 2 sunbeds, which were 40€ per person and straight got an "No, we are fully booked". That already seemed kinda weird because it was already 2 pm and it was empty. The girl at the reception was pretty arrogant and didn't treat us in a customer friendly way. We explained that we walked down the whole way because on their website wasn't a single word that you don't even have to try it without a lunch reservation but she wasn't complying with our situation at all. She also mentioned that they have to reserve the chairs for the people on the vessels. Not to be mean but I think somebody who has a 50m Yacht in front of the restaurant won't change that for an uncomfortable sun chair spontaneously. So long story short, there was no other option for us to go all the way back to the city center, without being able to have a dip in the sea, which was pretty frustrating. Not only that we lost half a day going down and up again, because nobody answered the phone or put proper information on the website, but also the way we were treated was really...

We loved our day here.

I’ve read some of the reviews below and will correct some strange comments before starting my review:

1. there is a public beach, it’s just to the left just as you reach the beach club. It’s not great and I wouldn’t bother personally. The beach club and its’ access to the water is private, this is entirely normal in Italy.

2. they accept credit card for everything (but I’m not sure about the taxi boat, as we didn’t do this). You don’t need to bring cash, we did not.

3. access is via the cliff walk or a water taxi, get your hotel to book or email the club for water taxi details. The walk isn’t that bad and has great views- see some of my pictures below.

4. you can get a good spot on the beach, you don’t need to stay for multiple days or be a high roller. The secret is to book the beach club via the website and reserve a place for lunch at the same time. Do this in advance, as we did. Turn up without a booking and you might get an average spot.

5. there is a choice of deck chairs or sun lounges / white mattress beds. I prefer the deck chair, my wife liked the sun lounge - the club will happily give you what you want, you just have to ask for it.

6. yes, it’s an exclusive luxurious beach club and yes, it is priced accordingly. Entry fee, deck chair, sun lounge, towels and an umbrella for two was €95 in September 2020. A two course lunch with a shared entree salad and a bottle of wine was €150 and two cocktails and a bottle of water was €36. I think it was worth it.

Now for the review!

We loved our day here, it was the highlight of our week long stay on the island. It was glitzy, glamorous and wonderfully over the top. The people watching was sensation, an excellent mix of people off super yachts, the obviously wealthy, minor celebs and young couples - Capri in a bubble.

Service was attentive and efficient. Everyone we dealt with spoke English. The club is well maintained and well run.

Lunch was delicious, we shared a salad and then had separate fish mains (and a sneaky side of fries). All was excellent. The waiter suggested an excellent bottle of wine. The menu and general feel was more of a relaxed beachside trattoria, which felt perfect.

We will definitely be back. Having tried a couple of other beach clubs on the island, this is our favourite and well...

We had a really good time, the views are stunning and the location is surreal.

But

We had made a reservation and made a point to arrive early at 10am. We were among the first to arrive and shown to our "spot" which was against a hand rail by the ramp to the swimming area with a very limited view and lots of foot traffic. We asked if we could go to one of the vacant and much better locations with a sea view and were told it's not possible as they are saved for regulars and locals. Those didn't start filling up until close to 2pm which really upset us as we paid 90 euro to be there, arrived early and we're put aside in a terrible spot. If we had known I doubt we would have paid or booked.

The lunch at the restaurant is very expensive, we paid €101 for a fruit salad, a caprese salad, hot chips, one beer and one aperol spritz. Service is not included and while you can pay card for your meal you MUST pay cash for the service (10-15%) so that was another €10 euro. I could have forgiven this if I felt like we received "service". Unfortunately the staff spend all their time hovering around the super yacht guests, obviously this is where the tips are.

We also didn't realize that an umbrella costs an extra €15 Euro and can only be paid in cash. It's so hot you have to do this.

The final result was we read they accepted visa so had been too casual about getting out enough cash before going. By the end of the day we didn't have enough cash to catch the boat back to the Marina which is cash only. Regretting this we had to climb the big hill to leave in the 29c heat.

All in all its beautiful, but expect it to be expensive and if this is your first time don't expect a location with any view. And take a lot of cash for all of the unadvertised extras.

If your prepared for all of this, expect a...