Villa Margherita — Restaurant in Capri

Unfortunately this restaurant (which we saved for our last night in Capri after a personal recommendation from Capri locals) was the most disappointing experience I have had in any restaurant in Italy. We dined with friends who own & run their own 5 star restaurant and are thus well placed to comment.

Arrival to the restaurant is beautiful, as you walk down the stairs you are greeted by the lovely terrace and the beautiful view - regrettably this was the only welcome we received.

The owner/maître d'hôtel was busy with other guests when we arrived (no problem - it was friday night) & so we waited near the reservations clipboard lying on the table near the entrance. Pietro appeared briefly to grab the clipboard beside me & I greeted him with buonasera - he waved me off with his hand & disappeared. We waited some more until he reappeared and I again greeted him and was again ignored while he turned to speak to a guest at an adjacent table. A few minutes later he turned back towards me & I greeted him with ‘buonasera’ for a 3rd time - this time he looked at me and extended his hand and as I raised mine he physically pushed past me to shake the hand of the man approaching behind me and greet him by name. I was jostled to the side as he fawned all over the other guest who was obviously far more important and showed him with great fanfare to his table - Basil Fawlty came to mind.

Finally he returned and while looking at the clipboard addressed me with a tired ‘yes?’ I checked to make sure that he was in fact addressing me before giving my name for the reservation & upon checking the list he then pointed across the restaurant to our table for four and said ‘there’ before turning away again to talk to a staff member. He then turned to the rest of our group and asked ‘are you all James?’ before laughing at his own joke and saying ‘four James this way’ and again pointing to the table and directing us rather than seating us.

This set the tone for the night and despite most of the food and one or two of the staff being fantastic, some of the food was very ordinary and most staff lacklustre. My wife ordered grilled courgettes and the waiter said they did not have courgette however that they have some very nice broccoli... ok we’ll have that - spinach appeared and when queried he said ‘we do not have broccoli’

The owner dug himself deeper and triggered this review with his next interaction.

Our dining companion ordered a veal dish and despite being well presented, the piece of meat was sinewy and tough, he returned the dish and not wishing to make a fuss he simply asked that it be removed from the final bill, no problem. The owner then approached and asked what was wrong with the meal. My friend explained that it was not a very good piece of meat and not to worry as sometimes it happens. The owner then laughed and loudly said ‘ha! well perhaps you should have ordered something else if you don’t like veal as the quality is the best!’ He again dismissed us with his hand as he walked away. Everyone at the adjoining tables was staring. Eventually we decided we’d cut our losses and have coffee & cake elsewhere but it took 40 minutes to receive the bill after having to ask for it 4 times.

This was our last night in Italy (not only in Capri) and after 2 weeks of wonderful restaurant experiences in everything from Michelin starred to cheap little places on the edge of piazza’s it was unbelievably disappointing.

The owner was rude, patronising and dismissive - he is obviously strongly inclined to be sycophantic to people he knows or thinks are important.

The Villa Margherita Ristorante website with the glowing reviews, family photos and beautiful words could not contrast more strongly with our experience and as there are no end of much better restaurants that also have a beautiful view on Capri we will come back again to Capri but not to Pietro’s...

I have to say I’m disappointed in the restaurant. The food was average but the price was not. Please note the majority of the dishes on menu are seafood.

First let’s start with service. The owner of the restaurant was extremely friendly and the staff was decently attentive until the end. The restaurant got fairly busy so i understand.

Food:

Our appetizer which was a Caprese salad was good. The tomato was too acidic for my liking I was hoping it would have a lighter flavor. The bufala was good.

Main dish: mixed pasta with prawn. The portion was small while the dish cost 34 Euro. It was ok, It’s thick so I ate it with a spoon. Prawn was cooked well but it was bland, nothing really stood out amongst the prawn, pasta, potato and cheese.

My wife had the sliced steak. It had a good sear and nice taste but the cut of beef was more fatty than we normally like.

Desert: cheese cake, the cake was 50/50 berry sauce/cheesecake. The berry sauce was a gelatinous disaster, overly sweet and tasted like they just bought it at a cheap confectionery bakery, I could not eat it. The cheesecake itself was unsatisfying.

On top of the 6 Euro cover charge per person our bill came out to 122 Euro. The restaurant is pretty and service was good on average but overall I would not recommend...

My wife and I had an awful experience at this restaurant, and frankly, our hotel should be ashamed for recommending it. It started when I asked for a bottle of white wine. The waiter had me choose between two bottles, and when I picked one, he brought it, opened it, and... it was red. We decided to just roll with it—one glass for me, a white for my wife—but the waiter got noticeably irritated.

The appetizers were the only decent part of the meal. But things went downhill fast. While my wife was pouring us water, another waiter rudely grabbed the bottle out of her hand without a word, then asked if we wanted dessert... before our entrees even arrived.

When the mains finally came, my wife’s gnocchi was cold, while my spaghetti with clams was scalding hot. We sent the gnocchi back to be warmed, and by the time I could eat my pasta, it had cooled down but was somehow still bland and over-salted. I wasn't alone either—two other tables sent their food back.

To top it off, when I mentioned the lack of flavor in my dish, the waiter didn’t apologize. Instead, he blamed me for not speaking up sooner and brushed it off with, “If you don’t like it, you don’t like it.”

Avoid this place at all costs. Rude service, inconsistent food, and a staff that clearly...