Trattoria La Maidda — Restaurant in Castellammare del Golfo

I did not have a good experience here and I urge you not to go here.

It's nice to sit and the panelle were okay, but that is all. The waiting times were exceptionally long. For the bill alone we almost had to wait half an hour. And these are only the minor issues: I ordered a typical Swordfish dish which came after about an hour. Unfortunately, the fish was spoiled and you could taste that immediately. Honestly, I was shocked about it, since the restaurant did not make such a bad impression at first.

However, when I told the waiter, he started arguing with me. He insisted, the fish was fresh. I had severe food poisoning from fish once – I know perfectly well how rotten fish tastes like and that fish was beyond eatable. After a whole while they accepted to take the dish back. They at least offered me to order something different. That, however, was not an option, given the time and state it arrived in. And after that gruesome taste, I didn't want to eat anything different anymore for that night.

At the very least, they did not bill the dish. And that was the least they could do. There was no apology, no honesty and not even a real effort to make things right. In a good restaurant the waiter would remove the dish immediately and stop serving the fish for the night. Instead, La Maidda argued with me, trying to convince me to eat rotten fish for a few Euros in profit. This kind of service was an utter catastrophe.

Food poisoning (especially from fish) is not a joke. It is an extreme risk and can sometimes have severe consequences – for your whole life. An ingredient going rotten unnoticed can happen to the best restaurants at times. Being so unprofessional about this – like they were – however, is simply dangerous.

So, I'd urge anyone not to go here.

Edit: The owner just answered to my review in a very unprofessional way – offering not a slight of understanding and out of all things: Answering in Italian, when they clearly know, I don't speak their language. Meaning, they simply want to negate my answer, so their Italian customers are less inclined to believe me.

For someone who claims that they love their work, they really just show how little they care for their customers. In case you forgot, Sir: I was your customer. I spent a whole evening with you. And that is the kind of experience you offer to your customers. That is your restaurant. Any other restaurant owner would do their very best to solve this crisis. Not defame their own customers, call them liars and tell a totally different story. Do realise, that you ruined my whole evening, too. I felt sick for the rest of the night and we went home pretty soon after. What kind of holiday do you think is that? Would you like to pay for a trip like that?

You could've just said you're sorry. But you didn't. Instead, you wrote that and even threatened me. So, you just wholly confirmed my review and thus: I strongly stand by what I wrote.

And like I already said: Any good restaurant would've taken better precautions and measures. I already had food poisoning because of people like you. I didn't need it again. If you fail to understand that, a restaurant is not the right...

*VEGAN OPTIONS! :-) * Wow! The vegan Risotto was the best italian dish I had since I am here. It was really tasty and with many vegetables, it already smelled nice😄 So highly recommended! We also liked the bruschetta and my boyfriend had the vegetarian pasta with aubergine and ricotta, if you want it vegan they will do it without ricotta.

The other vegan dishes they have are caponata, salads, Pasta with the sicilianpesto (basil, almonds,...)

Staff was super friendly and took time by explaining all vegan dishes :)

Price 2023: Risotto...

bruschette was okayish, but burnt on the bottom the pasta had no flavour and was extremely oily, to the point where neither of us could finish their plate and we both felt nauseous after eating.

service staff was not very attentive, essentially ignoring us from the moment we got our food. we asked for sparkling water but were brought still, and they served us 2 aperol spritz although we only ordered one.

all in all not a good experience, bland oily food and bad service, we dont understand where all the good reviews are...