Ristorante Al Castello — Restaurant in Castheddu/Castelsardo

Al Castello Restaurant in Castelsardo:

Atmosphere and Ambiance: The restaurant is perched atop a hill, offering breathtaking views of the sea and the historic town of Castelsardo. The outdoor terrace is charming, especially during sunset. However, the interior decor could use some updating.

Service: The service was friendly but lacked attentiveness. One waitor was lacking any talent. I have had to open the wine bottle for him. Another one, managed it with excellence. However we have appreciated the complimentary glass of spumante provided by the owner upon arrival.

Food:

Fresh Fish of the Day: We opted for the catch of the day, which was a beautifully grilled sea bass. The fish of around 700g was after being filleted a 200 to 250g piece. A bit too less for 2 persons. The fillet was flavorful and perfectly cooked. However, the pricing system based on weight (€10 per 100g) felt a bit steep for the final fillet end.

Side Dishes: The accompanying roasted vegetables were hardly visible —and not tasty.

Dessert: We skipped it this time.

Spumante: The complimentary glass of spumante was a delightful touch. It had a pleasant effervescence and paired well with our appetizers.

Improvements Needed: While the food quality was generally ok, the overall experience fell short due to the relation quality/price/service. There rare good and bad tables on the terrace. We have had a bad one, in the left corner giving me the view on a wall. Bad luck for me. Despite this, the professionalism of some service staff was lacking and could at least from service side enhance the dining experience at Al Castello.

In summary, Al Castello may offer, depending on your table, a picturesque setting but improvements in service and food would elevate it to a recommendable...

How this restaurant can get the rating it currently has is beyond me. I will try to give an objective review.

Nice welcome and beautiful setting. Glas of Prosecco offered upon arrival. Nice roof terrace.

No menus handed out, after a while we found out that you should scan a QR code, staff did not know about this. Waiter came to take our order but after 5 people left. We had to remind that our kids also wanted to eat something.

After a while we received the food, which was pub food at best, rubbish at worst but in any case not “authentic Sardanian food”. One of our kids got a steak which was so greasy there was not the slightest bit of meat to be discovered. We sent it back.

Salads consist of cold vegetables with dressing, supposedly typically local. They even managed to ruin a simple potato mash, no idea how they managed.

We decides to skip dessert. At the till, I stated that this had not been a good meal. Owner immediately took of certain dishes from the bill so no issues there, even gave an extra reduction but we still paid 300,-€ for a party of nine and left hungry.

A big disappointment as we were expecting a...

Tourist trap! If you want your dining experience to be quicker than a McDonald's drive-thru then this is the place for you. The menu has to be scanned so bring your phone. Pre-dinner cocktails and bread came first, but then wine and food was given 3 minutes later by about 5 enthusiastic waiters swarming your table each bringing something.. Most items on our plates were pre-cooked, because there is no way fresh food can be cooked within such a short period of time (and I'm a chef). I won't go into details about quality as all 3 dishes had something wrong and none of us finished our meals. We complained about everything but the waiter still gave us a hefty priced bill. They did not inform the manager/owner but on paying the bill downstairs we told him and he seemed surprised. The food was taken off the bill so we only paid for cocktails, wine and water. We then had an amazing dinner at one of the street cafés. Sometimes less is more as the...