A Putia dell'Ostello — Restaurant in Catania

WARNING/ATTENTION !!!

If you guys read the answer of the owner to my comment just bellow, you'll understand how unprofessional he is. Instead of saying some like "I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy.." or "we will consider your comment to improve.." he just got upset. Even if he doesn't agree with my "judgement" he could at least pretend that he heard it and will consider, I mean, that's the basic of services to customer, especially catering jobs.

WARNING : avoid this restaurant, it is a shame for Sicilian gastronomy, the only interest of entering the establishment is to pay 1 euro and have a look at the small water flow passing through the underground. The French description that fallows explains why you have to run away from their food.

ATTENTION : attrape-touristes à éviter absolument. Le seul intérêt de ce restaurant est la petite rivière qui passe en dessous. Pour la voir payer 1e et puis c'est tout. Nous avons eu le malheur de manger pour avoir un aperçu de cette grotte, résultat : addition la plus salée du séjour pour de la nourriture absolument infecte. Bruschetta en entrée huileuses et sans goût, le pain était gorgé d'huile et de sel. 2 pizza en plats, la pâte ressemble à celle des pizza congelés du supermarché et la garniture à la limite du comestible. Pour moi des aubergines gorgées d'huile également, du fromage pecorino râpé sans goût et sûrement décongelé plus tôt dans la journée, la base tomate amer. Pour elle, la base tomate infecte également, des rondelles de tomates sans assaisonnement, du basilic passé au four avec la pizza donc sans saveur. On a mangé une part de nos pizza chacun, suffisant pour être dégoûté et partir, les serveur n'ont même pas cherché à savoir ce qui n'allait pas, ils ont sûrement l'habitude. La clientèle est essentiellement touristique donc aucune raison pour eux de faire un effort, ils savent que les client ne viennent qu'une seule fois. Bref je déconseille cet établissement, la seule chose à y faire est de payer 1e et aller voir la petite rivière qui...

Unfortunately I knocked a star off for the food, but, in a strange way that is a testament to the place as our expectations were so high. We ate and drank in many places in Catania and this was not only the one place we felt compelled to return to...but did so on four occasions!

There was always a happy vibe and the staff were absolutely superb. They deserve more than the five stars google allows.

The beer was crisp, reasonably priced and they gave you what you ordered for. (Some places filled the glass half with foam/head). They also did some awesome cocktails; even the 'happy hour' cocktails were as good as many of the 'finer' cocktail bars.

The star off: One of our lunches consisted of the snails (escargot) and a risotto style dish. While perfectly palatable, the accompanying sauces were watery/oily and with too much parmesan respectively.

As for the evening meals...this was the best sushi either of us have tasted. The platters (at the chef's whim...as is noted on the menu) are liable to change. But, every mouthful was a delight whenever we came here. The 'desert' sushi (coconut/fruits/Italian crème cheeses) were a culinary treat and we appreciated the Sicilian take on a Japanese staple.

All in all. We can't wait to return to Catania and this restaurant is one of the...

Was really excited to eat in the cave but unfortunately the night was a disaster. The hosts at the front were welcoming and polite and lead us through to the cave where we were seated. The waiter initially brought us our menus, we ordered, the dining area in the cave was beautiful and everything was going well. Then the couple next to us started smoking inside, in an enclosed area, at the dinner table. The waiter served them during this time and didn't appear to be phased so since I've been having a couple of issues with asthma while we've been in Italy and knowing our meal would be ruined if we stayed there, we asked to leave the reserved seats in the cave and move upstairs to a separate dining area, you wouldn't believe it but people up there were also smoking at the dinner table. After moving upstairs we asked the waiter if smoking inside the restaurants is permitted in Italy to which he replied "no, normally in an enclosed space like this it's not possible" but still had no intention of addressing the issue. This is without a doubt the worst dining experience I've ever had and it wasn't even because the food was bad. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone who has any sort of respiratory issues or just wants to enjoy their meal without having to inhale cigarette smoke...