L'ISKA Catania — Restaurant in Catania

I came to L’iska because I saw a picture of the grilled octopus and people overall had pretty good experience. I have to say that I went against my ethical believes because of how smart and social octopi are. So I made an exception in hopes for a memorable experience. In the end it was 20 euros of sadness (18eur for the dish +2 euro service). It was an unnecessary huge octopus. Served rather cold without any flavour or seasoning. No sauce to highlight or celebrate this little life. Just dry cold huge dead octopus and you. A perfect example when quantity is expected to make up for the quality. Fries were also sad and the salad I couldn’t even eat. All I kept thinking of is how I could take it to go and make better, but I don’t even have a kitchen in my hotel 😭 Servers seemed to be nice and friendly but nobody knows how to deal with a guest who doesn’t have a good time. Which is not surprising cause when I mentioned it to the host he also didn’t really know what to do. Experiences like this are the reason I don’t feel excited about exploring local cuisines...

This restaurant is right off the main square in Catania and it was really crowded when we went on a Thursday night. The service was normal. The food is a fusion of traditional and modern flavors. We were surprised to see smoked tuna carpaccio with coconut milk. Whoever I do think that the place is a little bit overpriced compared to the other restaurants around it offering similar food. We went for a light dinner with only a salad and appetizers. However we paid as much as we would for a regular dinner. I am personally not a fan of carpaccio however my friend that ordered it said it was very tasty and the fusion of flavors was amazing. I had the eggplant with parmigiano which to my flavor was done in a very touristy way with way too much cheese in it and I was surprised to actually see a lot of grated feta cheese on top, which is not very typical for other Italian restaurants. However, keeping in mind that it is a fusion restaurant, maybe they blended the traditional Greek eggplant dishes with the Italian ones...

I rarely go to a restaurant without looking at reviews but because the restaurant across where we wanted to go was busy and we saw a lot of people here we just decided to wing it. Unfortunately that was a terrible decision. Although the servers beg you and are very nice with you for you to sit down when you’re standing and looking at the menu however once you sit down, they’re rude and don’t care about you.

We’ve been travelling all over Italy and this was the worst food we’ve had from north to south. We only had a few bites of each dish and left it all, and trust me when I say I never do that - I can eat bad food but this was beyond bad!

At the end, we had to ask multiple times for the bill and the servers just didn’t care, at the end I was getting frustrated and asked for the third time and the lady rudely said to just go to the front to lay (without telling me my table number).

There are better places in Sicily, don’t let this place ruin your trip with their rude attitude and poor...