Me Cumpari Turiddu — Restaurant in Catania

We were really excited to come and eat here and booked a couple of weeks ago. I will start by saying that the food was excellent and really fresh with local ingredients. Unfortunately the service just didn't line up with the quality of the restaurant.

When we arrived I said (in italian) that we had a reservation. The girl went to get her English speaking colleague which is fine but unnecessary as we both know enough to get by and have had no issues like this at other places in Italy. We sat down, ordered wine and it arrived. We then had to wait 30 minutes to order food whilst the table that sat down next to us 15 minutes after we arrived (also English speaking) were served and ordered in about 10 minutes total.

Once we eventually got our meal the service was quick enough but it was very hard trying to catch the attention of any of the staff it was like they were avoiding us. When the bill came there was an extra charge for a shot of liqueur and another for a fruit plate totalling €10 that we didn't order. I thought it was an honest mistake and just asked the waitress. When she went to change the bill she came back and basically threw the little pot on the table without an apology which obviously makes it look like they have done this deliberately assuming we would not read the bill. Its only €10 on €100 dinner so it doesn't really matter but it was just so rude and if they didn't want tourists in their restaurant they should just say that on the website. I have never felt so unwelcome in my life.

I dont want to hear excuses that only 1 waitress spoke English bla bla bla because we would have conducted ourselves entirely in italian given the option but we were given English menus and ignored by all the other waiting staff. Really really...

This was the worst meal I ever had without exaggeration. We came to this place on our last night of holiday after reading all the great reviews... As other reviews already mentioned, staff is absolutely not interested in their clients, we were ignored for good 10 minutes when we first walked in - not even an eye contact, an acknowledgement, a smile, nothing. This should have been a sign for us to leave, but unfortunately we stayed. Stayed to have the most disappointing meal I can even recall in my experience. We ordered the local cured meats and cheese board to start, and even this was disappointing as the meats mainly consisted of tasteless fat (see the far end of the photo), so we haven't finished it (we tried to scrape the fat of the meat, but the was hardly any). We ordered similar boards in Sicily before, not once we've been served with mainly fat, so it can't be a local speciality. Our main dishes were two different fish dishes, my husband's meal was OK, but nothing special, and mine was completely inedible. While it looked nice (pictured), the fish was dry, chewy, greasy as it was floating in oil and absolutely tasteless, I just couldn't believe how bad it was. I hardly touched it and my plate was still full when the waiter came to collect the plates, I did say it wasn't nice, hence I hardly touched it, to which the waiter apologized and said this fish is like this (why have it on the menu then?!). Anyway, although we left a lot of food untouched on the first and second course, nothing was offered to make our experience a bit better, we paid the bill in full, which was not worth what we got at all. And yes, the decor if the restaurant is querky, but this still doesn't make our experience any better...

Summary: a major let down given the restaurant’s reputation. Mediocre food and inattentive service.

We’re visiting Sicily and this was one of the meals I was most looking forward to after lots of research and recommendations (Michelin guide, here in Google, our host, food critics, etc)

The night started out wonderfully - we walked into our 9pm reservation to a bustling restaurant. Our cocktails were delicious, we enjoyed the bread / preserve selection and received an excellent wine recommendation.

Things fell apart after appetizer, which was the seafood crudo. This was fine and fresh although unexceptional.

For our mains, my partner ordered a dish that was unavailable, changed his order, and was informed 10+ minutes later that the backup he chose was also unavailable. Why not let us know earlier?

We were finished with the crudo and the plates sat finished for 20+ minutes without being cleared or any staff checking in. Our mains came - we both landed on the pork duet in the end - and my pork chop was bone dry, far over cooked. It was inedible. The other piece of pork was juicier but lacked flavour. This dish is something you could easily execute better at home. Very little flavour or seasoning.

Service also became completely absent - no one checked on us or asked about our meal. After the initial tasting / pour, no one came back to pour our wine.

I’m not sure if it was because it was the end of the night or perhaps an off night, but we were SO disappointed in the food and service. Enjoying good food and drink is one of my favourite parts of travelling and this was a major let down.

The experience was a huge disappointment relative to the price and this...