U Sapuritu — Restaurant in Catania

Unfortunately a disappointing experience.

First of all, due to a large tourist group we had to wait quite some time for our food. That was alright because we were informed of that, so we did not mind. However, our waitress seemed so incredibly annoyed and stressed by our presence that we considered leaving directly. But we stayed… As a starter we had the pulpo salad, which was alright. But the pulpo was quite slimy. We know that this is something natural to pulpo, but actually easy to clean/ remove when prepared as a dish. Afterwards we received our main courses, or at least one of us. We had the pasta with clams, which was drowned in olive oil and quite basic. Frankly, it was just underwhelming with barely any taste except for fishy. While I received my main course, my partner had to wait for another 20-25 minutes before he received his, which means I was almost done with my course before he even started it. He had the Sicilian fish. That was nice. As a side dish we order grilled vegetables which were not seasoned and just put plainly on a grill. Oil and seasoning came separate in tiny plastic packs. Despite the fact that this is an incredible unnecessary waste of package, we would expect some higher quality seasoning and oil for a restaurant. And what about just marinating the vegetables before putting them on the grill? Anyway, we did not finish those, because they were unenjoyable. Overall, we really just felt like we wasted our money and we would not come back or recommend this place to dine.

Unfortunately also (and this is not the fault of the restaurant but still quite unpleasant) the street where the restaurant is located smells incredibly like urine. Like a very strong smell that unfortunately always swaps over...

The waitress recommended the mixed starter, and it exceeded our expectations—everything from crudités to fried fish, squid skewers, and mussels. All the seafood tasted really fresh, and I particularly enjoyed the raw shrimp.

Next, we had the spaghetti allo scoglio, and again, I was very impressed with both the quality and the portions.

From the start, the waitress was welcoming and attentive, and we hardly noticed the short wait as we were too busy admiring the decor, which really captures aspects of the local culture.

Overall, great value, delicious food, and we’ll...

My recommendation is to skip this one. If you still decide to eat there - the shrimp appetizer was good ( you have to peel the shrimp) and the shrimp grill was also nice. Definitely skip the risotto, the seafood pasta from the chef’s special was definitely interesting but would not order again. Our waitress was nice but either forgetful was waiting on too many tables. Keep in mind that the grill takes a very long time to come - the waitress asked us for desserts and we had to remind her we we’re still waiting on our grill. Pasta was...