Vuciata — Restaurant in Catania

Tuesday 8th November table for 2 outside 9pm. I don’t even know where to start with this review, as it was the best dinner I ever had in The whole Catania, but I’ll try to contain my excitement and be as much thorough as possible. We sat down without reservation, staff was so prompt, professional and attentive. Straight away was offered water. The menu was not too big nor small, and the smell of fresh cooked fish was all over. We decided to take 2 second courses split into 2 courses, tge first was “Grilled Squid” and tge second was “Horse Meatball” with a side of “Potatoes with Sxamorza”. As soon as the order went into the kitchen we spotted a cold cuts and cheeses board served to a nearby table that was so tempting, so we call the waitress and she arranged it in a blink of an eye. The cold cuts and cheese board was served with bread and orange marmalade and the selection was with all local products ( the salami with pistachio) was to die for and I could have scoff the whole salami if I had it in front of me. The grilled squid is a very peculiar dish and not everybody can cook it properly, if overcooked tend to be chewy, however this whole squid was a feast for the eyes and mouth. It was nothing over the top, with a little garnish to enhance the taste of that charred squid with sone finely cut herbs and a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. At this point through the meal I understood that this place was great and I was looking forward to taste the Horse Meatballs. The choice of a side dish as potatoes with scamorza cheese was great as it bulked up both the fish and meat course. Horse Meatballs arrives and 5 ping pong size flatted patties released the most exquisite flavour, it could easily feed 2, and Sicily us very famous as purveyor of horse meat, therefore if you look for something traditional you might want to start from this. Unfortunately we were too full that could not finish all the meatballs leaving 2 in the plate. I must give credit to all the staff but in particular to “Roberto” for the outstanding service provided to our table. If you go there make sure to be served by him, and your dinner experience will be one that you’ll remember. In conclusion, I just want to say that this place is quintessential Sicily, inside out and I will be looking forward to go back. For me it goes to the 1st place on the list of places to...

We were walking down the street when we saw this beautiful restaurant full of people. We saw an empty space outside and asked one of the service guys if it’s okay to sit. He said it’s all fine and we sat. Another guy came up to us and told us that we cannot sit there so we should go. Totally amazed by the tone he said that I’ve asked why. The reason was that there is a “queue” at the other side at the street. We decided to give them another chance by waiting in the queue. When the same guy saw us coming back he literally said “You go then you come back haha”. I ignored that one. We’ve had the sweet and sour Tuna with caramelised onions(it was a main dish on their menu) and mixed salads for starter. At this time the same guy who told us to stand up fixed his manners and behavior and was nice and calm to us. The starter came in 2-3 minutes what amazed us. Did they actually cooked the Tuna for 2-3 minutes? There were 3 pieces of tuna, one of which was not cooked good. I gave chance to the other two pieces, they were okay but the sour was too much. We didn’t eat it because it had this bad feeling of hurting your tongue on the sides when eating too much sour. We ordered black squid ink spaghetti for me and spaghetti with sardines for my girlfriend. They came in 10-15 minutes but both didn’t have any taste. It tasted like cooked pasta with nothing. I was very disappointed that it happened to me for the first time ever in my life. I usually am a good pig and eat whatever but couldn’t eat this one. We felt bad when asking for the bill with plates full of food. We were given the bill of €55 and left hungry even without an apology. Hope people stop overestimating...

Last dinner in Sicily and very dissappoiting experience. Visited Vuciata on recommendation, therefore overlooked the fact that there were no locals and not even a single italian speaking client in a sitting room which is never a good sign. First mistake was when taking the wine - we always opt for a full body red, having in mind Nero d'Avola, but this time the waiter was quicker and suggested Etna donnafugata wine which we have never tried before and agreed with suggestion out of curiosity. The full-bodiness was not here but OK, such differences in taste happen. Drama came with the food - both pasta's (we took Norma and one with artichokes) were overcooked Norma was burried under some sort of ketchup with few pieces of burnt eggplant on the top, it came already lukewarm and because for some reason was served at the same time as antipasti - was even more cold by the time when it was supposed to be eaten. Fish soup was a heap of clams and shrimps that got totally cold by the time one reached some liquid beneath - and were without flavour. Small ray of sunshine were antipasti - not salada siciliana, where chiliegine were same taste as in Belgian supermarket, but sarde a beccafico and caponata were decent. Another positive moment was when the waiter - pleasant young man in general - did not charge us for any of pastas which we left...