Sutt'a Ràvia — Restaurant in Cefalù

Pros: the staff were rather nice and service was fast (the restaurant was pretty empty because we went around 11 pm) The glass of house wine we tried was good and reasonably priced

Cons:

Bread disappointing (but it was also the end of the night) Mixed greens salad: Our salad was just iceberg lettuce, 2 halved cherry tomatoes and corn, no dressing, no salt, no other types of greens Peppered mussels: the flavor was overall decent but there were some that had not opened after cooking that we avoided eating out of caution and some that were very dry and stringy We meant to order the grilled swordfish but there was a language barrier and the grilled mixed seafood platter showed up instead (it was also double the price of what we meant to order) but we wanted to give it a chance because we do generally love seafood. The grilled platter consisted of a maybe 3 oz piece of tuna, 1 tiger prawn, the thinnest slice of swordfish I’ve ever seen and one squid (normal size) The tuna: unbelievably dry, chewy, and grey. It was unrecognizable at first and we wondered if they had served us a chicken cutlet because of how tough it looked. So so so dry, cannot emphasize this enough. Could’ve been used as a sponge. The squid was cooked until tough and chewy. The swordfish was also dry and tough. We didn’t try the prawn. I have literally never sent anything back to the kitchen in my life, but this was so bad we had to send it back. The server was kind about it and the chef came out to talk to us but the language barrier made it somewhat difficult for us to communicate what we didn’t like. They offered to cook it again but we didn’t want to risk it and were okay with just the mussels and salad. Now imagine our surprise when we got the bill and the dish we had sent back was still on it but with a measly €6.50 discount. We had eaten about a bite each of three of the items, but we were truly shocked. We expressed surprise and only then they took off another €10. At that point we just wanted to leave so we just paid it.

At least we don’t have to worry about food poisoning, everything definitely cooked to temp.

In conclusion, do not eat here. This is the worse meal I have ever had, and there is much better to be found with even a little bit of research.

Also, this is NOT the fault of the restaurant, but beware of music spillover from Fri next door. Not always pleasant, but definitely...

Oh wow, not only the worst restaurant I’ve ever visited in Sicily, it’s probably the worst restaurant I ever visited in the while country in 15 or so years. And it’s the only bad experience I had in Sicily, which says a lot. Why is that? Let’s break it down.

It’s either the chef has COVID (permanently), or simply doesn’t know how to cook. Everything was tasteless. He/she clearly never heard about salt. And that applies to all the dishes we tried, which were: Antipasto Misto Siciliano - caponata was actually good, sardines were OKish, but those shrimps were accompanied by a very strong and not really tasty sauce Fritto Misto - overcooked seafood, where the squid was dry, and the fish probably dies of age Gambero Rosso Passion Fruit - if these local raw shrimps taste like that, then I don’t get what’s with all the noise. Should probably taste them somewhere else. And passion fruit underneath makes no sense - you can’t put it on top anyway.

I’m writing this review from another restaurant less than 100 meters away. So, having Dinner 2.0. Or more like Dinner 1.5, since we couldn’t finish those questionable dishes.

But the service was great. And the location is nice - extremely close to where there are always a lot of people, so peace and silence is just around the corner. So, the place has a lot of potential - they just need to fix the only issue, which is the main issue for any restaurant - food. Any good enough chef can turn things around for sure. I hope they will replace...

I give the food four stars and held one back because we felt so unwelcome there. We didn’t reserve a table and just swung by to try our luck. They denied us the seats inside at first saying they were all booked. But then it looked like it was about to rain and all of sudden we got migrated inside. The service was slow, just like anywhere else in Italy but what makes it worse is that they made it so that they didn’t want you to dine there. Their gesture, their expression and their tone just seemed unfriendly. Basically whatever you experienced on the main land (in the north) Italy cannot really be expected here. However, I gotta give it to their food. You can never find seafood dishes this cheap on the whole island. The BnB lady who recommended it to us said that the Sutt’a Ràvia’s owner also owned a seafood store. So, they have plenty of supplies. If you can overlook the cold vibe from the staff then you’ll have a good time there. Also keep in mind that takeaway is only...