Taverna Pithecusana " Da Michele" — Restaurant in Lacco Ameno

When we came into the restaurant, the only table we could get was directly under a very active ceiling fan. We decided to order the 2 pizzas for takeaway. We waited at the restaurant for 52 minutes! I checked on progress twice in the meantime. We were in the same queue as large phone orders, even though we were physically present at the restaurant. I saw at least 40 pizzas leave the place while we were waiting. No apologies were offered for nearly an hour’s wait. We were also charged the eat-in price instead of the takeaway price for sitting at our table for just 5 minutes. The pizza was very good though.

UPDATE after the restaurant’s response.

It says a lot about a place’s management when they would rather accuse a customer of lies, than simply apologise for making them wait for nearly an hour at their doorstep.

We were not warned that there were 15 orders before us for takeaway. They were so busy, they forgot to tell us. We would’ve walked away. The order took 52 minutes after payment, not 40. Yes, I changed my mind about the table couple of times, as it was impossible to sit under the fan. Doesn’t make me a bad customer.

They are very popular with locals, so don’t really care if a hungry tourist couple waits on their doorstep for an hour.

Lastly, at the entrance they have a table of takeaway prices vs normal prices. We ordered at the table from the menu at full price, didn’t get a reduction because of takeaway - which is fine. But we still were treated as takeaway, as we abandoned the table - they could’ve bumped our minor 2-pizza order up the queue.

There are no lies or malice in my review. Just wish you had warned us the wait was longer than 20 minutes, so we could’ve eaten...

📎 Location: great if you are nearby "Hotel della Baia"; 📎 Price: total bargain; 📎 Food: plenty of different pizzas but not so vegan friendly; 📎 Service: very kind, also caring;

Truth is, we haven't dined in, we went for a takeaway. But this didn't prevent us from enjoying both the staff and the location when waiting for our order to be ready! The place is lovely, cosy, with a pleasant aesthetic that closely resembles your average homemade atmosphere. However, given the tininess of the place, you could feel very hot during summer since the oven is pretty close to the tables, so be sure to sit next to a window! Gladly, they also have fans on the ceiling. The pizzeria is fairly surrounded by nature in the back and there's a decent parking lot on the front.

Food was great, there are plenty of varieties of pizzas and there are panini too. Ingredients were fresh, tasty, local but not stereotyped. It was clear that, whoever cooks there, they do it with passion and creativity. Unfortunately, there were no food choices that were entirely vegan, however I think you could effortlessly create one just by mixing the ingredients at your own choice (my girlfriend ordered a custom "panuozzo" with no probs).

So, if you're lodged at one of the local hotels, make sure to visit Taverna Pithecusana, you...

Hidden location where locals go rather than tourists, but that’s why i like the place, very good quality for the price! Pizza is made in a stone oven with wood, typical for the area is the dough being soft rather than crunchy on the bottom (I personally always prefer a little crunch to the dough) but the toppings are really good and fresh. Requested for a custom made salad, very simple but which is of superior quality and was not a problem at all. Friendly staff! I would come...