La Strada Del Vino Wine Bistrot — Restaurant in Lecce

Not worthy of a positive review. My group of eight colleagues booked an olive oil and wine tasting and we were overwhelmingly disappointed. We were seated promptly in the back room, away from general customer seating. Our host only tasted us on two olive oils which were served with bread and no plates or napkins. We had to ask. One of the olive oil bottles had an expired label. They may reuse the bottle, so i will give them the benefit of doubt.

The cheese plate consisteted of three types of local cheese, two small pieces for each type and each couple had to share a plate. Our host was well-versed in the origin of each local cheese, but could not tell us how they arrived at pairing with each wine. He was also well-versed in the origin of each of the three wines and also knew the distance to the wineries. Sadly, that's where it ends. He couldn't provide specific tasting notes for each of the bottles served and could only comment on wines in general. Example: Our host said we could pick up notes of tobacco in the red wine. I have tasted wines all over the US and Europe, and could not smell or taste any hint of tobacco, which is my favorite characteristic of wine. His reply? "Oh, I speak in general terms." Didn't we pay for an olive oil and wine tasting? We voiced our concerns and dissatisfaction to a blank stare. The owner arrived and we also expressed our dissatisfaction with the pairing and lack of interaction. She refused to accept our criticism and suggested my group was inexperienced with wine...which could be further from the truth. Avoid this scam and go somewhere where they know what they are doing. This is not a slam on Lecce, only La Strada Del Vino Bistrot.

I anticipate the owner will respond with arrogance to defend her position. This will be...

Avoid at all costs.

We were traveling Puglia with a group of wine friends and added the oil and wine tasting at La Strada Del Vino to our itinerary - for 65 euro per person our hopes were high, but sadly we were completely disappointed.

The individual leading the tasting would disappear at 20-30 minutes at a time, and when he was there and we asked a question requiring even a modest amount of wine knowledge he completely failed. We shared our concerns and ultimately the owner came over attempting to convince us that we don't know what it means to do a wine tasting in Italy. She was completely arrogant, and unable to even hear our feedback. Initially we thought the issue was with the individual leading the tasting, but after interacting the owner we realized it is a fundamental management issue that won't be solved until she is ready to hear her customers.

Feel free to look at my review history. This is the first one-star review I have ever done. However, in this circumstance it is completely warranted.

There are many high quality tastings in the area that I would highly recommend (let me know if you want details) where you can have a great experience, a wonderful flight of wines, and served in a friendly and knowledgeable atmosphere. Sadly, that will not happen at La Strada Del...

We were a group of 8 and booked a wine and olive oil tasting. We have been to hundreds of wine tastings both in Europe and the US. This is by far the WORST experience any of us had. The host was running 3 tastings at the same time and would relay inaccurate information on the wines, and when we asked questions about it, he would then say “well, in general”. He did not explain what or how to eat the small tastings of food with the wine. The host was very arrogant and gave an excuse for any questions that were asked. We expressed our disappointment, we were in the back of the restaurant and out of the way from any other patrons. This cost our group $520 US dollars, and not worth one cent of that!! The owner came out and basically made us feel that we didn’t know how wine tastings work. She was also just as arrogant as our host. The only positive experience was the server who initially set us up, his name was Lamin and he was a delight. Do NOT visit this bistrot!!! I can’t stress...