Ristorante da Nino — Restaurant in Letojanni

I do not remember when I left without leaving a tip but I will certainly remember this time. And here is why:

Today we went to Da Nino for Dinner. We had no further information about the restaurant other than it looks nice from the street, so we went in and booked a table for the evening without further specification.

The restaurant is divided into two areas. I would call the first one the more fancy area (nicer lighting, table cloth and more decoration) and hence it being more central more coverage by the service. The second area is not bad, but my chair was damaged and it does not have any kind of roof or other form of wind protection. It would still be average, or above average with one major downside - the service.

On arrival the restaurant was almost empty (ca. 19.30 on a Friday night). We were not asked if we preferred to sit in the "fancy", or latter area and were led to the latter one. The table was not bad and it was on the sea front.

Unusual for a restaurant they do not sell a Wine of the house by 0,25/0,5 liters, but only by glasses, so we had two glasses, which had to be ordered separately through the Sommelier which did not do any kind of questioning about a preference (we wanted a simple wine to accompany the meal, yet no questions asked).

For a starter we ordered King Prawns (sold by piece). They were nicely made, but very badly washed and sandy. As second course we chose Linguine with Lobster. After waiting for 45min we asked a waiter if we were forgotten as two other tables having ordered after us both received their food, of which one was the Linguine with Lobster. The waiter looked misplaced and promised to check on the matter. He did not come back at all. After about another 10min we asked a second waiter which promised to check on the matter and did not come back to us either. After another 5min we asked a third waiter which actually checked on the topic. It was unclear what went wrong, but we would get our Linguine in 5-10min was his explanation. As promised the food arrived. The Lobster was good, but the Linguine were at least partially undercooked (about 30-60 sec off "Al Dente"). The third waiter came back during the meal and asked if it was fine on which we answered that the Meal has the above mentioned flaws. We did not receive an offer of how to fix it or anything alike. In the end we were offered a Grappa or Limoncello (as far as we can tell as any other table), which we both denied. On ordering the check we received a plate with three biscuits packaged in plastic (of which one was lying on the wrong side (Bottom upside) and not looking very nice). In total there was no offer to fix anything, nor an excuse beyond "sorry". When we were paying the waiter did not ask if everything was fine or if we had liked the dinner. There was no thank you for coming or anything which should be the minimum standard for any restaurant.

We will not come back. The place looks nice from the outside but is horribly run and we have a strong feeling that the waiters judge you based on your initial order and treat you according to the initial impression.

We spent a total of...

Premessa non posso dare un giudizio totale sulla qualità del cibo di questo bel ristorante sulla spiaggia di Letojanni perché ci siamo limitati a mangiare solo un piatto e un dolce, ma sicuramente posso parlare di tutta l'esperienza di questa serata.

Il locale, fronte mare segue tutti i vari ristorantini sul lungo mare, appena si entra si ha l'impressione di un locale raffinato, ben curato anche nei dettagli.

L'impatto porta subito ad avere molte aspettative.

Era un venerdì sera di fine settembre, dove tutti gli altri locali erano semivuoti, mentre questo era pieno.

La fortuna ha voluto che rimanesse un tavolo, non avevamo prenotato. Il cameriere ci accompagna al tavolo.

Tutto ben curato con dei bei toni di colori freschi e raffinati. Un ambiente confortevole e nonostante fosse pieno ci si sente a proprio agio.

Un bel banco del pesce fresco faceva bella mostra. Dopo un attimo d'attesa ci servono l'acqua i menù...

E qui la prima "delusione" sono dettagli, ma quando crei un locale tutto preciso, con un chiaro target di clientela, non puoi presentarti con un menù fatto da una busta di plastica e una fotocopia sbiadita, per poi cadere ancora più in basso mettendo sul tavolo un malloppo sempre imbustato di fogli fotocopiati dove al suo interno c'è una "lista di vini" infinita, dove si arriva ad avere disponibili vini da 18.000€ e ho detto tutto!!!!

E' come camminare in un bellissimo prato bucolico tra uccellini e fiori e poi... Sbang giri l'angolo e ti trovi davanti un muro di cemento. Un po' come le brutture che si vedono in Spagna sui litorali bellissimi rovinati da palazzi enormi che non c'entrano nulla con l'ambiente.

Chiusa la parentesi, abbiamo ordinato un bel fritto di pesce.

Sempre per darvi metro dell'impostazione del locale per ogni servizio c'è un cameriere dedicato e così è stato per la scelta del vino dove un giovane sommelier ci ha ben consigliato e servito egregiamente. Abbiamo preso un ottimo bianco dell'Etna.

Tempi di attesa leggermente lunghi anche perché mi sa che la serata era un pochino confusionaria. Nell'attesa ci siamo sentiti chiedere da vari camerieri e anche dallo stesso titolare che come un ottimo anfitrione gira per i tavoli intrattenendo e scambiando due parole con tutti, se avevamo già ordinato... Insomma...

Il fritto è arrivato e devo dire molto buono e soprattutto non con le solite cose, ma ricco di diversi tipi di pesce ottimamente preparati e molto freschi. Veramente soddisfacente!

In conclusione un'ottima esperienza, peccato per alcuni dettagli come l'orribile lista dei vini e menù, per una disattenzione nell'ordine e nel aver provato a togliermi il piatto nonostante non avessi finito....

Insomma magari un po' di effetto fine stagione, ma sono i piccoli dettagli che fanno la differenza specialmente quando ti proponi come ristorante di un certo livello.

Una nota di merito la voglio dedicare al cameriere dedicato ai dolci, che tra l'altro sono stati spettacolari! Torta al babba' e torta ai pistacchi. Ci ha saputo consigliare e soprattutto ha dimostrato una gentilezza e accortezza che ci ha dato quel Più che fa di una normale cena, un'esperienza.

Concludendo un ottimo ristorante, assolutamente da provare, i prezzi sono perfettamente in linea con la qualità di tutto.

Speriamo solo che la prossima volta troveremo un bel menù e carta dei vini.

P.s. i piatti serviti ai vari commensali attorno a noi devo dire che si presentavano magnificamente e di sicuro deliziosi.

Speriamo di...

We had dinner at your restaurant last night. The food was good and tasted great. During our meal, a guest at a nearby table asked if they were allowed to smoke. It was clearly explained that smoking was not permitted and that they had to go outside. We appreciated that.

However, shortly after we finished eating, other guests at the table next to us started smoking indoors. Nothing was said to them—in fact, an ashtray was even brought to their table. We found this very inappropriate and disrespectful, especially since earlier it had been made clear that smoking wasn’t allowed inside.

When we wanted to pay the bill, it took a very long time to get anyone’s attention. The waiter literally stood with his back to us, talking at length to the women at the next table, even though he had been serving us. He completely ignored us.

When we finally paid, we didn’t even receive a simple thank you or a “good evening.” We found the staff's attitude very rude and disappointing. The food was good, but the way the smoking was handled and the lack of basic courtesy from the waiter made the experience feel quite disrespectful and...