Da Luciano — Restaurant in Lipari

We came back here after a great dinner we had a few years ago but left quite disappointed this time.

While the location is really nice with a great terrace overlooking the sea and Strombolicchio and the service professional and quick, the food seems to have taken a turn towards a more touristy audience.

The Antipasto di mare was abundant - one portion can be easily shared between 3 people - but the flavors were bland, especially the octopus salad. The salmon arancino and the marinated anchovies were a pass. The smoked tuna, swordfish, and salmon were average. Gratinated mussels were a miss.

The primi were a disappointment. Again huge portions - can easily be shared between 2 people, especially the risotto (probably north of 300 grams!) - but flavors were not giving justice to the seafood used. The risotto all’eoliana used overcooked asparagus (didn’t really know this was a typical Eolian thing?) and lacked flavor in general. The scialatielli with swordfish were better with a good pasta quality and fairly fresh fish but the capers in vinegar, together with the lemon, gave it too much acidity, making it impossible to finish. Not sure I understand why not using capers in salt instead given the fact that they grow abundant and wild on the island?

The pizzas looked good though - maybe it’d have been a...

I went here with great expectations and I was half disappointed! The pizza is plain, nothing special, even if the oven looks great from outside! Basic tomato sauce, the dough I don’t know if has 24 hours of rest at least… First I got cold grilled vegetables, which for 10€/portion I found very expensive, because you get only 3 slices of aubergine and 3 slices of zucchini, unsalted, complete without taste! The meat was of course without salt but good grilled, I managed to eat it after salting! The dicker part had a bad taste, maybe was not fresh, however 90% of the piece was good!

The pasta dish was very good done, is the only I could recommend!

The attitude of waiters was ok, except the old lady (the boss) and the one by the cash register!

In my opinion they should pay more attention to the guests and try to do the thing better!(taste,...

Wow, that was a really bad experience for a long time. A typical tourist spot, with a turndown service and really bad food. We chose it for the view, thinking with a 4.1 rating here, it would be fine. Jesus, it was a short evening on the run. After many evenings of pasta, pizza and antipasti, one of us chose the steak, another risotto and I pasta. We had: super tough meat with no sides and microwave rice. My pasta was ok. The next table, Italian, got steak and risotto, as it should be. What a coincidence that the couple who came shortly after us, and also ordered after us, got food before us - and then high quality food too! This was again the classic moment where tourists were treated badly and locals preferably. Conclusion: As a tourist...