Osteria del Coco Pazzo — Restaurant in Martina Franca

It’s hard to summarize just how cool and perfect an experience we received from Chef Steffano, “the crazy cook / il cuoco pazzo”. If you’re in Martina Franca, this is the one MUST-VISIT restaurant that YOU REALLY NEED TO EAT AT.

Quality: 5 Value: 5 Service: 1,000 Ambience: 5

We were just wandering through Martina Franca when we stopped to admire the triangular buildings and glance at the menu (they were closed for the afternoon siest / postolino). Chef Steffano stepped outside to take a stretch break, saw our very obviously touristy attire, and asked how we were and where we were visiting from. A few compliments about California later, and we found ourselves talking for almost 20 minutes, then taking a shot of his homemade local laurel liquor (licoro dall’alloro) and asking to buy a bottle from him. We were bummed we were leaving back to Ostuni and couldn’t stay for dinner. We decided to stop back the next day on our drive to the airport for lunch. It was one of the best meals we’ve eaten in Italy, or ever.

We started with his custom charcuterie board with peccorino cheese, burrata cheese, salami (ground sausage), caprocolo (whole-muscle prosciutto), and panchetta (like cured bacon). We grabbed a bottle of phenomenally smooth and crisp white wine. He also offered up fresh, home-made bread made partly with potato flour; it was the ONLY good bread I ate inside a restaurant while in Italy.

Our mains were the truffle tortellini and pomodoro orecchiete (local “ear” shaped pasta). The orecchiete was the best we ate while in Italy. The truffle tortellini was the best I’ve eaten in my life. Everything was perfectly balanced, aromatic and fragrant, but not overpowering.

The balance of spice, fat, salt, and acid in the sauces was unbelievable. I got video of my best friend drinking the remaining sauce out of his bowl after the pasta was gone. We almost wept with how delicious the meal was - and just how damn nice and friendly Chef Steffano and his whole staff were. We ended with a shot of their ginger digestif, which was just the right amount of sweet and alcoholic.

All of this cost us about 30 euros per person, and was an almost unbelievably perfect visiting-the-city-and-eating-at-local-spots experience.

If I am ever back in Puglia, I will go out of my way to come back and eat at Coco Pazzo, and you should make the same effort to get here and try the food and...

We received very slow and late service, having booked the table for 9:30pm we were actually seated 20 minutes later and brought menu and tables setting 30 mins later. We were able to eat about 1 hour after we were seated, despite other tables arrived after us got food served even before than we got our menus. Once the food arrived the portions looked considerably smaller than what we saw brought to the other tables during the wait, therefore I asked to speak with the floor manager and I complained about the long wait and the poor portions of food, her answer was very rude and aggressive, saying literally that those problems were only in my dreams. Feeling attacked and not listened to I just sat back at the table, until at the moment of paying when we kindly asked to split the bill. They did the calculation and actually overcharged my part and when I told them so the owner of the restaurant asked me to go to a back room to discuss my complaints. There, without a mask that is actually at this moment in time mandatory in closed environments like restaurants, he started coming very close to me and shout on my face that I was just an annoying tourist making unfounded complaints. Feeling once more attacked, morally and almost physically by his inappropriate proximity invading my personal space, I just had to leave as the unpleasant sensation of being actually threatened was too much to cope with. This is sincerity the worst experience I ever had in a restaurant, in terms service, politeness and overall professional level. Having gone there for a nice holiday meal and instead having left shaken by the adrenaline and with stomach cramps I really feel I didn't get what I...

We had a reservation for 9:30 pm and arrived on time. Two groups of people arrived after we did but somehow they immediately got their tables set with plates and given menus. We waited for about 30 minutes, so we spoke to a waiter but still nothing happened. We spoke again to the waiter and finally got plates but no menus. We had to call the attention of a waiter a third time before we finally got the menus. About 45 minutes later someone came to get our order, so we were already having second thoughts about our choice of dining in this restaurant. It took about 1 hour after we ordered for the food to get to us. My friend complained to the assistant manager, a woman who is apparently is the wife of the owner, and she was not very courteous. My friend addressed his complained to her using formal Italian and she used the informal and told him something along the lines of “he was in a dreamland” in an insolent manner. When paying, my friend complained again about the general experience. The owner got involved this time and started screaming at my friend and even got close to him trying to intimidate him or hinting that he was going to hit him. We were appalled at not only the lack of customer service but the way the owner and his wife responded to our valid complaints. I would not recommend anyone to eat here and to avoid supporting such ruffians who obviously could care less about...