Terrazza Fiorella — Restaurant in Massa Lubrense

For the area, maybe it is 5 stars. Being honest, having had food from only James Beard nominated chefs (no Michelin star places) - it was great but not amazing-amazing.

Right off the bat there are drinks/aperitifs offered and amuse bouche, a wonderful touch which makes it feel like an incredible experience even if you are not going for the 5 or 7 course meal. You feel like you are getting the nice treatment

The food was brought out with wonderful explanations and descriptions. Tastes were right on, some more brilliant than others. Generally each main had a feature where the food was revealed then the 'chef's kiss' was added where broth was poured over things or bones were grated over the dish (cuttlefish pasta)

Presentation was great. A nice experience for all. Apparently dogs are welcome here, that was interesting.

Suggestions:

1. go later. As Americans we went around 7:30... VERY early and warm on the rooftop terrace.
2. have a preference for wine, the sommelier was a little heavy handed on red wine recommendations. He is VERY nice but either did not understand or have many options at his disposal. Typically pushed local wines...

Incredible views and warm, but modern atmosphere. Nice, friendly waiters. Food was hit and miss. We ordered the chef's special 7 course menu and the taste varied from rather blunt through well balanced and nice to rather harsh and unpleasant with no clear (to us) general concept of the collection of dishes we were offered. Anyway, taste is subjective so you may like it better, but there was a couple of obvious, undisputable shortcomings:

1. The main component of a starter - a piece of marinated codfish had its skin so stiff - it was near impossible to cut with the regular knife and not much easier with the steak knife we had to ask for. Chewing it was also not very pleasant as you can imagine.
2. The duck breast in the last main dish though nicely cooked had a long piece of silverskin going through both mine and my fiance's pieces which was also hard to cut and unpleasant to chew. Price was high as expected for the level at which the restaurant is supposed to be, but in my opinion - not worth it when the food does not impress and meet the corresponding...

Fine dining (not sure if it’s michelin rated but I’m guessing not). We chose the chef’s choice tasting menu which the dishes were either hit or a miss (underwhelming or off putting in general). I was disappointed overall with food and expected a more consistent quality for that price. I had better fine dining (michelin 1-2 rated) in Hong Kong and New York that had quality eating and flavor profiles that was priced better pretty fairly well. The final desert of sweet celery was pretty disappointing end to the meal (visually beautiful plated, but everyone at the table were underwhelmed)

Stuff zucchini was great and really interesting flavor profiles

I would say the drinks and cocktails were very excellent. 10/10 for drinks.

The space and atmosphere was definitely great and felt like eating at someone’s home villa than a formal restaurant. Great indoor porch patio that gets some good...