Pane&pomodoro — Restaurant in Matera

Very disappointing experience, quite shocking in fact. The place looked promising from the outside and we were happy to get a table for two without reservation. The waitress escorted us to a table that was not fully set up to welcome guests. Chairs were hanging on the table. She did not prepare it for us, we had to do it ourselves. There were some other red flags that I unfortunately ignored. No oil was served and the bread was waiting on the table under a piece of foil - it was not served fresh.

We ordered two main dishes, mozzarella salad, and grilled lamb. Mozzarella salad was served super quickly and looked very basic but most importantly tired / not fresh. It was not looking or taste like the quality fresh products that one is expecting in Puglia. However, compared to lamb it still looked like million dollars. The Lamb dish contained 6 random pieces of the lamb of rather a small size which 70% was bone. What was not a bone was half fat, and half meat and I never tasted anything saltier in my life. Clearly, the business model of that place counts on tourists who never come back, so they can serve any excuse for the food and take advantage of the great location and atmosphere of Matera.

I hope my review will help someone to make a better choice and prevent the nasty scar on an otherwise amazing experience...

The restaurant we wanted to eat at was packed so we went here across the street.

We ate upstairs outside; surrounded by dead plants and wobbly tables and chairs - not the best atmosphere.

Ordered lagane pistachio and orecchiette ragu, and like other reviewers, our food was lukewarm when it arrived and cold in 5 min - flavors are good but not the best experience with cold food.

One odd thing I only noticed when I got home, they charged us €5 for acqua naturale (tap water, not bottled) that was served in a terracotta pitcher… never happened before - every restaurant I’ve ever been to in Italy will give you acqua naturale for free.

They also brought us an extra appetizer we didn’t order, so the waiter apologized and told us to keep it - but then he added it to the bill!

We had to have a difficult discussion to explain that we only kept it because he apologized and made it seem like it wasn’t a problem - even after we asked him to take it away… bizarre.

Anyway, we wouldn’t come back here, but the food was decent and not super expensive - just not the experience we wanted to have in...

Not bad restaurant located along the main street, easy to reach and with a suggestive atmosphere.

Despite it's lovely location, and nice appetizers, the main courses are average, nothing special honestly and the prices are also slightly above the average for this touristy area.

All this would stil be acceptable if they only would have better manners towards customers. Service is ok, but waitresses are rather "rude" in my opinion. There are some stray cats around which is lovely, however the owner get mad if you feed them which is pretty uneducated and stupid. These cats are stray and they are just trying to survive so they should be welcomed.

Notes: There is a service fee of 2€. There is only one toilet so not ideal for families or mixed groups.

In conclusion, nice but not so recommended for...