Vitantonio Lombardo Ristorante — Restaurant in Matera

An evening of delight & drama

The restaurant is located in a beautiful cave - artfully decorated in a simplistic but tasteful style as only Italian designers seem to know how to do with purposeful lighting. We opted for the 6 course degustation & our service staff were charming, professional & took great pride on their service. The menu consisted of ALL the dishes available & one could choose any 6 courses - entrees/mains/desserts in any combination. All dishes were expertly explained & the introduction of our amuse bouche on a tower representing Matera was very dramatic. It was fun to decide on what dishes to select with input from the staff. The arrival of the chef Vitantonio Lombardo in the kitchen was announced by a chorus of Italian voices (we later realised it was only his voice) - sounds of which floated into the restaurant proper whenever the kitchen door opened! There is a clear glass where the tables in the centre of the restaurant can peer through to see the kitchen action. To say the chef is colourful is an understatement - it looked as if his sous chef & helpers were completely under his command as he barked his instructions. All very dramatic (with some people, it may have been a little disconcerting to see the chef seemingly berating his staff) but it all looked like tough love where he was very strict in how the food was cooked, prepared, plated but I must say - every dish that arrived at our table was pure perfection! The chef is a big man (in size & stature) whilst his assistants all seemed much smaller in size so it looked a little like comedic entertainment in a cartoon! The restaurant started to fill up & all dishes seemed to come out of the kitchen in a precise flow. It is obvious perfection is demanded not only in the kitchen but out front with the service staff as well. Each dish was amazing but standout dishes were the black pizza, pigeon cooked in 3 ways & the “Last kiss” dessert where one had to eat it without utensils & a soundtrack (with earphones) was provided whilst eating it. All very novel & fun. A most enjoyable evening - food was stellar & the drama in the kitchen provided entertainment! Reservations are a must & totally recommend this experience...

There are a number of issues that made the experience uncomfortable, which is unacceptable at that price point, and unacceptable for a 1 Michelin star experience.

Most guests expect this experience to be a memorable moment. And the whole experience has to be about THEM. This restaurant felt like the experience was about the CHEF or the restaurant.

(1) lighting is overwhelming and way too strong for an intimate experience. Feels like an interrogation room

(2) forcing an entire table to eat the same meal simply requires everyone to compromise and end up with a suboptimal choice, or even dishes they don't want. This is a huge faux-pas when spending €200/person. In fact, some members of my party had compromised on a few dishes and couldn't finish them. While I found these dishes good (quality of a 1 star Michelin for some e.g. the sheep tartare or amberjack with licorice, no star for others e.g. last kiss desert, oyster, sweetbreads), the experience made everyone uncomfortable. I understand that 2+ star Michelin restaurants serve fixed menus but the dishes are so perfectly executed and there are so many of them in small portiond that even picky eaters will be impressed by the overall meal, and feel that they've discovered new textures

(3) - maybe this was a difficult night but the restaurant seemed way understaffed. Staff wasn't attentive and looked more focused on other tables than ours, had to be waved at to bring to table. They were polite, very professional all the time but not very warm, fun, didn't explain the dishes before hand. Noticably, I asked the rushed waiter for 2 glasses of wine but he only brought one. He was so rushed that I couldnt make my request. He came back to give me a few drops from an almost empty bottle as a nice gesture but what I wanted was to order a full glass for myself.... To be clear, I think the understaffing is a sign of bad management because the 2 waiters were doing all they could to attend all the tables and were very skilled.

(4) prices charged are closer to a 2 star than 1 star. At that price, one would expect a perfect experience with all guests satisfied with food, service,...

Wanted to check out this 1 Michelin Star restaurant in Matera. The driving in this town is a bit difficult as we aren’t supposed to drive on certain streets but there’s also no way visitors would know which streets those were. There are cameras everywhere so we’d probably get a ticket 6 months later. The restaurant will explain that we can park in the open space parking right across the street but there are signs every where that tells you unless you are a resident there you can’t park. But supposedly if you are dining in the restaurant you can park there. So park at your own risk. (We parked in a paid garage about 20 mins walk from restaurant)

We went during lunch time and we were the only table. No reservations was required. But they say their dinner times are busier. On the menu, you can choose 5 or 7 courses and we opted for 5 for 140 EUR. You then can select any 5 course from the menu.

My fav was their “I dropped the egg in the garden” which also happened to be their award winning dish. The simplicity of the ingredients (fresh egg and veggies) but it gave a rush of various flavors as it entered your mouth. The chocolate cake crumbles added a kick to the flavor as well.

The rest of the dishes weren’t too unique in my opinion. The sea bass with cream sauce was good. The misery and nobility of veal fillet I felt could have been offered a tad more meat. Portions were quite smaBut they did incorporate Matera history into the presentations of the appetizers and desserts. The appetizer tower is how the stone houses look like. The dessert tower is Triumphal Float, where during the peak celebration is the “strazzo” (destruction) of the float by the people of Matera.

The cave ambiance was great though and service was great. We got to meet the chef in the...