Angolocinque Restaurant — Restaurant in Monopoli

Maybe we caught them on an off night, but a promising start led to shocking disappointment. We had to send back two of the three dishes we ordered, and they still had the temerity to leave them on the bill - before we refused to pay for them, and they took them off with extremely poor grace. The 'free' bread (well, free for a €3 pp cover) was delicious. The house white was excellent. But the arancini (rice, potato, mussels), though steaming hot, had strangely icy spots inside - so sent back. My spaghettone with grouper was fine if not remarkable. But my wife's grouper "stew" (their translation) managed to be both bland and foul at the same time - her grouper tasted muddy to the point of inedible (the fact I had grouper which tasted perfectly ok gave us a clear basis for comparison - this was not a normal taste), and her lightly stewed datterini tomatoes were strangely inconsistent - some were flavourful, others unripe. They offered us a replacement (declined) and a free dessert (declined), and then presented the bill with both items still included. To be honest, if they had just removed the arancini, which were clearly not cooked properly, and left the stew, which was arguably a matter of taste, then I would have paid without a fuss. But under the circumstances, I told them we expected to see a reduction of our bill, and left them to decide what was fair. The lady previously so friendly returned the bill with both items taken off, but slammed it down in a huff and without a hint of apology. This place was carrying a 4.9 star rating from Google, which is the only reason I have bothered to give such a lengthy review. Beware Google ratings! As I said, probably just an off-night in the kitchen, but good restaurants are the ones which deal with such occasional missteps with humility and much...

I visited this restaurant with high hopes, but unfortunately, it didn’t meet my expectations. To begin with, the atmosphere felt more like a small café rather than a restaurant. The space was limited, consisting of two small rooms, which made it less than ideal for a pleasant dining experience.

One of the main issues was the portion size. I ordered a traditional Italian “primo” dish, which consisted of three small dumplings with a meat filling. While the dish was tasty, I found the portion size to be extremely small. For that price, I expected more substantial servings. It’s not a Michelin-starred restaurant, so I would have appreciated a clearer indication of portion sizes on the menu.

The service was neutral. The staff didn’t seem particularly engaged, and although the waitress noticed I wasn’t completely satisfied, she didn’t inquire about what was wrong or offer any solutions. I had to leave quickly after paying, as there was no effort to address the issues.

Additionally, the atmosphere became quite uncomfortable when a family with children arrived. Unfortunately, their child was loud and unruly, and the parents did not make any effort to calm the child down. The situation was made worse by the fact that the staff seemed to be friendly with the family, which left me feeling like my experience as a guest was not a priority. The noise made it impossible to enjoy the evening, and the space was too small to ignore the disturbance.

While the food itself was decent and tasted good, it wasn’t anything extraordinary. Considering the small portions, the uncomfortable atmosphere, and the lack of attentiveness from the staff, it didn’t offer the kind of experience I was hoping for. I wouldn’t recommend this place for anyone looking for a relaxing or...

We were so glad this place was open. We came in at 7:30 without a reservation and got seated right away (I probably wouldn't recommend this since the restaurant has limited seating). The ambiance is elegant and intimate. Our server was super friendly and attentive. Right off the bat the restaurant provided us with a nice little appetizer to get the taste buds going. Then they brought some bread that went perfectly with the beef tartare and fried burrata appetizer we ordered. The meat was chopped up nicely and each bite was nice and tender with no chewy or stringy bits. The star of the show was the truffle mayo that came with the tartare. It perfectly complemented the beef, and to be honest I don't like mayo but I could have eaten this one on its own. Primi was a sea urchin pasta which was bursting with sea urchin flavor and the next was a mushroom tagliatelle with a shrimp tartare that was full of umami flavor from the mushrooms and perfect sweetness from the raw shrimp. Texture of the pasta for both dishes was exquisite and my wife said that the shrimp mushroom pasta was the best pasta dish she's ever eaten and this is our third trip to Italy. For secondi we shared the fried assorted fish which tasted very fresh and light despite it being a fried dish. We didn't order dessert because we were too stuffed, but the waitress provided us with some complimentary dessert bites which was very generous. This place is definitely a must try...