Gaia | Osteria popolare — Restaurant in Monopoli

The place strives to be a fine dining experience and our starters were amazing indeed, but that was about it. The waiter was super nice and friendly, but clearly overworked and I feel we didn’t get much attention: it took ages to place an order, get the starter, etc. Also the music was quite loud and I felt like we’re in your average osteria.

The biggest disappointment for me was my pasta dish though: for 12 eur I received 7 tiny raviolis in butter sauce. I don’t know how on earth you can justify this price by this portion size in the south of Italy, maybe they were stuffed with unicorn meat, it didn’t say so on the menu though. I can appreciate inventive and unique dishes that might be high priced for that, but it was not the case here, more like an insult to be honest. I left the place with a terrible mood and half empty stomach as I was absolutely not in the mood to order anything else there.

But if tiny dishes for high prices are your thing - you’ll...

Excellent food and nice setting and friendly staff. But service was chaotic and it did spoil it a little. We were left waiting at the door without being greeted for ten minutes (despite a reservation), and service was very slow, with two things having to be asked for twice as they were forgotten. The waiters really seemed to be struggling with their order system and we also noticed some dishes from the kitchen left waiting. And there were a couple of small details that could easily be changed if the owner were to try visiting as a customer (e.g. knives not sharp enough to cut the food). The main course was simply excellent however and it's definitely worth a try. And compared to other places in Monopoli we visited it probably comes out on top.

Ps please switch to non russian vodka for the dessert drink which...

On our holiday to Puglia we were typically pretty organised with reservations for most nights sorted. The night we utterly failed in this respect, Gaia came to the rescue. We popped our heads in on the off chance, and requested we return in half an hour. So glad we did. The guy looking after us was so friendly and a bit of a character; his wine recommendations were bang on. The food was very special, amazingly tasty and the whole experience just a delight. And second the limoncello comments in other reviews - blimey it's good. It's fairly small and intimate, so reservations would be prudent. Overall a genuinely decent and unforgettable evening in a place with a lovely atmosphere. Just five stars doesn't...