Ristorante Almarea - Osteria di mare — Restaurant in Monopoli

Meant to go to other restaurants but as they were full and not taking reservations we ended up in this one, as it still had places available. Seemed the typical tourist restaurant and we ended up confirming that later. We asked for calamaretti for starters and it was not what we had in mind but ok. The worse was while eating , some of them were full of sand inside. It can happen but it shouldn't. Then we had orecchiette which were super hard, not even close to be al dente and also pasta alle vongole which was ok but nothing special, quite average. They also charged 8€ for a glass of wine which i think was a super exaggerated price. Comparing to the bottle prices and other things. The waiters also were not super friendly. Not rude but not nice either. Seemed like they were doing a favour to be there. Overall bad experience and...

Bad customer service! We were a large group of 17 people and staff was insisting to sit at their tables, trying to convince us to have lunch there. Finally we accepted, but once again the lesson is to avoid at all costs any place where staff is trying to pull you in. Moving on, the problem was that at the end there were a lot of items that were wrong on the bill and even items that we did not order. For example they had 2 types of fried mixed fish and we ordered the cheaper one but they billed the most expensive one. When we confronted them about it they tried to blame it that some items were not on the menu and they can only put what’s on the menu. This is highly unprofessional and what was supposed to be a pleasant experience in a nice sea side town was shaded by such shameful and disgusting unprofessional attitude...

I have several concerns about this 'restsurant'. I am concerned that they have bought all the salt in Monopoli, and no one else will be able to season their meals. Seriously, my tongue has salt burn. I am concerned that they have bought all the frozen seafood packets in Monopoli, and no poor students will be able to eat. Fresh fish on display, frozen in the meals. I am concerned that my organs will shut down from an excessive consumption of salt. Finally I am concerned for the reputation of Puglian (and Italian) cuisine. These charlatans should be run out of town.

Finally, a prop to the lovely waiter, working solo to serve an entire restaurant. He was so nice, not his fault the food is inedible.

For reference we had seafood risotto, & octopus spaghetti. The tuna...