La Barcaccia — Restaurant in Monterosso al Mare

ZERO STARS. TLDR: AVOID THIS PLACE, AWFUL FOOD, AWFUL MANAGEMENT, TOURIST TRAP.

Came here because the overall reviews (3.8/5) were not bad, and did not have much time to read in detail. If you read closely you clearly see that most people either give 5/5 (doubtful, must be scams, relatives etc.) or people give 1/5 with an experience very similar to ours. Therefore, the overall average ends up being misleading. Although our experience with the servers was positive, it was the shocking management (middle aged blonde lady) that was frightening and left us with an unsettling feeling that something is not right in this restaurant.

From the 3 euro service charge per person (with bread clearly 2 days old), to the reheated frozen pizza, to the mixed seafood pasta that had only 1 shrimp, a few calamaris and only 2/12 shells full. When we spoke of this to the manager she was very cold and unapologetic. Of course, I do not expect everyone to speak English, but when someone speaks English fine at first and then suddenly can no longer speak English when there are criticisms... this is suspicious. When I tried to communicate to her via Google translate she did not make any effort and in the end basically told us to "not pay and get out".

This created a very uncomfortable situation between the servers, the management and us. We never asked to not pay, we would have been happy to pay for the wine and the appetizers (although overpriced). When we at a minimum tried to leave a tip for the waitress, it was refused and we could sense there was legitimate fear when they refused a tip saying "there were cameras everywhere".

Honestly, it is the first time I have ever made a complaint about food in a restaurant and the reaction that I got was traumatizing. I hope that this may caution you to try another restaurant in the area rather than go...

The service was not great. Ignored at every step during our meal there, and we were not the only ones that felt that. Another customer was in the middle of asking a question to the waiter, when he just turned around and walked away. To add on I ordered gluten free spaghetti Bolognese, which came out very salty and severely undercooked. After I informed the wait staff about this, they cooked the pasta more and it was extremely and unedibly salty. I told them about this as well and they're response was that is just how it is. We then proceeded to ask for the check so we could leave and carry on with our day after this terrible experience... And we asked for it 3 times over the course of 30 minutes before physically going up to the front and telling them I wanted to pay and go. This place was a recommendation from our Airbnb host, but unfortunately we never want to go here again or have anyone have this...

Our tour included a lunch tasting menu here. The food was terrible; we didn’t even eat all of it. Many of the customers, including us, left early. We ate outside at rickety old tables and chairs, and the floor was so broken down that every time somebody walked by my chair tipped over like I was driving over a speed bump. I had asked for olive oil for our bread, and they brought over tear-open packets of olive oil (like ketchup packets). Our first “course” was 4 sardines out of a can, our second course was a low-quality meat/cheese board, and the main “course” was 5 pieces of fried calamari and a single shrimp. The restaurant was situated in a back alley (not the enchanting kind) near a car park and had no views of the village. I don’t know what kind of back alley deal that restaurant has with the company that put together our tour… but I was shocked at the...