Ristorante L'Ancora della Tortuga — Restaurant in Monterosso al Mare

What a delightful place to watch the sea while you dine. Having dined here alone, I will say the waitress did not seem keen to seat me at 1900, though she let me, while letting me know the table was reserved for 2100. I promised her I'd be gone in two hours as long as she was willing to get me out of there in two. She sat me down and offered me water immediately, a plus! I politely declined and told her I'd like to see the wine menu, and she told me she'd be back. She came back without the wine menu ready to take my order, so I asked her about the wines. She said they served by the glass and that there was a house white, another wine I didn't catch, and a Pinot grigio. I went with the house white. I then noticed that other tables had half bottles of house white... Why wasn't I offered this? Or, maybe a drinks menu. Nonetheless the house white is airy and fruity, erring on the side of green apples and light floral notes. Their starter bread is wonderful with light hints of sea-salt and black pepper, and is served puffy and warm. As per usual, no bread plate so have fun placing it on your bare table. I ordered the spaghetti with seafood. The spaghetti is slightly salty, just enough olive oil on it to not be overwhelming, and the seafood is cooked to perfection. I have been having alot of overcooked octopus this past week in Italy, but this is cooked just right. Pasta is properly cooked Al dente and seasoned well without any sauce. Overall enjoyable meal, but wish I had been shown a wine menu and not given the disparing look of...

A Birthday Ruined

I rarely write reviews, but my experience at L’Ancora Della Tortuga was so disappointing that I feel obligated to warn others. I had been looking forward to dining here for months. I made a reservation well in advance for a special birthday celebration and even arranged for the restaurant to make a custom cake for the occasion.

Fast forward to the day of the event: we arrive on time, dressed up and excited, only to be told we didn’t confirm our reservation. Which was strange, considering they had the cake the custom cake we ordered and they agreed to make. So clearly, some part of the reservation was received and acknowledged.

After some back and forth, the staff admitted they made a mistake with the reservations. No apology. No attempt to fix it. No effort to accommodate us. Just blank stares and a shrug, like we were a nuisance for showing up to the reservation they confirmed by making a cake.

Needless to say, this ruined what was supposed to be a memorable birthday. I expected so much more from a place with this reputation, but instead we were met with poor organization, zero accountability, and absolutely no hospitality. For a restaurant that prides itself on being “special occasion-worthy,” they completely missed the mark.

I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone looking for a reliable, professional, or remotely caring dining experience. Steer clear if your night...

I had read some reviews that reservations were not honored or lost at this restaurant but figured that would be a fluke. I submitted to the website reservation system on 2 attempts over a month in advance but never got a confirmation. On May 15 I called and spoke with a friendly guy to make a reservation, he said they are just too busy to check the online system but I could make a reservation on the phone. The night I originally wanted was booked but he said there was availability at 7pm on June 7th which worked for me so he took my name and made the reservation. Since I didn't have an online confirmation, multiple times the afternoon of June 7th I tried to call to confirm my reservation but they never answered the phone. So we showed up at 7pm, and there was a WEDDING going on. The whole restaurant was shut down. We were then left in the prime dinner hour with all other decent restaurants with no tables available. With only a couple of nights in the Cinque Terre this really put a damper on our trip, I saw other reviews similar to this and they turned out to be true- you really cannot trust your reservations here. I would recommend booking elsewhere and save...