Officina del Mare — Restaurant in Naples

This place takes advantage of tourists! The service is awful. They pour you a small glass of champagne, that you don't ask for. They give you a basket of bread with nothing to accompany it. After 15 minutes, we got some vinegar and virgin olive oil. One of the managers (head waiter in charge) asks us where we are from and once he determines we are tourists, he begins the snow job. He takes us into the kitchen area to show us the display of fish and a fish tank. He shows us a whole fish that was caught earlier in the day (local fish) and tells us how it would be exquisitely prepared with lemon, butter, parsley, etc. We ask the price of the fish and he gives a nebulous answer of so much per kilo. We figure it out to be 40 euros or so. He tells us it will be accompanied with salad and grilled vegetables. We are drinking sparkling water - we waited so long, that we went through two bottles of water. I would estimate the wait time for our meal was over one hour, 15 minutes. We never saw the head waiter again. Finally, after the long wait, a waiter brings out the fish prior to being deboned. The fish looked lovely. Another waiter brings out a dish of lettuce. Also, we received a dish of cold, grilled, tasteless vegetables. The fish comes to us after 15 minutes and it has no seasoning, soaked in virgin olive oil. Not prepared specially like the head waiter described. After we ate the meal, the head waiter finally came over and bragged about how he knew everything about fish and the preparation. The best is yet to come. We did not order dessert; we asked for the check. You wait another 15 minutes and voila - the check comes. The fish alone was 123 euros!!!?!?! The entire bill came to 143 euros, including a 4 euro charge for unwanted champagne. Do not visit this restaurant, unless you want to be abused, frustrated and...

If you have the choice, avoid this restaurant. The waiters are welcoming (reason for 2 stars), but their personalities are completely in contrast with what you will taste from the kitchen—and what they'll ask you to pay. This place is fortunate to have the location to claim victims to dine at their tables. I guess it is easy to provide such a low quality product when the flow of tourist is constantly changing.

I became suspicious when they bought a bread platter that had the same packaged bread sticks that I buy at the grocery store called "Sgranocchi" from Mullino Bianco, as well as day old break slices. Not a good start. The appetizer of baccalà fritto was just a taste of oil and salt, with an addition of truffle that was probably added to hide the lack of flavors. The elica with urchin and mussels was possibly the most disappointing pasta I have had in my 4+ years of living in Italy. Flavorless ingredients—the lemon and pepper was added because the freshness of the seafood was nonexistent. We ordered two plates of the pasta, but the portion seemed like they split one portion in two. Plus, the pasta was undercooked (Al dente, with a crunch). €100+ euros for an appetizer, two pastas, two glasses of wine, and small water. FYI: this is not normal.

I am truly sorry if you are visiting Italy for the first time, you come to this restaurant and you leave with the impression that this is the quality you get for the prices they charge. Do yourself a favor and do not eat at...

This was the worst food experience I had in my week in Italy. It was also the worst in Naples. I talked myself out of going to a charming restaurant along the wharf where I had eaten a few days before and had a wonderful pasta meal. I had read other reviews that said stay away from the wharf restaurants because they are so touristy . Try some of those smaller restaurants where they’re doing more adventurous cooking. Well, that was a mistake.Although I had a decent order of fried anchovies, I decided to order the spaghetti Maranda (spelling) which is a spaghetti with a provolone cheese sauce. Well, it was delivered lukewarm. before I could finish a decent amount It was completely cold. I asked the waitress to take it back at that point and heat it at which point she said she’d put it in the microwave for two minutes. It came back about 2° warmer and I tried to eat it but after three or four spoonfuls just couldn’t do it. Who wants cold spaghetti with cold previously melted provolone cheese. It was like a huge lump. The waitress was only marginally attentive. You had to spend 5 to 10 minutes flagging her down. Would not...