Norma Bistrot — Restaurant in Noto

I don't usually bother rating restaurants, but once in a hundred years, such a gem comes along that it's hard to resist the temptation, and the sense of obligation, to comment. So where to begin? The festival of disappointments began quickly. Passing one restaurant after another, the decision to grab a table was a spontaneous one. We took our seats, and immediately a delightful young gentleman appeared, speaking fluent English (a shock on this island). He greeted us politely and served us water and delicious appetizers. But that's where the fun ended, and a never-ending string of embarrassment and rudeness began. As soon as the waiter left our table, a woman—we later concluded she was the manager or owner—ran over to us and began chatting to us in Italian about a reservation we hadn't made. After attempting to communicate in English, she fled from us, only to resume her harassment, repeating something increasingly aggressive about our reservation, hoping that during some break from the attacks, we'd learned fluent Italian. Meanwhile, a waiter arrived to take our order. When asked about the situation, he replied with a smile that everything was fine and we could sit at the table of our choice. This only temporarily calmed us down, as a moment later the blonde psychopath was running around our table again, pointing at us to her staff. The final straw was the arrival of people who clearly had reservations, as we were pointed at to them and commented on. It's worth noting, however, that there were plenty of empty tables; we didn't take the last one, and there was no sign announcing a reservation. The waiter allowed us to take our seats and was the only one who treated us with dignity. The food was delicious, but the portions were ridiculous, and the prices were unheard of in Michelin-starred restaurants. Congratulations to the owner for becoming a symbol of our disgust with the attitude and lack of respect for customers in Noto and an absolute epitome of gastronomic...

Maybe it was just bad luck, or the service team had a bad day?! But the overall experience - unfortunately - was just a 2 out of 5 stars. Here is why: First cleaning of the table was not sufficient. We had to ask for another cleaning. The waiter equipped the table with two different wine glasses. Not a big thing, but… We asked for a glass of white wine (most wines are sold per bottle). We got the house wine recommended, which was later charged with 10€/glass. Which I find way to expensive as normal bottles start from 20€. The Grissini which came with a little starter were already dry and not crispy anymore. The little starter we received from the waiter - and which we didn’t ask for - was charged with 2x5€. We didn’t see this with other restaurants here. One of the main dish - the tuna - had the same vegetables like on the starter plate before. Should not happen. The bill came with one wrong dish on it - and 28€ to high bill. Asked the waiter for correction. First comment from the waiter when bringing the corrected bill: “You can give your tip for the service also via paying with card.” No sorry or any other comment.

Summing this up was a pretty bad service experience. The food was between ok and good. But cannot recommend this...

This restaurant was our worst experience of Sicily. Despite our reservation, we had to wait 40 minutes outside. We asked 3-4 times if our table was already available but the hostess was very rude and said we had to wait. In the meantime, other guests with a reservation at the same time were already seated and served their first course. At that time, we already noticed that some guests were treated preferential. Eventually we took place at an empty table and got shout out that we were not allowed to seat at a table because it was only for reservations (which we had 40 minutes ago?!). However we were allowed to seat since I had to explain I was 6 months pregnant and it would be nice to offer a seat after waiting such a long time. We were still hopeful for the food since it was recommended by multiple people. The food was OK, but definitely not fantastic. Pasta alla norma tasted sour, wouldn’t recommend this. We were not offered bread or any service but still had to pay for it. The hostess was very arrogant and rude, and had only eye for the “chic guests”. If you’re not looking chic or rich enough, don’t expect any (friendly) service.

We would NOT recommend this restaurant: very rude hostess, too expensive and not worth your time in...