Ristorante Manna Noto — Restaurant in Noto

Their courtyard is beautiful, however, everything else was extremely disappointing. Both my partners fish starter and main course was massively overcooked. My starter was just decent, and my main course was quite salty - again, the prawns in my main course were overcooked. We didn’t receive our mains for a long time - 1.20hrs since we sat down, which I find it to be a very long time, with no acknowledgment. However, I would have never posted this review if it wasn’t for the obnoxious staff members. I have lived and studied in Italy and speak the language, but obviously the staff felt very comfortable in such touristy environment to refer to the guests in unpleasant ways (they did it the whole night regarding different guests dining, among them in regards to colleagues). After I finished my main course (left half of it because too salty and not nice) I asked one of the waitresses passing by for the bill. When I went to pay I could hear another member of staff speaking loudly in Italian saying “what a stupid rude girl, to ask for the bill while the food is still on the table, half way through her meal, she’s such a cretin”. Firstly, the food was on the table because was inedible. Secondly, I had already sat at the table for 1.30hrs at that point with mostly a starter, no drink refill offer, no interaction, no apology for the wait - I simply didn’t want to wait another hr for someone to clear the plates so that I could leave. When I caught her on it she simply said she was sorry, when it was blatant she wasn’t. As I was leaving she then continued saying to her colleague “oh she got angry”. Do not waste your time in such environment. I should have left way before the waitress insulted me, just by the way they were speaking about their guests through the night. Sooooo many better places to eat in Noto/Sicily, this was an absolute waste of time - which is a shame as their place itself is beautiful. On a positive note, the first waitress that took our order was the only one that was nice, but...

A VERY DISAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE last night after Manna was recommended to us by our hotel (Q92). Prior to its recent relocation this restaurant business was apparently well regarded. Perhaps the move has lost them all their key front of house and cheffing staff? We arrived on time for dinner and were left wandering around with no greeting or attention. Eventually we were seated in the courtyard and subjected to downmarket American pop-music (c1968) being played VERY loudly and the unexplained reek of HORSE SWEAT.. . . I did ask, but no response was given. Our dining table was unpleasant and roughly painted, and my wife found the bare metal chairs extremely uncomfortable. While most staff were friendly one waitress seemed to have a grudge against diners! Apart from the lentil ‘soup’ which was a nice thick pottage (akin to peas pudding) - all our food was very second rate with a common theme of lazy practices in the kitchen based on excessive amounts of the last minute warming up of (long) pre-prepared items. Viz: prawns with caponata - four very small overcooked dried-out fairly tasteless prawns laid on top of a dollop of very average caponata. Veal steak with chanterelles - pale/under-cooked meat, reheated vegetables with the characteristic ‘perfume’ of having been around too long. The chanterelles were actually OK. This dry and unappetising plate was then ‘finished’ with decorative spots and smears of undiluted proprietary beef-stock concentrate!!!!

Non smokers beware - Manna management seem to regard the chain smoking of cigars in their dining areas throughout service, as being beyond their...

The food was good, not great. We had an octopus (great) and a rabbit (good) antipasti and a tortelli (ok - pasta was overcooked, which is just inexcusable) and a lamb (good) pasta. Ambiance started off ok (8pm) seated at a two-top inside but grew louder and busier as the night went on. The decor is quite stylish.

The service, however, was inexcusably bad for the price and reputation of such an establishment. We were discouraged from ordering a main (if you are still hungry after the pasta course, you can order then, they said - yet no one came to our table after the pasta course was set down until over 1 hour later when we requested to pay, despite numerous attempts to flag a server down.) We were left to pour our own wine and water, bread was not checked on, and there was zero follow up, either on a main course or desert, coffee, or digestif.

This seems like a place to see and be seen, but not a serious restaurant. The most disappointing meal I've had in my 40 days in Sicily, largely due to the terrible service and dramatic misalignment of expectation...