Trattoria Sapere E Sapori — Restaurant in Ostuni

TOURIST TRAP - AVOID - PLEASE READ

Somehow we managed to pick one of the worst restaurants in the beautiful city of Ostuni.

We asked for Orecchiette con cime di rape, but without the anchovies - the waiter told us this was not possible. This was the first red flag and we should have left immediately, this shows the food is not cooked fresh, but cooked in advance and reheated later, hence they can not prepare the dish without anchovies.

We ordered the Orecchiette pasta in tomato sauce, and the grilled veal. The food arrived around 2 minutes after we had ordered- another red flag.

The pasta sauce was salty. And the grilled veal!!! It had been cooked earlier in the day, cooled, and boiled to bring it back to serving temperature. The broken plate it came on was soaked with water from the meat. The accompanying salad was just some iceberg lettuce.

The two tables next to us were also visibly disappointed with their food, which also arrived within minutes of ordering.

The kitchen of the restaurant is tiny, it is no wonder they can not cook fresh food there.

What a waste of €37.50, which should have been much better spent at a much...

I think it’s a shame when in Italian restaurant you eat bruschetta made from rusk bread bought from the supermarket and tossed with some diced tomatoes on top! Don’t order the bruschetta unless you miss the taste of cheap supermarket stuff 😀. I was not very hungry and I order aubergines with mozzarella prepared in a Puglian style. It was written in the menu that it needs to order for minimum 2 people and the price was €15. It was not very clear on the menu, that this is the price per person. When I challenge the bill at the end, the man at the counter started reading the menu again in a very broken English and instead of listening to me and trying to explain the mishap, he started shouting at me that the menu is written on perfect English. I never count my pennies when comes to food, but I always hunt for tasty food! This restaurant is as such disappointment… I didn’t have good time at all! By the way, even if you don’t have bladder problems, you are at risk wetting your pants - there is constant queue in front of the one and only toilet in the restaurant. Me and my son waited for more than 10min just to wash our hands...

Highly rated on Google so we thought it was worth a visit on our first night in Ostuni. Tucked up high in the city but no direct view out over the city walls. Seating was in little laneways under neon lights. The place was BUSY for a Monday night but we weren't that hungry.

We ordered fava bean with chicory and orecchiette with meatballs to start, with chicken fillet with chips and salad to share as our main. Meatballs were simple but delicious, fava bean was dense and the chicory didn't add to the dish. The star of the night was the chicken fillet crumbed and fried to perfection, seasoned just right for that crunchy bite then juicy tender chicken inside. We love simple food done excellently.

Finishing with the tiramisu was just right too.

The waiters were friendly and helpful, no one waited too long to be seated, ordered and received their food despite all tables being filled and...