ArborVitae - Otranto — Restaurant in Otranto

Glad we stopped here.

First, a note on the settings. It's somewhat difficult to find good outdoor eating in the area that is not straight on the street. This restaurant has a private garden which is quite beautiful and very safe in times of.pandemics. Facilities are also top notch, with clean and well services bathrooms, though I'm frankly not sure whether the private garden is wheelchair accessible.

This is a fish restaurant with a "pescato del giorno" vibe, which - as an Italian used to this sort of things in mass-tourism areas - set off all my alarm bells for the dreaded overpriced/underwhelming combo. Now, make no mistake, this is not a cheap restaurant by a long shot. But prices are extremely transparent and the quality of the fish beyond reproach. We got fresh Aragosta and Spigola (iirc), both perfectly cooked. There is none of the compromises you find in some tourist-catering places (I witnessed a waiter explaining we don't do any of these rice with meat barbarism around here to a stunned Dutch couple. Well done!) With fish served with at most 3-4 ingredients. Desserts were a bit underwhelming but frankly you got plenty of options in the area for that, and their forte really is fish with fresh pasta: stick with that and you won't be disappointed.

Reserve...

I rarely review restaurants but I had the most unbelievably bad time here… we had been traveling in Puglia for over a week and had amazing meals throughout and this was our last meal in Italy. We first saw this restaurant walking around the historic area of Otranto; it looked beautiful and menu too. We made a reservation for the next night. We were a group of seven ; most of us had worked in restaurants in the past so we were not your typical tourists. Although the garden area was beautiful ; our table had string lights above us that were extremely bright. We asked to have them turned off which they obliged. The waiter that was assigned to us was extremely rude ; he even hushed us when we were ordering. He shouted at us and exclaimed that he did not understand. He spoke English and we attempted to order in Italian. We have never been treated this way in all of the restaurants we visited. Our dinner was ruined from the start . In the end we spent over $400 and it will be the worst experience...

My and my family’s experience from ArborVitae was extremely bad. I'll start with the service at this restaurant, because that's what stood out the most. Firstly, a waiter didn't encourage us to order appetizers, but he tried to hit us up for 80ish €. He was terribly and repulsively insistent. I also got the impression that the waiters exchange mocking glances about the guests, which is completely unimaginable to me as a guest of a restaurant. Let’s describe food now, because for many people it is the most important thing. Unfortunately it isn’t better in that part. The tartars were meager, I couldn't see any noticeable difference in taste between the different types of fish. The pastas were served cold, with a ridiculous small amount of seafood. The climate that occurred during the dinner was undesirable. I strongly DO NOT recommend this restaurant, anyone who is visiting Otranto should...