Casa Orecchietta — Restaurant in Polignano a Mare

Well... we had high hopes for this restaurant. Traveled Puglia with a group of 14. Showed up and had a kids table separate from adults. Waiter had zero English, and seemed like no one in the restaurant could help translate. So instead, we opted to pointing out appetizers on the menu. We pointed 2 out, he agreed and seemed to understand perfectly. 15 minutes later, they started bringing out plate after plate to the kids table, turns out he signed us up for the "taste of local cuisine" appetizer which comes out to 15 euro per person. And for a group of 14, you can imagine how that adds up. Ultimately we told the waiter this was not what we had ordered and would not be paying for the very large appetizer (which we did not eat a thing, as hard as that was) . Waiter tried to tell the adults the kids had ordered this which was very clear they had not, as they pointed out the specific ones. After they took all the apps away they were clearly angry, and served everyone in the restaurant their large plates before us, only to get a pitiful portion of orcchietta pasta for 20 euros each. I mean pitiful, even the small kids were still hungry. Still ended up a very expensive dinner for sub par meal and terrible service, and we all left hungry. Just wanted to make the rest of you aware, watch out...

Very crowded place. We were seated very fast upon arrival, but that was all about the positive things. The menu is only in italian and does not contain by far all they offer. Asking for an english menu We were showed the QR code which is not a big help as the descriptions are more or less useless or not understandable. Translations are catastrophic. The staff could’nt really help resp wasn’t really willed to do so. The beer was slammed on the table and my chair was constantly kicked by a passing by waiter (very small place: almost No space for movement left). My husband ordered the orata with peppers which was very nice. The waiter suggested to have the burrata pugliese as a starter, which was ok. He recommended the orechiette al ragu, which were more than under average. The red wine offered for it was indeed nice. Asking for desserts We were shown again the QR code. Tiramisu was clear what it is and only the orecchietti had a description, the 3d none. So...

During our whirlwind tour of Puglia, we stopped in Polignaro al Mare for 3 hours. Sadly we wasted half an hour due to a dodgy baggage store service, and when we started to explore Polinano were hit by....tourists and sun seekers everywhere. The vibrant buzz is not for me (let alone in 35C) heat. As we had just an hour before train to Fasano, and serious doubt about baggage store being open on time, we needed to find lunch near the station. All I can say, what a find! Stating that we were clock watching to catch our train, we were served three delicious dishes (to share( in record time. The pasta with Eggplant was delicious, swordfish pasta too, and stuffed cuttlefish something I have never experienced before. If, like us, you welcome a cool ambience, not crammed with tourists and not in the epicentre of the summer madness...and fancy something different from the norm, we really recommend Casa Orecchietta. For us, it was an...