La Rotellina — Restaurant in Polignano a Mare

As a big fan of Panzerotti, I’m always excited to try new spots. La Rotellina has been around for a while, and I had eaten there before, but never took the time to leave a proper review. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was how clean and tidy the place looked. That’s not something you always see in places that work a lot with flour and dough, so that made a good first impression. I ordered the classic Panzerotto, filled with mozzarella and tomato. Since I was the only customer at the time, the service was very fast, which was nice. However, things went downhill when the Panzerotto arrived. It was extremely hot, to the point that I couldn’t take a bite right away without burning my mouth. So I had to wait a few minutes for it to cool down. Unfortunately, during that time, the dough went from being crispy and fluffy to soggy. When I finally ate it, I realized there wasn’t much filling inside—just a small amount of mozzarella and tomato—so most of what I was eating was just dough. The flavor was okay, but overall, the experience wasn’t great. It felt a bit disappointing, especially for a place that specializes...

Everything here is made fresh, which for a causal grab and go place with just a few tables the ideal spot to grab a lunch to the beach below or to sit down. We ordered our panzarotti (they had a lot of versions) at the front desk and was able to watch the two cooks put together the ingredients and deep fry them right then and there, super hot and fresh, it’s understandable that this eatery always had a line out the door the few times we walked by.

Prices were pretty average for the center of town and they had a lot of other options on the menu. Food was served pretty quickly considering things were made when you ordered it.

TV on the wall played Radio Italia with music videos which gave the place a really casual and...

So good we had to come back twice! There were a few evenings where we decided to have dinner at home and we had walked by so often curious by the flavours of the panzerotti. Knowing it was of this region, we just had to give it a try and it was delicious. Me and my partner bought 3 of these for take out and split them between each other to try the many fillings.

We would say Salsiccia di Norcia (image attached) was our favourite, followed by the Brasciola. Such a delicious snack packed full of flavour.

At most we waited 10-15mins to receive our order, but it can get really busy. The staff are nice enough to label each bag so we knew which one was what. We thought it was worth it for 5 euros...