Trattoria Il Grottone — Restaurant in Polignano a Mare

Horrible service. Stay away

LE to the response: You are far off buddy.

My wife and our friends (5 people) seated at your restaurant, ordered appetizers, main course and drinks. After their order was already delivered, I joined as well, entered the venue, responded to the waiter's greeting and took a seat at the table, because it was right in front of me. I was waiting for them to finish the food and wanted to have a drink meanwhile.

After I told the waiter that I don't want to eat, he told me that I am not allowed to stay. He never asked if I would like a drink. I asked again, if I need to leave and he confirmed saying that this is the policy.

So let me translate that from a customer point of view.

At a table of 5 with a $150 order, you told me that I am not allowed to seat with MY WIFE and my friends for 10 minutes until they would have finished their lunch, and happily enjoying a drink, if you would have asked politley. Instead you told me I have to leave. Your waiter snapped, not me.

That's not just poor customer service, that is just rude rude rude. Never happened to me anywhere in this world.

Of course you received negative reviews from all of us.

Find a different bussiness to do, that does not involve...

We had a wonderful lunch — tagliolini ai frutti di mare, perfectly cooked pasta and seafood, followed by a shared frittura that was incredibly fresh, tender, and delicious. All paired with a crisp white wine and a view to die for. Consigliatissimo!

While we were there, several tourists were politely turned away — and rightly so. A note for visitors:

TOURISTS, PLEASE TAKE NOTE: At any respectable restaurant in Puglia, dress appropriately. Smart casual, dress modestly, no swimwear or flip flops — if it’s too hot, stay at the beach. It’s a restaurant, not a café. Don’t expect to sit down just for dessert, drinks or coffee — that’s what bars are for. Use cutlery. Yes, even for seafood. This isn’t a picnic - respect the local etiquette. Respect the kitchen and its schedule. Lunch is from 12:30 to 2:00pm, dinner from 8:00 to 9:30pm. If you’re allowed to sit outside of these hours, treat it as a massive courtesy — especially at dinner. Ideally, book your table in advance to avoid disappointment.

Disclaimer: This review and the opinions expressed are entirely personal and written by someone with no affiliation to the restaurant...

Lovely location, but what a disaster with the food. Arrived and was seated on the terrace...so far so good. Ordered a bottle of franciacorta and some mixed antipasti. The antipasti were ok. Generally the same quality as you would find in supermarket packets. Our son then ordered spaghetti with clams and my wife and I ordered seafood risotto. This is where it went badly wrong. The risotto was not risotto. It was rice and some seafood. The waiter agreed that this is the case, but with a shrug and a smile that was all we got. Not tasty at all. Between all three dishes, we could fit the shells from the seafood on a saucer. Very poor. We have just come from Ischia where you needed a serving plate to hold the quantity of shells from the dishes. Ended up paying 120 euros for very badly cooked food. I mean, how hard is it to make risotto? It is a staple of Italian cooking so...