Punta Prosciutto Riva Beach — Restaurant in Porto Cesareo

We tried this restaurant twice on our annual trip to Puglia. The first time was great (but pricy), the second time was awful and guaranteed we will never return, and will warn others from doing so.

Firstly, credit where credit is due - most of the food we had was excellent. They have one of the best pasta alle vongole I've had this year. The first time, our waiter (Maurizio) was kind, charming, and friendly. Food was a bit expensive given how casual the restaurant is, but we liked it and so were happy to pay for it. The location is beautiful, practically on the water.

The second time, as soon as we greeted our waiter from the first time, it's like they sensed easy prey. The fish guy ('sushi man') came over, and before we even sat down began to try push big special pasta plates and fresh fish. We kept telling him we didn't want a big pasta dish as we all wanted our own dish, he didn't listen. I eventually had to cut in to say to please let us sit down and look at the menu.

After our first course, which was very tasty, the relentless man came back and continued to insist that my father order this grilled fish, seemingly the best Italy has ever seen by how he was describing it.

Having a good rapport with the first waiter, my dad agreed to look at the fish, and commented it looked huge. He said he was not hungry, to which sushi man said we could share. We said we didn't want to share, and just wanted a portion for one. He kept pushing, saying it was indeed a portion for one person (just a large one). He was shameless in his pushing and my dad, being polite, finally relented.

When the fish arrived, we saw it was 1.3 kilos. How on earth is this a portion for one person? They laughed it off, but we knew we would be the ones paying in the end. In fact, when the bill came, just the fish was €84.50.

We complained, again they made jokes. 'what, you wanted a bigger portion?', but I could tell our original waiter was embarrassed at what is clearly a scam. It's not honest and they know it.

I see this has happened to several people, especially recently (set the reviews to 'recent' and you will see) and the restaurant just replies that it is the people's faults. Here's some advice: if people are consistently complaining that they feel swindled after your fish guy pushes uncharacteristically expensive and large fish without sharing the price first, you are in fact swindling them.

The fish itself was good enough, but after a lecture on how amazing the fish guy was at deboning the fish, he took such a long time doing it that the fish was cold by the time it got to my dad. He also cut off the head as a whole, and with it some of the good stuff.

They were also quite rude with drinks the second time. My partner ordered a plain Campari. The waiter brought him a campari cocktail and told him that's how it's done in Italy. I'm pretty sure you can have it however you want, as he's had in plenty of other places in Italy.

We would have normally happily come back and recommended it, when in fact now we will warn others against coming here.

By the way - we are Italian and spoke Italian with them throughout, so it's not like there was a misunderstanding.

Così non si fa. It is a shame that you are resorting to these tactics. From now on we will take our business to the Ancora, which is practically across the street and also does excellent pasta...

This restaurant has an excellent location, its terrace overlooking the sea - with full moon reflecting on the gentle waves, it was spectacular. A strong street light near the last couple of tables bothered me, but Maurizio promptly changed the position of the table so that I no longer saw it. The food was delicious: spaghetti alle vongole con datterini, filetto di spada, tagliata di tonno, all were excellent, flavourful and well prepared, and several other items in the menu were quite appealing as we saw the staff serving them around. Service was prompt and friendly, our wait was short although the restaurant was quite full. The bill for the three of us was €124. We found their phone-based automated reservation system somehow challenging, but pressing randomly the phone keypad we succeeded in talking with a member of the staff in a reassuringly analogue way and successfully completed our reservation. We had a pleasant time and will go back.

Update. We went back two days later, this time a different waiter pressured us to get a big spigola (sea bass) to share in four. We only ordered a small one just for me, and I got a 1.3 kg spigola which cost €85, more than one third of the whole bill of € 238 for the four of us. I don't appreciate being forced to get something I don't want, and I will not go there again. Pity, I liked the place and...

My friend and I arrived here at 13.00 for lunch. We went to download the menus but the waiter said everything was finished! He offered us pasta and clams or fish. Not wanting pasta we reluctantly agreed to the fish.

The other diners around us were enjoying many different dishes and new diners arriving after us ordered different meals and appeared to have many choices.

I've lived here for years and have eaten fish in many restaurants. I have a good idea of prices. We were not given a menu or prices so beware. So when we went to pay I was startled to say the least. The fish that we shared cost €117. We had a medium beer, bottle of water, chips and grilled veg. The total bill was €145.

The fish was nothing special just a grilled fish that they said that they had caught that morning. . No desserts or coffee.

The Puglian people are usually so genuine and kind. I have never been ripped off. It is the first time I have heard of it. When I questioned the price the waiters seemed somewhat smug and did not care.

Shame on you. We will never return and I will make sure my friends know that you rip off people who you thought...