Antica Osteria del Carugio — Restaurant in Porto Venere

I was the second person who was at the restaurant that was reviewed by Katya below. As per usual I am not surprised the owner replied with distortion of the facts of the case. It would be far far better if they sorted their poor service out. Perhaps the 1 was a bit harsh but the service was truly terrible. We arrived at the place earlier and it was full except for a seat on the main street. This is course is fine so we said we would wait and could we reserve and the fixed time was given to us. We went and toured around as all others do. However when we came back we were waiting to be seated and again this is normal and not a problem despite the owners rather childlike comments on here that we would expect to see people dragged from their tables. What then happened was the restaurant staff member came to the door and shouted something. People behind us said they were two and he told them to come. There was no mention of a reservation etc. This happened again soon after. When Katya finally went to ask why we were not called, they checked their reservation list, acknowledged their mistake. So again please do not try to distort the issue. I was in this same restaurant previously and I witnessed the exact same thing happening when the same person called a party of three from the crowd despite a family at the front protesting that they were already waiting for 15 minutes and were also a party of three. Perhaps it is just this one person that has the issue but he is the main person on the floor of the restaurant.

So in summary yes I know 1 might be harsh and as some one who works in the business I know reviews matter. I might have given it a 2/3 overall as it did completely destroy the occasion when you are felt to feel like you mean nothing. I won't downgrade it for the waitress clearing the table we sat on directly on top of me. Perhaps she was having an off day. However the owner would be much better served focusing on fixing the issue, and there certainly is one, rather than trying to imply the customers are...

I will start with the positive first: The restaurant is beautiful! I have rarely been to a place with such a beautiful environment/presentation.

Sadly, there are quite a few things that made this visit not very agreeable.

We were 6 people and we all (almost) ordered starters and main courses and some desert. None of them were very enjoyable except for the espresso and sorbetto limone.

What is written on the menu is not necessarily what you get, and the staff speaks very poor English so communication is nearly impossible if you want to ask about something a bit more detailed. I find this strange because Porto Venere is very touristic. When you ask what is recommended there is immediately a misunderstanding. The staff is not exactly bad or rude, but we were never once asked if the food was good - and there were no big smiles or any particular eye contact.

Some of the mistakes in the menu:

"Stuffed" mussels = steamed mussels Honey and cheese = marmalade and cheese (both the Italian and English text are wrong here) and although this plate is under main course all you get are 4 thin slices of cheese.. it was really very disappointing for an "osteria".. Grilled fish = 90% squid (pulpo).

I'm sure there are some cultural misunderstandings to what expectations we come in with (expecting italian cuisine to be exquisite), but it was quite pricey and one would expect the plates to be presented with a bit more soul.. The salad on the side is just chopped salad and one sliced tomato and it's...

Fine, but a little bit fake, especially if one knews how the former owner's style was: Spartan furnitures and stange decorations, typical home made dishes and delirious but very funny situations.

Here instead we have the ambition to be "perfect" but the result is unfortunately not far from a touristic restaurant.

Furniture and decorations give a very nice ambient in the main room, but the retro room is a little claustrophobic and boring with nothing to see than tasteless tourists. There is a fascinating piano remembering the one in the old restaurant in a side room, but unfortunately no tables there.

Sometime some meals are tasteless too: there were people here and there (we too) asking for salt. The typical "Mesciua" was one of these. Some portions were insufficient like "Zucchine ripiene", they were excellent but only five and very small. The "Frittura mista" was poor too.

Anyway... Service was very good and waiters very nice.

So we think that this place deserves a second chance, even because after covid restauration disasters they got the will and the courage to open again! (the others in Portovenere stay closed) and it is not so easy understanding new rules.. They need to...