Osteria Il Tritone di Claudio — Restaurant in Porto Venere

Preface to this review: I'm American, and am rating from that perspective.

Food was amazing. We had the crudité and every piece of seafood was fresh and delicious. Don't even know what it all was, but it was awesome. Also, had the oysters and the tiramisu. Phenomenal. Views were spectacular, right on the water overlooking the sailboats and other across the water.

The only minus of a star is for service. I don't care that they don't speak English, it's in a small town outside of La Spezia and not particularly a tourist spot. All good. We didn't have a reservation and they sat the two of us at a great table. Then, no one came to see us at all for 20 minutes, then just dropped a menu. Didn't come ask what we wanted for another 20 minutes and about 20 more before we got our water and wine. This process continued throughout our 3 hours it took to get an appetizer and dessert. If this weren't directly outside our AirBNB, I'd have been really...

If you're a tourist I wouldn't bother. None of the staff speak English and the menu is all in Italian. They can barely explain what's what. They ignored us completely multiple times when we needed assistance for example for them to change the water to the still we asked for instead of the sparkling they gave us or to give my husband some parmesan cheese for his pesto pasta (he ended up without it as they just never came). They seemed to not want to come to our table at all for some reason perhaps it was too difficult with the language barrier. But no effort was made and we felt ignored and like we were a burden so we honestly couldn't get out of there fast enough. Food was average at best. Would not go back...

Absolutely amazing food! We found the restaurant on our first night and discovered the best tortellini we had ever eaten. The waiter was kind, atmosphere lovely. We were so full we didn't order dessert, but they looked so good we came back on our last night to try the desserts. We ordered the tiramisu and sorbet, and again they were the best we have ever eaten. Beautifully presented, lovely textures and flavours. This is a high end dining experience for a reasonable price. The owner and wait staff are all attentive, funny and kind. The best food we've had in Italy (or anywhere for...