Ristorante Retrogusto — Restaurant in Portoferraio

As a disclaimer I have to say that I have worked at restaurants for a long time and am still in the service industry. So I know how restaurants work “behind the scene”. We showed up at 8.30pm and got a menu in German and Italian - they don’t have English menu cards and only one waiter spoke English. We felt adventurous but after sitting for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to read the menu,the English speaking waiter came over. He recommended a starter and two different pasta dishes to share. We got the starters after about 20 minutes and then had to wait almost an hour for the main course. When asked the English speaking waiter said that because everyone ordered pasta at once, it took a long time and the other day someone waited an hour and a half. What?! He had just recommended two pasta dishes without a word about it taking a while. And others ordering pasta (which takes up about 50% of the menu) should not me my problem. It’s up to the kitchen to prioritise and the waiters to communicate to the guests, how long it will take. When we finally get the two pasta dishes (one with clams and mussels and one with crab) then one with clams is full of sand which shows that someone in the kitchen didn’t do a proper job of cleaning the clams. When we pointed it out to the waiter he just said “yes sand” without looking surprised and asked if we wanted to have another dish or just share the remaining dish with crab. Uhhh didn’t you just say that it took a long time because everyone ordered pasta? Then why would you offer me that instead of something else? The food tasted great but the service and attitude of the waiter completely ruined the experience. When we finally asked to pay, a waitress offered us two shots of homemade liqueur as compensation. Very kind of her, but it was not nearly enough cause when she gave us the bill they still charged us for the dish full of sand. When we pointed this out the English speaking waiter came over and said we ate almost the whole thing. We had perhaps two mouthfuls each. I simply said that wasn’t true, and he then said we didn’t have to pay. So we paid and left having spent 2 and a half hours on a starter and a main course. All they had to do was inform us that the dishes that THEY recommended might take some time, keep us posted after the order, offer us some water or ask if we needed anything once in a while, immediately apologise when serving us a dish full of sand, offer us a free coffee and dessert as compensation no questions asked and NOT charge us for the food we couldn’t eat. I can’t recommend anything but the view here. Food was good but the service and attitude towards us as customers leaves me unable to recommend this place to anyone. There are too many other great places on the...

I went to this restaurant on august 1st of 2018. Me and my boyfriend went for the view. We waited 1 hour to just to get a bottle of wine. After literally begging just to get a drink, we were given the wine and waited almost another 30 minutes before ordering food. Food was decent. Heres the bigger problem and why I am writing a review now. I live in America and could honestly care less to write a review on a restaurant that is in Elba, Italy. But here is what happened. My boyfriend had posted a review on tripadvisor around two weeks ago to which the restaurant responded with threats of legal action if we did not prove that we had been there and that we must show them our receipt or they would be pressing charges for slander. He deleted the review after receiving multiple messages and threats from them over trip advisor. I am posting my experience because they can not sue for an honest review. By the way, this was over a year ago, and we may have either paid cash or used an old card. If the restaurant would like to pursue suing me, I have photos from the restaurant and will also hire a lawyer for the threats they have made. Do not waste your time, you are better off eating somewhere quicker and then enjoying your vacation. Staff was unintelligent and could barely understand me when I only asked for wine, I literally said “vino per favor” and still waited an hour. I have photos of us at the restaurant as well as screenshots of the messages they threatened us...

Location molto bella e cibo molto buono, peccato per il pessimo servizio. Camerieri che non ascoltano, troppo distratti e superficiali. lo e il mio fidanzato ordiniamo 1 antipasto, 2 primi, 1 secondo che non è mai arrivato e avremmo voluto 2 dolci, amari e caffè che non ci hanno mai chiesto. Iniziamo: la cameriera si scorda di portarci il pane, ma può capitare. Antipasto: tris di tartare, molto buone. Primi: tagliolini anch'essi molto buoni, anche se ha sbagliato tavolo e li ha portati ad un altro. Mentre mangiamo i primi, un cameriere ci chiede se siamo sicuri di volere anche il secondo (la tagliata di tonno) e noi gliela confermiamo. Finiti i primi, passa un quarto d'ora abbondante, e della tagliata neanche l'ombra. Dopo un po' la cameriera ci porta il "menù" dei dolci (un block notes scritto a penna tutto scarabocchiato). lo guardo un po' stranita il mio fidanzato in quanto abbiamo appena riconfermato la tagliata e ci è stato portato il menù dei dessert (non so voi ma io il dolce lo mangio dopo il secondo, non tra il primo e il secondo). La cameriera torna per chiederci che dolce vogliamo ordinare e io ribadisco che stiamo aspettando il tonno. Passano altri 20 minuti, e la tagliata ancora non si vede. Abbandonati a noi stessi, nessuno ci considera più, finché la cameriera che ci ha preso l'ordine decide di considerarci e ci chiede DI NUOVO se vogliamo un dolce o un caffè. Al che io, un po' scocciata, ripeto per la TERZA volta che stiamo aspettando la tagliata da molto tempo e chiedo se è in preparazione, anche perché dopo poco avevamo un impegno. Lei mi risponde seccata e con aria presuntuosa "ma certo che è in preparazione se vuoi te la annullo eh!!!!" Mi chiedo questo: tolto il fatto che per scottare un pezzetto di tonno sulla griglia non ci vogliono 35 minuti, ma facciamo finta che sia così e che questo tonno sia davvero in preparazione, perché allora ci portano per due volte il menù dei dessert insistendo su che dolce volessimo dopo che abbiamo ordinato questa benedetta tagliata, dopo averla riconfermata, e dopo che gliel'abbiamo ricordata per 2 volte consecutive a 2 cameriere diverse? Era sufficiente chiederci scusa e ammettere che se la fossero dimenticata, senza prenderci in giro e soprattutto senza rispondere con tono seccato! Decidiamo quindi di annullare il secondo e di non ordinare nient'altro. Andiamo in cassa per pagare, dove scopriamo che la tagliata non era neanche stata segnata in comanda. Faccio presente il problema alla signora che era alla cassa, ma sembra che nessuno sapesse di questa tagliata. Ce ne siamo andati via delusi e affamati. Mi sono sentita presa in giro, non ascoltata e trattata con superficialità. Vista la loro dimenticanza, l'attesa e la presa in giro, sarebbe stato carino offrirci almeno un amaro o un caffè per scusarsi. Ma nulla di nulla. Attenzione verso il cliente sotto ai piedi. Inoltre, prezzi esagerati: 1 antipasto, 2 primi e un calice di vino bianco 95 euro. Peccato, avremmo assaggiato volentieri il secondo e ordinato dolci, caffè e amari. Noi abbiamo perso tempo, e voi avete perso...