Ristorante Max Positano — Restaurant in Positano

Not sure if any of the other reviewers have ever dined anywhere with quality service and food or if our experience was an outlier.

We had an 8:30pm reservation which although we arrived 10 min early for, we had to wait about 20 minutes on a random white couch without so much as providing a menu or an option to order a drink while waiting.

Once we were seated, we were asked for the type of water we wanted which was promptly brought over to us. The only time the service was good all evening.

It took another 10 min for a waiter to come take our order, and since we knew exactly what we wanted and ordered quickly, my wife asked our waiter about the cooking classes they offer (the menu states - “ask your waiter about our cooking class”) to which he responded “I’m busy right now and can’t answer you, ask me later” — more on this later.

The appetizer (stuffed grilled calamari) was a whopping €24 for 3 pieces. The calamari was a little on the burnt and rubbery side with the stuffing barely being seasoned.

The mains - first, a pasta trio sampler. All of these were missing seasoning and were rather bland, and frankly not that hot. Pretty disappointing at €29, especially for the minimal portions. Second, the entrecote - a €40 steak salad, overpriced for what it was. Although it was finally a dish which was seasoned, the entrecote was buried in parmesan and balsamic glaze.

The free bread was nice, though I was surprised we were not served any olive oil, what were we expected to eat it with?

Back to the cooking class, we asked a random server about it since our server was apparently too busy. It took this random server about 5 seconds to explain to us how it works. It’s €170 per person, you show up at 10am and the chef teaches you to make a few things including eggplant parmigiana, some pasta and tiramisu.

By the way, coperto (cover...

From the first night that we ate there, we were treated like dignitaries or better, like family. The service was excellent: attentive but not rushed. The food was exceptional. We returned , three times in total, during our 6 day stay. One night we had scallops as an appetizer, one night my wife had a fish with capers and olives that were prepared perfectly. I had a plate of mixed seafood that was so good, that I dipped the fresh bread into the buttery sauce. Another night we had the eggplant Parmesan as an appetizer, that was practically a meal by itself! My wife ate the mixed 4 pasta dish, and I had a shrimp and pasta dish. Etc etc, Each time we were greeted with a basket of homemade bread, which included simple and spicy breadsticks, anise roll, and olive roll, plain rolls, and bread. All of them home made. It was impossible to finish so we were sure to take them to our Airbnb, where we pressed them into Panini for breakfast the following day! We had the signature special apple torte as a dessert that was slightly smokey and good, but their their best dessert was the incredible homemade ice cream‘s and gelato which are not to be matched anywhere. The inside is absolutely beautiful but we chose to eat outside under their covered patio. Max’s was our “go to” dinner spot for predictably...

We went to Max’s about a week ago upon recommendation of our hotel. We didn’t have a reservation and it showed no availability online so we stopped in just to see. They couldn’t seat us then but could in about an hour, which was perfect and gave us time to walk around. We did enjoy the restaurant ambiance, the food was delicious, and the wine recommended was also very good. The service, however, was less than desirable. It was really slow to bring water/fill wine. At a minimum-if guests have something in their glass, people are much more tolerant. They even gave our sparkling water to the table next to us, which they didn’t order. We didn’t know this until later when we never got ours and they never drank the one given to them. A small slip up that shows lack of service/smoothness. We were there for the last seating/end of the night, but still bring water is a pretty basic thing. They are a busy and popular restaurant and with good reason. The food was absolutely fabulous and came out in a timely manner. We would definitely dine there again and would recommend to others. Make a reservation:) Hopefully our service experience was just an off night. Wish them much...