Ristorante Costa Diva — Restaurant in Praiano

Category: Hotel Restaurant. Anticipation builds as you walk down the stairs from the main road and along the long, winding, outdoor, stonewalled corridor toward the restaurant, finally emerging upon a delightful and charming setting illuminated seemingly everywhere by white all-year Christmas lights. Greenery in large bright pots was everywhere you looked. If you are only two, snag one of the long line of two-tops along the railing overlooking strings of lights below and the sea below that. If you are four or more, as we were, try to get one of the four-tops a couple of steps up, which are situated so that everyone has a view of the line of two-tops and the sea beyond. We were there on a night when the moon experienced a partial eclipse, so it went from one quarter to full as our meal proceeded. Although the wine list offered several local red wines by the bottle (we try to drink local in Europe), we ordered the house carafes, which were poured from pitchers of colorful local pottery. Unlike house wines in the US, house wines in Italy are always good and usually local. The menu offered a wide selection of seafood-centric and lemon-centric and both-centric dishes, which were all served on large colorful plates of the same pottery, bearing the restaurant’s name. It was a three-course night for me, so I antipastied with Gamberetti allo Sfusato, shrimps sautéed with lemon. Yummo, as Miss Ray would say. For primi I ordered the Risotto al Limone, which was lemony and unbelievably luscious. I ate half and had half for breakfast the next morning. For secondi I was presented with a beautifully grilled filet of fresh sea bass. Sarah started with a gorgeous, huge plate of melon draped with very lean prosciutto. For her secondi Sarah ordered the Milanese, a perfectly fried cutlet of chicken and nicely presented grilled veggies, with plenty left for the next day. Our friend enjoyed the Gamberetti Gratin. The moon continued to rise and became brighter and fuller as we enjoyed a long, leisurely, very Italian dinner and the staff treated us like family. YouTube’s...

We just returned from a stay at Hotel Costa Diva in Praiano, and while the setting is stunning and most of the staff were kind, our experience was unfortunately dominated by the behavior of the manager — we believe his name is Filippo Elio — whose aggressive and unprofessional attitude made us deeply uncomfortable.||||The issues began when we found black mould in our room. It had clearly been painted over before, and when we pointed it out, they simply painted over it again. No apology, no concern — just a brush over a health hazard.||||We had booked a room with a shower (as shown in the listing), but got an old bathtub with no holder for the showerhead. The manager said this was our fault for not calling to confirm and refused to offer any solution.||||The worst moment came when we asked to check CCTV after noticing a scratch on our car. It turned out the damage happened elsewhere, not at the hotel — yet the manager became hostile, refused to speak to my girlfriend, and repeatedly demanded “What you give me? Nothing? You are rude!” before aggressively asking us to pay him €500 for “his time” (the whole conversation lasted under 10 minutes and happened during business hours).||||We also received a phishing message via their Booking.com account asking for our credit card details before arrival. When we called, they admitted they’d been hacked — but did nothing to warn guests.||||Other problems: uncomfortable beds (two hard singles pushed together), stained pillows, unreliable Wi-Fi, and a very limited breakfast — the same dry packaged cakes each day, cold eggs, and yogurt.||||If nothing goes wrong, you may have a decent stay thanks to the views and sweet staff. But if you need help or face a problem, you’ll likely be treated with hostility rather than support. We were genuinely...

We didn't stay here, but my husband and I ate lunch at Costa Diva one day last week, while we were vacationing in Praiano. If I were to rate the views, I would give it 5 stars, hands down. We ate outside beneath the lemon covered pergola, and the coastal views are stunning.

If I were to rate it on our lunch alone, I would give it 1 star (or less!). We both ordered omelettes. They were just ok, mine wasn't cooked thru and was runny inside. The worst though was the salad. We each ordered an insalada verte (green salad). Well, there was nothing "verte" (green) about it! We received bowls of nothing but old, yellow lettuce, with wilty nasty brown edges, yuck! Nothing else, no salad dressing or anything. Just old yellow lettuce. We used the balsamic and olive oil at the table, but the salads were still not edible, just gross. Also, one of the waitstaff brought over veal, which we did not order. We'd asked our waiter how the veal was prepared, but did NOT order it. In fact, our waiter repeated back to us our order. NO veal. We refused the dish and they took it away. We weren't about to eat and pay for something we didn't order. Our terrible lunch was pretty $$$ and left us feeling totally unsatisfied. Do...