Trattoria La Lampara — Restaurant in Riomaggiore

I am writing this review to provide constructive criticism to this restaurant.

We ordered a spaghetti dish and a pesto pasta dish. The spaghetti was well cooked and had nice flavours, but was severely over-seasoned. It had anchovies and parmigiano cheese in it, and I could not get through half the serving as it was so salty. My friends tried a bite and agreed that they would not be able to finish the plate. In contrast, the pesto dish was under seasoned and was not very flavourful.

The wait staff here were perfect. Polite, helpful and welcoming. The atmosphere of the restaurant was very nice as well: there was nice lighting and we were served a tasty appetiser after ordering.

The reason for this being a 1 star review is the unprofessional response from the manager after I provided feedback about the spaghetti. Despite my efforts to be polite, he did not take the criticism well at all and insisted I did not know what I was talking about and that the chef was one of the best in the area. I was not interested in arguing with him so I returned to our table and we prepared to pay and leave. During this time we could hear him in the next room expressing to one of the servers his frustration. He ranted very loudly in Italian; we could not understand what he was saying it definitely did not feel positive. We were given a discount on our bill but the manager did not address us before we left. It made for an extremely uncomfortable experience for my group as well as the wait staff. There was no customer service skills or professionalism displayed by this manager; he took the criticism very personally and was visibly angry within seconds of me talking with him. I hope this is something they will improve upon.

Overall, I would recommend the restaurant for its atmosphere and location, however, there is better food to be found...

It began ok with wine and a small antipasti, but when we were told both items we ordered were not available ( why did they not tell us before we sat down) we decided on alternate dishes. I ordered the mullet fish ravioli and my partner ordered the scampi gnochi. From the moment we sat down we felt awkward. The waiters were cocky, rude and arrogant. But this is italy where rude reigns. The pasta was OK however the fish in the pasta was extremely stinky and fishy and my partners arrived when I was nearly finished...it was a giant shrimp, not de vained with eyeballs on a pile of gnocchi... not very good presentation. The real issue here is not the mediocre quality of the food, it was when we decided that we did not like the food that we were asked how we felt about it. When I offered my polite and respectful opinion I was told I was wrong and chased out of the restaurant by the owner/manager because we didn't like his food. In my 38 years I've never had such horrible service after experiencing such mediocre food. I was more than happy to pay for both items even though I did not like them but they would not have it. I was verbally and physically accosted by the owner, which by American standards is assault and battery. He screamed at me that he would call the police and make me pay for the food that was gross which I never refused to pay for! Do yourself a favor, the restaurant across the way is way better and the service is significantly more relaxed and proper. This is the absolute worst experience I've ever had in my 20 plus years of dining out. DO...

Easily the worst dining experience we have had in Italy. The food was fine, but the service was beyond awful. We started as the second table seated in the main inside dining room. It was a simple and classy decor. The waiter came to get us promptly and had trouble paying attention to our order. This required us to restate it multiple times.

We ordered drinks, salad, pasta, and a pizza. After about 20 minutes the waiter came back to tell us that the pizza we ordered was not available and asked if we could change that order. No problem so far. Then when the pasta arrived, it was very small so we ordered another one. This is where the fun begins.

The pasta we ordered, for our daughter, was spaghetti with tomato sauce. Simple. Right? Wrong!!! They brought out the pizza for me and my wife, but still no signs of the spaghetti. The waiter returned to ask us if we still wanted spaghetti. Are you serious??!?! It took a full hour after ordering it to arrive, and this was after asking the waiter several times.

This same thing happened to another family sitting right next to us. The owner started yelling at them until the older women at that table left the restaurant while still being yelled at!

This was abominable service. I hope no one goes to this place again.

But otherwise, Italy...