Ristorante Stella Del Mare — Restaurant in Salve

We came here for dinner on our 16th Anniversary. It's the fine-dining option in this lovely small town. We got a table upstairs with a nice view overlooking the square and the ocean. Our Bulldog was welcome as well.

Had a raw seafood plate (crudo) and octopus balls (well...meatballs made of octopus, not what you were thinking) for a starter. For the main Lobster pasta and grilled fish. A bottle of Louis Roederer Brut Premier with that.

The octopus balls were a good choice, nice flavours, tender. Even you don't like seafood, you could eat this. The raw seafood was great. Nice tuna, shrimp with a mango chutney and some raw fish. All really fresh. A very tasty starter.

Lobster with pasta was another good choice. Lobster was perfectly cooked, not too short, not too long. Pasta al dente. The grilled fish was a surprise. Didn't expect much of it. But it was nicely presented and baked/gratinated. You can choose what kind of fish you like, they present you their selection at a special fish counter on the upper floor. Good stuff, very fresh again.

Staff was very friendly and helpful. There was no rush, in Italy they always let you take your time to enjoy the food. I like that.

Champagne was good, very well priced for a restaurant. All in all it came together at 140 Euros, which was a fine deal for the whole package...

We went there one week ago with great expectations based on recommendations of friends but we found an average food restaurant. This would call for an average rate but the plate of prawns (that were old and totally not at the level of the one tried in other places in Salento) and the high final price make this place really out of the list of possible recommendable place to eat fish. Sorry but this was...

Sono stato a cena con amici ma non mi sono trovato benissimo. Il locale è pulito ed ordinato, c'è una sala interna e una terrazza accessibile solo tramite una scala esterna. Il presonale cordiale, ma un po' confusionario. Ci hanno fatto accomodare, ma non potevano darci il menù perché non ne avevano abbastanza (premetto che il locale non era molto affollato). Dopo più di 20 minuti siamo riusciti ad avere i menù e dopo altrettanti siamo riusciti ad ordinare. Come antipasto abbiamo preso cozze gratinate, buone, ma sono arrivate fredde, e l'insalata di mare, un po' gommosa e annegata in olio di scarsa qualità (siamo in una terra di mare e di olive, mi sarei aspettato qualcosa di più). Poi abbiamo ordinato i primi, non male, ma nulla di particolare. Due di noi hanno preso la grigliata mista, arrivara in ritardo rispetto agli altri piatti. La presentazione del piatto lasciava molto a desiderare: un sarago, un trancio di spada e 5 gamberoni (era una grigliata per due persone, potevano anche farne 6). Il tutto servito in un piatto da portata enorme e freddo. Giusto il tempo di pulire il sarago e tutto il resto si era già freddato. Delusi dalla cena abbiamo preso il caffè e ce ne siamo andati. Pessima esperienza, credo che...