Osteria Vecchia Cantina — Restaurant in Sannicola

A NICE PEARL IN SALENTO COUNTY: We visited the Cantina in an exploratory mode, trusting the chef with the daily fresh pasta dishes and a second dish of cooked cow meat. As an Apulian, I’m always on the verge of finding hidden gems of local food. To start, the selection of beer is good. The local beer I tried was tasty, fresh and innovative in flavor. I truly enjoyed the delicacy of the drink which surprisingly provided a nice start for the meal. We kicked with arancini aperitif. While a basic street food in puglia, both of them were not over fried, perfectly coordinated in ingredients and truly a joy to tase. Another good bullet in the restaurant favor. Fresh pasta dished: I loved both. Ingredients were fresh, flavorful and balanced with each pasta type, providing a nice designed ecosystem of Components. The dinner was going on fire. Then the meat. We asked for a medium cooking, but the meat landed kinda well cooked. As a matter of fact, multiple slices ended up being burned, and the tasting suffered from that “carbon” feeling typical of meat which spent too much time on the grill. Still, the overall experience was a good one, price were honest (66 euros in two - And in a Salento trend of overpricing this is a medal in favor of the owners), and I left being curious of trying also other dishes. A place...

I'm Foreigner don't speak Italian language, so it is about my own experience I have no idea nothing about food quality.

we entered inside without reservation (I did not know I have to make but it looks it is very standard here) and sit to free table (table was not marked as reserved as in other countries even another places in Italy - so maybe just cultural difference in this region). They let us sit there 37 minutes with great ignoring style (I'm not used to this so maybe another cultural difference). We got Italian menu I ask for English menu but does not exist (maybe here is space to improve) at least on my request we got WiFi to use smart phone for translation. After another 5 minutes they ask us for reservation ( sure I had none ) and was politely requested to leave.

You can read many good reviews but if you are foreigner like us just make sure you won't get in similar troubles.

So my impression is bad but maybe restaurant is great can tell. I hope this will help others and maybe restaurant owner with improving...

We went for dinner for two. For starter arancino which was good, not very greasy. For drink my partner ordered local beer, which was light and fresh and for myself glass of primitivo, smooth and full bodied. Pasta with sausage was good balanced, sweet and salty, however pasta with spada fish was pretty flat - could be better. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the main course. We ask for medium rare, but received well done, even overcooked. Waiter didn’t came to check with us after serving how’s the dish, so there was not a chance to ask to reserve the dish. Conclusion: the place is nice, food average, price not going over, but not sure if we will visit...