Ristorante Trattoria Santa Tecla — Restaurant in Sanremo

Today, we had a rather strange experience at the Santa Tecla restaurant in Sanremo. In search of a halfway decent restaurant near the tourist-packed waterfront promenade, we checked the Google reviews. In hindsight, we should have been suspicious that almost all restaurants there had around 250 reviews – mostly positive, of course.

At first, the waiters weren’t immediately recognizable as such, but that wasn’t really a problem. We were the first guests. Everything appeared reasonably clean and tidy – except for the restrooms, which is hard to understand considering there hadn’t been any guests yet at lunchtime. For starters, we ordered fried calamari and shrimp as well as grilled vegetables. For the main courses, we chose tagliolini with lobster (Taglioni Astice) and a quattro formaggi pizza, along with a bottle of wine.

The food in no way met our (not particularly high) expectations, nor did it justify the price. The calamari, which finally arrived after 20 minutes, were clearly frozen and not fresh – and this in a coastal town like Sanremo – and had been fried in rather unappetizing oil. Meanwhile, I received my pizza, which was good – both the dough and the cheese. The second starter (grilled vegetables) and the tagliolini with lobster were, for some reason, brought to the table next to us, where new guests had just been seated. We were a bit puzzled – but maybe they had ordered the same dishes. After about three minutes, the food was returned, and I said to my partner: “Just watch, in three minutes they’ll bring us that exact food.” And unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. The plate was new, but the lobster had clearly been gnawed on from one side. We pointed this out to the waiter – but he pretended to know nothing. My grilled vegetables were limp, more sautéed than grilled. The wine was okay. And to be fair, the portions were really generous.

All in all, the restaurant left a very strange impression. I’d rather not question whether hygiene regulations were being followed. What I saw and experienced was enough for me. The service seemed somehow uncoordinated. For over 90 euros, you should be able to expect...

The athmosphere of the restaurant is quite nice but the food is not good at all, unfortunately. Especially the pizza was really bad. Ever had a frozen Buitoni pizza that you forgot in the oven for an extra 10 minutes? Yeah, it was like that. The crust was a cracker, the sauce tasted like a jar of sadness, and the cheese…well, there was no cheese. But the service was even worse: The waitress approached our table with the enthusiasm of someone forced into a hostage situation. She didn’t smile at all—we weren’t sure if we were supposed to order or apologize for interrupting her day. Honestly, don’t go there unless you want to experience a...

Sono venuto a Sanremo con mia moglie per il secondo anno consecutivo. Pochi giorni di vacanza ma veramente belli e goduti a pieno. Sanremo è speciale per noi, citta meravigliosa che non ha bisogno di presentazioni in cui la cordialità è veramente di casa. In particolare ci siamo fermati una sera per la prima volta a cena presso il ristorante Santa Tecla. L'ambiente è piaciuto subito a mia moglie in modo particolare e siamo entrati. Posto praticamente di fronte al porto vecchio, il ristorante è veramente bello con una veranda esterna e un bellissimo ambiente all'interno in stile marinaro. Ebbene, ci siamo andati in due serate di fila (purtroppo era il solo tempo a nostra disposizione). Abbiamo mangiato i primi in particolare i tagliolini alla pescatora. Portata spettacolare, bella da vedere ma soprattutto squisita e, ragazzi, che porzione abbondante. Intanto che cenavamo passavano portate di ogni tipo veramente da restare a bocca aperta. Per finire, il vero valore aggiunto a tutto questo è il gestore e il personale. Appena entrati con due parole il gestore ci aveva già messi a nostro agio con una simpatia e gentilezza impeccabili. Il tutto sempre accompagnato da una professionalità esemplare. Il personale seguiva l'esempio facendo trasparire l'intesa pefetta che c'era nel locale. Prezzi a mio avvIso ottimi in rapporto alla qualità del cibo e al servizio. Ci siamo veramente trovati bene. Grazie di cuore per aver contribuito alla nostra breve ma bellissima vacanza a Sanremo. Consiglio vivamente di...