Il Ruttino — Restaurant in Sant'Agnello

I am gonna share my FB post about our experience here in Sept 2019 because it does the best job explaining why this restaurant is amazing:

Ok so the first day in Italy has been challenging. First our flight was delayed three hours. That caused us to have to rush around the rest of the day. Oh and they switched planes on us. Instead of a brand new plane where we had reserved seats in an exit row, we were the middle two seats in a row of four in a cabin where the air conditioning didn’t work. We also got on the “local” train (3 hour trip) for Naples by accident instead of the express (1 hour trip). It caused us to nearly miss the last train from Naples to Sorrento. So by the time we got to our Airbnb we hadn’t eaten or drank anything for 10 hours, hadn’t slept for 24+ hours, and were cranky AF (at least I was). Then we went to our first Italian pizza place around midnight local time. It was a tiny little place but very quaint. There was a friend of the owner just hanging out playing accoustic guitar. The owner’s wife gave us some of her own food she was about to eat so we could try it. The bruschetta was maybe the best I ever had. The tomatoes looked like they just picked them from a garden. And the pizza was delicious. Then the guitar player played Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”, the song we walked down the aisle to, and my wife started to cry. I told the restaurant that it was our honeymoon and why that song was significant. Suddenly the guitar player came over to us and serenaded us. The restaurant started all singing along and waterfalls gushed from my wife’s eyes. By the time it was all over, my wife was getting hugs from the owner’s wife, the owner hugged and kissed me on the cheek (like Europeans do), and the misadventures of earlier in the day faded away.

We ended up eating there again a few days later. The food was once again amazing. We spent 23 days in Italy and probably only ate at 1-2 restaurants that were better than this, but each was significantly more expensive.

Come here for a delicious, affordable meal with a friendly staff that handle Americans tourists well and where you can get to know the husband and wife who...

Went there with a large group (~40 people) for a pre wedding pizza party “mixer”. I worked with Albert about the reservation over a month beforehand and he seemed to be on top of it. The reservation was for 17:30 on 11 Oct 2024. It was also my mother in law’s birthday and I inquired about getting a cake once I got to the area. He offered to make one and I accepted graciously.

We got there and they didn’t have the room set up for our party. Other visitors were spread out around the dining area. Albert wasn’t there but was called as I said we should just cancel. He got there and the dining area was quickly organized to accommodate. We go in, get some apps and pizzas. The food was decent (we only had pizzas and some app platters).

My in laws wanted to pay for the dinner for us so I went to Albert to pay for the cake separately. He charged me 270 euros for this cake (see picture). I should’ve said something then but didn’t. I emailed him after we left thanking him and also letting him know that I felt 270 euro was an unreasonable price for the cake and asked him to help me understand why it was so much. He never replied. This made me feel that he will take advantage of tourists any chance he gets. We gave him a lot of business that night. He should’ve done better. To make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding the value, I spoke with the hotel staff as well as taxis drivers and showed them the picture. All agreed that the price was unreasonable.

I do not and will never recommend this place to anyone. We ate at many other places in the area that truly took care of their customers and better quality food. I understand restaurants are a business but he showed no integrity towards us. This place is not worth it for...

Curse This Place I don’t typically write reviews unless a place left a serious impression on me. This restaurant is one of those places but unfortunately not for good reasons. The one thing that my review should inform you is do NOT order the specials, however much the waiters try to charm you into it. 1 main course and 2 drinks cost us €96. No appetisers, no dessert even.

For the full & honest review: My god, what a snake of a business. It’s almost admirable. I thought I was well-travelled enough to spot these types of deception but they are devilishly sneaky. The service was surprisingly good, the “garden” was unimpressive but charming, and the food was actually decent. So imagine our shock when my boyfriend and I received a €96 bill for a red snapper with a side of pasta, a peroni & aperol spritz…

It was so so so disappointing because we drove an hour from Amalfi to this place because of the good reviews. We were looking for a genuine Italian trattoria with good pasta and when the young waitress looked deep into my eyes as she told us about the specials, I thought we’d finally found gold amongst the sea of tourist traps in Southern Italy.

If you’re reading this with the same hope, save yourself the trouble and avoid this place altogether.

I wish I only had wonderful things to say but I seriously curse this place. It has left such a sour taste in my mouth that I don’t know what to do with. For every plate of €75 “special of the day” you would think that they would at least make the restaurant look like their food is worth so much. Unbelievably...