Da Martini sul Ponte — Restaurant in Sperlonga

I'm Italian and I own a few restaurants outside of Italy, so I prefer to write this review in English for the majority of tourists to understand. I come back to Italy twice a year, so I’m a tourist as well. The dinner I had with my family at the end of June left me with a great feeling. This restaurant showcases the best of what Italy can offer: fresh ingredients from Sperlonga, modern plating, and interpretation that elevates traditional dishes without destroying them.

The location speaks for itself— it couldn't be better. The service and ambiance are what they should be: attentive and always present. The restaurant is quite small, so it's virtually impossible not to receive good service, contrary to what some other reviews might suggest.

Being in the business myself, I sometimes struggle with reviews, so here’s my chance to remind everyone that eating is a pleasure and a moment for yourself and your loved ones. Don’t waste this time trying to judge everything from 1 to 5 stars. Relax, put your phone aside, and enjoy. In this restaurant, they know how to suggest food and take care of you, making your dinner a true experience to remember.

Grazie ragazzi ed in...

Food and location are amazing. Service is terrible. We were seated, given a bottle of water but no glasses to drink the water. We waited 10 minutes and finally had to ask for glasses. Throughout the entire night we felt ignored while the waiter would walk and talk with every other table. In fact, as I am writing this review our waiter is still at another table talking and they have been done with their meal for a while now.

Edit: Since there was a response I should clarify: we were not looking to be entertained by the waiter. We were looking to get glasses with our water, looking to be checked on regularly (asking if everything is ok, need more water, etc), looking to be asked if we need any coffee, dessert, the check, etc when the table was cleared.

There was one other waiter there who looked like she was picking up all the slack because of his excessive conversations with other tables. By the end of our meal she picked up on our frustration and was right there to help us. This was after my initial review. For her, I will add...

Basti notare tutte le recensioni ad una stella su questo ristorante per notare un problema comune: maleducazione e avarizia. Ordiniamo 3 spaghetti alle vongole, porzioni piccole ma piatto dignitoso. La mia compagnia fa notare al proprietario che nel suo piatto non ci sono vongole ma solo conchiglie vuote. Il Tizio inviperito dal commento comincia ad ululare una serie di concetti surreali nel centro del ristorante blaterando che , nel sporzionare i piatti sono capitate più vongole a mia madre piuttosto che a lei. Alzando le spalle se ne va. Vittime di una spietata roulette russa alle vongole ? Fato o incompetenza? Fatto sta che la mia compagna si finisce un bel piatto alle vongole senza vongole. O forse dovevamo dividerle tra noi da buoni commilitoni? Riapprocciato il proprietario urlante chiedendo spiegazioni alla sua aggressività insensata lui ci ribadisce la tecnica del ndo cojo cojo la quale apparentemente giustifica il risultato ma ci garantisce un piattino di vongole aggiuntive, annacquate e spaesate. Crisi di nervi di fine stagione? Fatto sta che ci porta un conto salato e senza sconti che ci fa prendere vie per altri secondi e contorni in ristoranti lontani. Neanche tanto , visto che il ristorante a fianco è di gran lunga superioresia per servizio e qualità. A meno che vi piacciano saltimbanchi nevrotici assolutamente da evitare.

If you look at the other 1 star reviews you can spot the same trend: rudeness and avarice from the owner. We have ordered 3 spaghetti with clams in a small but good dish. My partner realised that in her plate there were no clams but only empty shells, whereas she has kindly pointed this out to the owner. Clearly irritated, he started to shout in the middle of the restaurant trying to justify the lack of clams due to an unlucky portioning, pointing at my mothers plate which was insteadf full of it. Were we victims of a ruthless clams Russian roulette? Fate or incompetence? In the end my partner ate her clamless clams spaghetti like a school girl would eat a plate of boiled broccoli. Should we had instead shared our clams in between us just like good buddies? After asking for an apology for his unreasonably aggressive behaviour, he gave us instead another explanation of how random this world can be, and a little plate of watery and lonely clams without an apology or a discount. We left the restaurant to get a decent main course next door - which, by the way, has much better service/food End of season nerves breakdown? Nevertheless, avoid unless you enjoy...