Al Mazarì Restaurant — Restaurant in Syracuse

I’m not sure where to begin with this review other than if you only read one sentence: DO NOT EAT AT THIS RESTAURANT! The food was abysmal and the owner is rude.

We were really excited to try the restaurant having heard excellent things from one of our friends who had eaten there recently and also based on the recommendation of our hotel.

On arrival we were given a choice to sit inside or outside, which was nice. We chose outside. We were given a small glass of Prosecco each as a welcome, also a nice thing to do. Our waitress was friendly.

We ordered the mixed raw seafood (oyster, gambero rosso, langoustine) and the tuna tartare to start. The mixed raw seafood was so disappointing, especially after all the truly excellent fresh raw seafood we’ve had on this trip. The oyster was dry (and sadly I’d already asked for another so my husband and I could have one each), the gambero rosso had barely any flavour (I have no idea how) and the langoustine just tasted a bit old and bland. The tartare was fine and the only edible thing we had.

We also ordered wine and the Chardonnay recommended was ok, not the best we’ve had but ok.

Then the mains. We ordered Trapanese fish cous cous (after having had excellent versions of this in Trapani) and bucatini with sausage, orange and fennel. The fish with the cous cous had a metallic flavour and the pasta was overly sweet (yes, I know tomato is sweet and the dish has sweet elements; this was just very poor execution). They were both so bad that we only ate a couple of mouthfuls (we desperately tried to like it) before we decided just to pay and leave.

So I went inside and quietly asked for the bill. The waitress came over to ask if we were ok because she knew we only just received our food and I apologised in Italian to her and a man behind the desk I assume he the owner and said we didn’t like the food but were willing to just pay and leave. I was polite and said how mortified I felt. Then the owner started telling me how good their food was and it was the best quality and the freshest fish and I apologised again and said no we don’t like it, I’ll just pay. He kept going on and on the then asked where I’m from (!!) and told me it was my taste and that we have different taste. Again I said I just want to pay please. Then the male sommelier came over and also started to tell me I was wrong and their food was the best. After quite some time of effectively being ganged up on I paid 109 euro for the experience.

While I was inside attempting to pay I could also see they had cameras set up watching guests outside eating (I could see my husband sitting there). I went back out to find my husband had attempted to give a cat the fish from the cous cous and even the cat didn’t want to eat it, which says everything!

We left and went for a walk to try to find something else to eat. After about half an hour I realised I was quite upset from the experience and so decided to go back in the hope of getting an apology or even just acknowledgement but that was a mistake. Again I polite and tried to explain that I was upset by the experience but I just had the two men gang up on me again telling me how wonderful their food is and how we have different taste. Then the owner had the audacity to tell me our bill should have been 123 euro but he only charged me 109. After another 10 minutes of them lecturing me again I left. I regret not sending the food back from the table and then I regret not refusing to pay for the inedible food (I should have insisted on just paying for the starters and wine, even though both were disappointing). But I don’t regret that I was at least polite about the whole thing but I still can’t believe how I was treated. Based on other reviews I fully expect some rude and inaccurate response from the restaurant, about how fresh and wonderful their food is, how people have different taste, how they take feedback (!!), how they so generously took 14 euro off the bill (!!) and probably about how lovely they were and how awful I am.

Please...

THE WORST RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE IN ALL OF ITALY

A note before I begin - you will see from the reviews left by others that the owner responds to negative reviews in an arrogant, dismissive manner. To account for this I’ve preempted his feedback based on our interactions with him last night.

Food: average to bad quality with unjustifiably high prices. This is nowhere near Michelin star quality.

Some of the best food in Sicily consists of simple plates of super fresh seafood. The mixed crudo platter (gamberi rosso, gamberini, langoustine) we had at Al Mazari didn’t fall into this category. It lacked the light, nuanced flavours we had come to enjoy from these sorts of dishes. It was the culinary equivalent of an unimpressed shrug.

No doubt the owner will insist he ‘only uses the best suppliers.’ I would insist he looks elsewhere.

We also ordered pasta with sausage, fennel and orange (sickly sweet, like pasta cooked in orange juice) and the seafood cous cous (the cous cous itself wasn’t bad, but the fish had an off, metallic taste to it - I threw a bit to the cat, who sniffed it and ran away).

I’ve been fortunate enough to eat some amazing food across Italy and the world, from tiny family businesses to three star Michelin restaurants. You learn to tell when chefs care or not. These chefs had clearly stopped caring.

The owner will probably say something about watching us eat on his camera. For the sake of fairness I can confirm we ate all the crudo (regrettably) and had two bites each of the cous cous and the pasta.

Service: Arrogant, dismissive, rushed. The sommelier swans around like he’s God’s gift to viticulture and poured some very average Chardonnay. Once again the owner will have seen that we didn’t finish our wine - quite the feat in a country like Sicily.

My wife told the owner we didn’t like our food, wouldn’t be finishing it, but would of course pay for it. Any decent restaurant would have waived the bill or only charged us for what we ate.

Instead my wife was berated for complaining. In a display of casual racism the owner demanded to know where she was from and said it was clear that Australians didn’t understand Sicilian food. The owner might like to know that most of the ‘Italian’ food we have in Australia is actually Sicilian in origin (a product of migration) and that Australia has some of the best Sicilian cooking outside of Sicily (skilled chefs + excellent produce).

Then the sommelier ganged up on my wife and the whole thing became a farce. We tried to go back later to explain that the way they are treating their ‘customers’ wasn’t appropriate, but it was clearly a lost cause.

So in summary, “anche il gatto non l'ha mangiato”: even the cat didn’t eat it.

UPDATE: the response below says everything. Avoid,...

Found the place through ViaMichelin, saw that it had a Michelin Plate. We've been at quite a few Michelin restaurants, ranging from Plates to Two Stars, and unfortunately I cannot put this restaurant with the rest.

The food was good, but definitely not up to par with other Michelin rated restaurants. Service was mediocre, we had to ask for most basic things (for example, we received a bread basket but no olive oil. When we asked for the oil, we received it but had no plates.) We ordered homemade pasta with tuna, red pesto and olives which was good, and a seabass fillet that was full of bones and the other parts of the dish (tomatoes, aubergines, other veggies) were strangely cold in some parts and warm in others.

Dessert was no better than you would order at any cafe (we ordered a lemon cake to share).

Price wise - definitely cheaper than other Michelin Plated restaurants.

All in all, an above average restaurant but not worthy of a...