Armònia Restaurant — Restaurant in Taormina

We stayed at the Mazzaro Sea Palace for four nights in early May. We ate there the first night because it was convenient, but we enjoyed the experience so much, that we ate there all four nights. The restaurant was a winner in all respects.

The atmosphere was so inviting, sitting outdoors near the shore, with the sound of waves in the distance. While it was abnormally chilly throughout Sicily, No Problem. The attentive staff set up heat lamps and brought a pashmina for my wife.

Attentive and cordial the staff was. We were greeted by name upon entry. Each night the head waiter took our orders, taking his time to answer our questions. The servers were attentive without being imposing.

The food was delicious. A standout for us was the lamb shank.

Breakfast was included in our hotel reservation and stay. The buffet choices were abundant and delicious. The pistachio coated cannoli were a standout. Again, the service provided by the wait staff really made the experience. Once again they set up heat lamps when required, so we could enjoy dining al fresco.

We are seriously considering returning to Taormina, and the Armonia is a big factor in...

This place markets itself as fine dining in Taormina, which sets certain expectations. When you come in, the decor, the excellent live piano music, and most of all the attentive and thoughtful service, all meet these expectations. Most of the food and drinks were really good and they have good ingredients. However, as a main dish they market something called "catch of the day", which in our case was sea bass. The way it was prepared, however, was pretty much just oven-baked over a salt sheet and with potatoes as a side dish. With no further preparation, such as a sauce, the dish became very dry after the initial bites, even if the fish was really good quality. That did not meet my own expectations of fine dining in Taormina, at least. Other than that, though, the food was really good.

Another thing to note was that the bill included both a cover fee of 8 euros per person AND a 15 % service charge. This seemed a bit strange to us and discouraged us from leaving an additional tip, even though the...

We were so looking forward to eating at this restaurant but unfortunately the experience was quite disappointing. While the food is good, although not as good as the prices are high, the service is very poor. There are many waiting staff, all very charming, but none knew what was going on and they were all running around a bit like headless chickens. Despite the number of staff, it was still hard to get their attention and the service was very slow and we had to ask several times for items we had ordered or try to place an order. Considering the prices charged here, this cannot be justified and when we stated the issue at the end of our visit, we were offered two more glasses of dessert wine. Really? Come on, empower your staff to a little more than that. Cannot recommend this...