Osteria Villa Zuccaro — Restaurant in Taormina

We had high expectations given the reviews, prices on the menu, and the look of the hotel. While the service was above and beyond, I can’t say the same about the food. This was easily the most expensive meal we had since we started our trip to Sicily but, sadly, the food was not worth the price at all.

We started with ravioli, which was excellent. It was cooked perfectly and was an amazing combination of textures and flavours. Then everything went down hill. We shared a caprese salad, which was lacklustre. It could have used a lot more basil, and the tomatoes didn’t have much flavour — first time we ever had a bland tomato in Sicily. Then I had the calamarata and my friend the rigatoni alla norma. It was not the best allá norma my friend had in Sicily — she was not as excited about it as she’s been in previous restaurants. The calamarata was fine but not something I would ever order again — there was barely any shrimp in it, and the lime gave the whole dish a bit of a bitter after taste.

I will say though that it is clear their waitstaff team is committed to providing outstanding service. That was truly the best part of the whole experience. The spot is gorgeous as well. But it’s hard to be happy with the experience when this was the only memorable...

Pascato del giorno gratinato (Eggplant Parm) - it’s one of our favorites and it is the best we’ve had in all of Italy.

Tagliatella di pasta fresca con pescato del giorno e gamberi (Fresh tagliatelle with Catch of the day and shrimp) - I’m not always a fan of seafood pasta but this was highly recommended by our server, Alex, and it was cooked to perfection with phenomenal flavors.

Involtino di pesce (Swordfish roll with green olive crumb, capers and citrus…) - so fresh and unique. I loved the combination of flavors, they paired perfectly with our entrees.

Oysters - Loving oysters and being particular about them, these were so tasty!

Cannolis - the filling is the best we’ve ever had.

The star…. Lemon Sorbet - You must try this. This was by far the best sorbet I’ve ever had. 10/10.

My fiancé and I will travel anywhere for great food. This place astonished us with the quality, the lightness, the flavor, the service, and the ambiance to tie it all together. Alex was a wonderful server… we are so appreciative to have had him to guide us in choosing the best options and it exceeded both of our expectations. Thank you also to Marika and Naomi, who were so lovely. We felt truly taken care of and could not recommend this place...

Unfortunately we didn’t really have a fantastic meal.

The staff were plentiful and very friendly. Kindly seated us without reservations and were patient and helpful when ordering.

We had a glass of the house red which was nice. The meal itself came with some breadsticks and bread to go with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar - I really didn’t find the bread to be very good or the oil and vinegar anything to write home about.

For our order, we had the caprese salad which was very nice although the basil was not very fresh. The cheese and tomato were on point.

The salmon tartar was very 1 note and the fish wasn’t quite prepared well enough. There was a little too much grizzle and had a couple bone pieces in it.

The tuna was unfortunately not very good and rather small. There were a few bone pieces in it and it was just not a very good dish at all. I love tuna and I didn’t even want to eat it.

The staff were super nice about it and without me really saying anything, they removed it from the bill and even gave us a discount on the bill. Very nice.

At the end of the meal they brought a shot of lemoncello and a couple biscottis on the house which is a nice touch (though if I’m being completely honest, the biscottis were...