Ristorante Badia — Restaurant in Taormina

Very disappointing. We arrived slightly later than average at approximately 9pm but the restaurant was almost full so should have been fine service. After coming all the way into the back of the restaurant we found a waitress who sat us down quite rudely and walked off without saying much. We were not offered water and we sat for ages with the menus and no one coming to take any order. After 15 minutes we went inside to find a waiter to take our order. Again, service was without charm or any sort of friendly demeanour. When the food arrived the pizza was very average. I thought mine was slightly overcooked as the topping was dry and the crust/base was very crunchy and chewy. The wine was nice though. No one came to ask how our meal was. We finished our pizza and sat for a while with our plates empty. A waiter took our plates away but but did not offer us desserts menu or ask if we wanted anything else. We had wine left so were happy sitting drinking this but still no one approached about desserts and all the waiters had disappeared inside as they were at the start of our meal. Someone eventually came out at 10 past ten and plonked a bill on our table and said they were closing. We were very disappointed not to be told in advance that the place was going to close as so many restaurants in other parts of Sicily stay open much later, as we would have ordered desserts. The table next to us also had similar issues and had been wanting to order desserts for ages but couldn't find anyone and then they forgot one of the people's desserts once they eventually ordered but had charged them on the bill for it, then made them feel like they should leave as quick as possible. Appalling service throughout and food was below average. Taormina is a beautiful place but unfortunately because of this, service in places gets away with being very poor and food overpriced and poor quality unless you go somewhere incredibly pretentious and fancy and pay even more money. It is a shame. I think the best bet is to stay in an apartment not a hotel and buy lovely produce and cook your own meals. Definitely do not go to...

I only write reviews when it is either really good or very bad, to help others making the right choices.

This one was a very bad experience for us. We ordered a vegetable and a mushroom risotto. Both were inedible, had to be returned and the waiter was on top very rude or nervous, after we started questioning why we should pay service fee, when we couldn’t even eat the dishes served. He argued and I didn’t wanted to, so we ended up paying €9 for a bottle of still water and service fee/cuperto.

For details: the veggie risotto was so salty we had to return it. The waiter took it back and came back saying sorry and confirming the salty taste.

The mushroom risotto was supposed to be porcini/penny bun from Etna. The taste was barely mushroomy and the consistency of the porcini was like very soft pork belly and kind of yucky. They were very old or frozen ones and definitely inedible! He didn’t accept the return and wanted to charge for it later.

Reading other reviews, I realised that this restaurant tends to respond quite rude and unreasonable to 1 star reviews…so I look very much forward to the response I will receive. And to spoiler, I didn’t had Covid, so my taste buds are fine. I’m also a mushroom forager and know how porcini should be of taste and consistency if they are fresh.

So maybe you get yourself a new chef and friendly staff and gain some more positive reviews as the one we read before and expected a...

We had 2 Risottos. It was ok, but all in all it was overpriced for what you get. Lemonade for 5 EUR is rip off. After we got the cheque, we had to many items on it. We pointed it out and got the overpaid money back. Had this also happening in other restaurants in Taormina, seems a bit like a strategy here. This restaurant was btw the only restaurant where we actively got asked if we want to tipp. Quite odd when you already pay coperto. Off course, we didn’t tipp. Ended up paying 70 EUR for 2 risotto, 1 Fanta and 1 Glas of Grillo. When you want to avoid places packed with tourists, as well as overpriced, average food, should avoid Taormina at all. You get much better food and more genuine dolce vita in other places in Sicily.

Update after the childish response from the restaurant:

I know indeed what a good restaurant is and for that reason you got a 2 star review. I had much better food for a much better price in many places in Italy and also in Sicily. Ragusa, Castellamare to name a few. You should rather learn how to deal with criticism in a professional way and not like a 3 year old. Taormina has been authentic 30 years ago, now it’s a place of mass tourism. Minus 1 more star for getting personal and the unprofessional way how you deal...