Wood House — Restaurant in Taormina

I don’t usually leave bad reviews, but I feel compelled to share my experience. My daughter and I are visiting Taormina on vacation for my birthday and, for the most part, our trip has been wonderful. Unfortunately, our last night was tainted by a visit to The Wood House—a restaurant we chose because we wanted something different from pizza and pasta.

It's not a fancy place, and when we arrived, the restaurant was almost empty (which should’ve been a red flag, but the reviews online were decent). We walked in, greeted everyone politely with a “Buonasera,” but the staff barely acknowledged us. The waiter, who was skinny with a bowl cut (I didn’t catch his name), immediately asked if we were paying in cash—something I’ve never been asked before being seated. We said yes and sat down.

When we were ready to order, I had a few questions about the menu. But every time I asked something, the waiter responded with sarcasm. For example, when I asked if the California roll was prepared a certain way, he just pointed at the menu and said, "It says smoked right here, can you not see?" Then when I inquired about the tempura, he responded, "Obviously, it’s tempura." His tone was so dismissive, it was shocking.

Things took a turn when I pointed to the salmon dish I wanted to order, and he snapped, "Which one do you want?!" At that point, my daughter and I were both so uncomfortable that I told her we should just leave. No one should be treated like this, especially when you're just trying to enjoy a meal.

I’ve never walked out of a restaurant before, but the rudeness was unbearable. I truly hope they work on their customer service because no one deserves to be...

IF YOU HAVE FOOD ALLERGIES BEWARE TO CHECK YOUR FOOD WHEN IT ARRIVES BEFORE YOU EAT IT even if you think you've ordered something that doesn't contain the food you need to avoid. We came here last night and I ordered the one burger on the menu which had no milk symbol - it arrived and I took a couple of big bites before realising something was wrong, checking inside to discover a thick layer of cheese on there which definitely was not listed on the ingredients of the burger. I informed the staff and they did apologise. I did eat the replacement but the damage was done and I had to go back to the hotel where I was ill for the rest of the night with an allergic reaction. Luckily because I realised what had happened and checked after 2 mouthfuls this meant it wasn't so bad that I had to use my epi pen or go to hospital. If a restaurant goes to the trouble of listing all the possible allergens it is very worrying that they are not actually being careful to make sure the ingredients listed are correct. THIS CAN HAVE VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. it is a shame because the food was otherwise good but I can't give a high rating as your lack of care made...

I want to start out my saying the food was great. However, our waiter was not very welcoming (the one who was wearing a cap). When we were ordering, he was grunting and nodding instead of speaking to us in anyway. When my partner tried to order something that they have run out of, he just shook his head. We didn’t understand what he meant, and the whole interaction was uncomfortable. This really left us feeling awkward and wanting to leave. When I asked for the bill at the end, he acknowledged me and then went outside to go on his phone and smoke. We were confused by this, and asked someone else for the bill. I guess it had to be him who gave us the bill, because we had to wait for him to finish his cigarette, serve another table, and eventually come to us when he was asked by his colleagues again. It was not busy at all and he could see us waiting.

The other waiter who brought the food was amazing! But unfortunately the experience was...