Ristorante Mare Grande — Restaurant in Tropea

If I can rate this restaurant 0 stars, I would. This restaurant was originally highly recommended by a local however, we had a horrible experience. The owner (a woman in the kitchen) is, to put kindly, RUDE. We found a long black hair in our plate but to be polite, we didn’t make a big deal out of it and mentioned it to the waiter. When it came to the bill, we wanted to split the bill but the owner refused to split it (as we were two couples). There was no will to accommodate nor to tell us politely that it could not be done. She was rude, and walked away from the conversation. When it came time to pay, we mentioned the hair in the plate and she argued with us and didn’t want to acknowledge anything we were saying. Overall, a horrible experience. The waiters were kind with us however, because she was so rude, we will not...

Finally! After 3 nights in Tropea, Mare Grande gave me what I was looking for - a trattoria with simple yet delicious local cooking, at reasonable prices.

Yes, the plastic chairs are humble and it’s not as glitzy or glamorous as some other establishments in Tropea, but it is almost right on the beach and the service is as good as the food - warm, hearty and utterly endearing.

My step father is Calabrese and he described the pizza he ate here as the best he’s had this trip (high praise indeed!) For me, I was so enamoured by the quality of the food that I chose to consume everything (despite being uncomfortably full), rather than let a single delicious morsel go to waste.

Oh, and for the coeliacs and gluten free folk out there - they have gluten free pizza and pasta .......

Absolutely wonderful time. We arrived on a Saturday at 1:15 and both the inside and outside were open. Pizza was being served (which isn’t always happening at lunch in Italy) . High chair was available

We ordered pizza margarita, pizza calabrese (HIGHLY recommend if you like spicy- topped with a local spicy sausage similar to chorizo), spaghetti e vongole (oil and herb sauce over spaghetti with clams), 2 glasses of the house red wine, and a large bottle of water. The food was delicious. The waitstaff was kind and helpful. The cost was under 40€ which was WELL WORTH...