Il Gambero Rosso Vernazza — Restaurant in Vernazza

An overrated and overpriced restaurant with a dull atmosphere and with the only thing worthy is the seaside view (so not something made from them, but stolen from nature).

Almost all the menu is based on seaside food, with something like 2/3 options vegetarian based. The restaurant asks for 3 euro of service charge, which is not justified in any way possible just a couple of examples : -unpolished glasses with limestone on it -poor waiter experience and service -bread given in a paper bag which I could do the same if I buy at my local store -no card payment outdoors, you need to go inside the restaurant to do it, which means if you have accessibility issues you feel like you are a problem.

Now let's talk about food portions and cost/quantity. disappointing disappointing disappointing. A dish of pasta with tomato sauce is 12 euros. A portion of fries is 6 euro (6 EUROS). I got a sea fruits pasta (15 euros) that had more mussels than pasta. It tasted nothing better than average sea fruits pasta that you can get from any local store frozen. It had minimum sauce, the pasta was dry, and mussels tasted like chewingum with no flavor. Me and my partner had to pay 10 euro for basically sitting there and drink water. Yes a bottle of water is 3 euros.

In conclusion if you want to look cool and feel like a tourist in Italy that is definitely the place where to go, a scam restaurant done specifically for people not from the aerea. If you want on the other side a true Italian experience and eat proper food, than I suggest to go somewhere else, maybe even outside Vernazza and try somewhere in Monterosso. The reason why I am so angry at this it is because they try so hard to make it look as a great place which is just a massive bait and they unapologetically go on with it just for the...

Gambero Rosso in Vernazza might have the location, but everything else falls apart fast. The staff barely acknowledge guests, offering no welcome and no warmth. The seafood was passable except for the shrimp.

Then came the risotto. It was not just undercooked, it was an insult. Hard, white, chalky grains that crunched between your teeth. Not al dente, not close. It was raw. When we politely questioned it, we were told, without hesitation or care, “this is how it should be.” That statement alone disqualifies them from serving risotto at all.

And then it got worse. Instead of starting fresh, they threw the entire dish-sauce, seafood, and all-into an oven in a sad attempt to recover it. The rice remained raw, the seafood turned rubbery, and the sauce reduced into something nearly inedible from salt and overcooking.

Here is a photo of the risotto after the third attempt. Still raw. You can clearly see the white core, uncooked seed inside the grain.

This was not a mistake in execution. It was a complete lack of understanding, pride, and respect for Italian cuisine. In Italy, no less. Gambero Rosso should not serve risotto until they learn how...

First off, the service & speed is absolutely 5/5. We had an Airbnb that was up the mountain at Cinque Terre so we actually had a cab booked for 10pm. We were seated just around 8:35-45 and we made sure to ask the waiter if there was enough time to eat. He said we would be out by 9:30PM if we want.

The environment couldn’t get any better with sitting right by the sea. If you really want to enjoy the full ambiance, I believe sunset would be the best time to have your meal as you have the best of both worlds.

The waiter not only memorized our entire order, the pacing of the meal was top notch. We ordered 4 mains for 4 people along with two more mains to share. The pasta was absolutely amazing and again, the waiter had been absolutely perfect. The only reason there’s a docked star is because the flavor of the seafood was top-notch, but it definitely could’ve been cooked a bit better.

In the end, we were definitely finished our meal by 9:30PM and we were not only surprised by the quality, but just how on point they were the entire time as it was definitely their peak dinner time when we arrived. Highly recommend trying if...