Ristorante La Torre — Restaurant in Vernazza

If you are there only for the view, then you should definitely visit, just be prepared for a lot of stairs, which is to be expected if you want to see everything from that high. But the experience is a zero.

We have planned this restaurant for our anniversary trip to Cinque Terre and we booked everything in advance in due time. My husband specified that we need a more private table with the best view. When we arrived, an Italian woman with no reservation ran in front of us, asking the waiter for a good table because she was with kids and she managed to get the table. I found this unusual because in the middle of july these touristic places are fully booked months ahead. Then my husband asked for our reservation and one of the waiters showed us the way to the end of the restaurant near the kitchen where it was literally 45 degrees Celsius. There were at least 7-8 other tables in the open (with fresh air) that were completely empty, not even set for dinner. We were confused why they put us in such bad spot and when we asked for the table we made a reservation for, they said it’s not possible. I was not feeling good from the hot air and had to go to the toilet. We told one of the waiters that we will either have our table or we will leave and he said I work for tips. When he said that it all became very clear to me, how the italian woman giving tips underhands got the best table with no reservation, while we came from across Europe, with reservation months ahead, and got such bad table. At the end because we said we are going to leave, they gave us the table we asked for, only to drop every plate in front of us like we were dogs. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life and we dine regularly everywhere we go, usually in restaurants that are more upscaled than a touristic place like this one. I decided to quickly finish my food and leave quietly without talking to the staff because there was no point. The truth is, there are only few restaurants in the town, they are always full in the season and they don’t care how they behave. My husband used to own a restaurant and we always give generous tips at the end with our bills out of respect. However, If you go there, unless you are italian or bribe them heavily upfront, don’t expect them to treat you like a...

Really bad experience!

Unfortunately we didn’t book a table for two… the waiter explained there were only to tables available in a little corner (near a storage room). Ok let’s sit there, our bad… At that moment we should have turned away and enjoy a pizza in the city center…

But we stayed: first of all, it seems that the kindness of the waiters is clearly not included in the price of this restaurant. Secondly, the portions are the equivalent of “bambini” portions, (we paid 30€ for hardly 1 litter of mussels for two). Then, this restaurant is described as “chic” and “high standing”, but I just remember the water in a plastic bottle, cutlery in a paper envelope and the sauces (ketchup and Mayo) in little plastic sachets, like fast-food… (Let’s forget the fries that arrived when the mussels were cold). Next, remember our little table in a corner, next to a wall that forces us stand up to enjoy the view? Two beautiful tables (with a much better view) have been unoccupied during the whole dinner, and 3 others couples who didn’t booked either and arrived later on, had a table in front of the sea view. And last, but not least: the chef cooking without a mask (covid where are you?). I wrote “without”: not even a mask on his chin… Besides this, he was constantly shouting and yelling, as he believed himself in a cheap brewery!

I already read negative comments on this place, but I wanted to try it by myself and give La Torre a chance (apparently they grabbed the money, but not the chance…). I should’ve remembered that forewarned is forearmed…

Simple conclusion: if you want dinner with a view, just order a pizza or some fried fish in the city center, and take it upstairs to enjoy the sunset on Vernazza. (My star goes...

We were really looking forward to this restaurant for months and months. It was a very rainy evening, and where we were sat down there were lots of leaks coming through the canopy and we were getting wet. We asked to move and the waiter seemed unhappy we asked, but he agreed to do it. He told us to pick up our cutlery, water, bread, serviettes and take them to the our drier table ourselves.

We ordered our food from the same waiter, he was a little abrupt and had zero warmth to our experience. We were served our drinks etc by another waiter wearing a sports tracksuit. Not my business to comment on his outfit but we dressed up for the occasion however maybe we didn’t understand the dress code very well.

Our starters arrived and were lovely. Our mains however were slightly disappointing (the food was really good) but one main arrived, and we waited and waited for the other main. In the end we asked the waiter wearing a tracksuit where was the final dish….he apologised and he said we thought we wanted to share each dish and that’s why only one main was served at a time. I speak both English and Italian, and I can say with confidence no one asked for this. Nonetheless we finished our food and quickly departed. The desserts looked amazing but thought best not wait any longer as we had a train to catch.

The view is lovely and well worth the climb. I’m sure this is just my experience and everyone else had a much better evening than we did, again just to repeat we did...