ALBA bistro restaurant Klaipėda — Restaurant in Klaipėda

TL;DR: I fully agree with other reviewers who say the price tag doesn’t match the experience - the quality-to-price ratio is heavily skewed.

To be fair, nothing was outright terrible, but the whole experience was mediocre and forgettable: the food (including their much-praised tiramisu), the limited menu choices, the lack of ambience - all at “fine dining in a major European capital” prices.

On top of that, the ventilation system was clearly inadequate - the dining area close to the pizza oven was filled with fumes and the heavy smell of burnt dough.

In my opinion, Bistro Alba is massively overrated and overpriced. I was especially surprised by all the glowing 5 star reviews praising the tiramisu. Anyone who’s ever eaten tiramisu in Italy - or even made one at home - would be stunned by the bone-dry, sandpaper-like ladyfingers. The cream was tasty, though a bit runny, but the biscuits hadn’t been soaked in coffee at all. That’s a travesty :)

To be balanced: the pizza dough was very good, but the toppings were meager. And at €22 for a pizza, it’s overpriced even compared to other holiday destinations in Europe.

Service was friendly and efficient. My only quibble: crushed black pepper served in a tiny bowl with a spoon rather than a proper pepper mill or even a shaker. In an Italian bistro, that says a lot and is very emblematic of this place - we’ll charge you €40 for a bottle of prosecco (not even Valdobbiadene), but no pepper mills in sight :)

I hear this restaurant made it onto a Michelin recommendation list, which is probably why people flock to try it - as we did. But our group of six left deeply...

After viewing some reviews which were negative, we still decided to try this place (as it was recommended by a famous writer, who is actually rarely wrong...). Oh, how we were surprised that all the negative aspects that were highlighter previously were 100% accurate. The place was 50% occupied and we had to wait for food 60min+. After the receival of three dishes, when my friends finished them, I did receive an nduja pizza... 75min later, you get pizza, splendid... Pasta portions were ridiculous for 20 Eur charge... taste was good, but portions are really inadequate... Pizza was mediocre, nduja sausage from lower quality end and the dough was slightly undercooked on the edges... Coffee was forgotten and after receival it was noticed that had many coffee grounds stuck on the bottom of the cup. After giving some polite feedback, nothing from apology point of view (only excuses that many clients etc..) or discounts or what ever was offered... We just did receive one sorry and invite for next visit with a promise that it will be better. For sure we will not come back.

I don't recommend this place now, they can't handle the traffic, service is poor and it's seriously overpriced. Yep,...

Our lovely evening was kinda ruined by the staff. We waited for half an hour until someone took the dish I was done with away and asked us whether we’d like a dessert. Actually, another table went inside to look for the staff, as they had been waiting for the menu for ages. They found the staff just sitting and chitchatting in an empty part of the restaurant. Finally the girls came out, but only to that table. Did not check on us or any other table. Another girl came and they started chatting again. I think at this point I have had enough, I called for a waitress out loud and to just bring us the check, cus even tho my partner wanted to try tiramisu, we did not want to stay another minute. By the way, my plate has never been taken. Also, I don't know whether that’s a restaurant or waitresses, they told me the place only has two wines from a white wine selection. Strange, as there's a whole list of them. The food itself was nice, altho the pasta was a bit too al dente for our personal...