Citadela Restaurant — Restaurant in Budva

While this place requires a booking, I honestly wouldn’t rush here at all. We came with high expectations, but the experience left us completely disappointed.

The biggest letdown was the pasta dish, which on the menu claimed to feature vongole and lobster meat. As you can see from the photos, what we received was clearly surimi—commonly known as crab sticks—a processed fish paste product with zero lobster in sight. Not only did it taste artificial, but it had texture of a spungy cube.

We politely inquired about the "lobster," hoping the chef would be honest and perhaps explain a substitution. Instead, he had the audacity to claim it was Cuban lobster. Well, it was cubed, alright—as in cubed crabstick. For the premium price they’re charging, this kind of deception is frankly unacceptable. We eat lobster often and we have different variety of lobsters. This was NOT lobster.

The beef carpaccio was fresh, but completely under-seasoned and crying out for olive oil. They brought some over—stored in a clear glass bottle, sitting in the sun all day—and of course, it was rancid.

To be fair, our server Alexa was fantastic—attentive, friendly, and did everything right. The Albariño was also lovely, and the complimentary amuse bouche of local sea bass pâté and olive tapenade was a nice touch.

But none of this justifies the main act falling so flat.

If you’re after a beautiful view, top-notch food, and outstanding atmosphere, do yourself a favour and go to Vista Vidikovac instead. This place? Sadly, it’s just a letdown.

Atmosphere was bad- big loud table in the middle, we know you can't help it but they also had horrible singer who was killing the mood and every song. At the start they played some music- should have stuck with it. But then again it was an...

Terrible experience at Citadela!!!

After waiting over 20 mins to be served drinks, my table of three all went for the set menu (the waiter even commented on a nice easy order).

Following another lengthy wait, our starters were forgot about, and our mains were bought to the table. On challenging this, we were told that another staff member had input the (easy) order wrong. To make up for this, we would be given a bottle of wine.

The waiter returned a few minutes later, rescinding that offer, and instead offered a glass of wine or a desert. Bit of a piss take given we had already ordered desert.

It's worth mentioning here that although the steak brought to the table was nice, it was accompanied by one carrot, half a cherry tomato and cold mash (which we sent back).

What was supposed to be special last meal in Budva was frankly ruined. We arrived expecting a 3 course meal but left having had 1 in the space of 2.5hrs!

The fact that the staff told us that the mess up had happened due to being busy was concerning given that the restaurant was half full and there was no tables seated inside. Many other tables seemed to be upset.

The situation may have been resolved better, but the manger went about doing the least possible to try and rectify their numerous short comings.

If you are expecting "fine dining" don't hold...

One of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve had. The restaurant tries to present itself as fine dining, but there is absolutely nothing “fine” about it—especially the service, which was cold, rude, and completely unprofessional from the start. We were barely greeted, made to feel unwelcome, and told the (almost empty) restaurant was “just for guests”—even though we were there for lunch. We asked to change tables when it got chilly, and every table we pointed to was “reserved.” Spoiler: no one ever showed up for those tables. I ordered a starter and three mains. We waited forever, then were brought a small dish we didn’t order—then charged for it. When I questioned it, the waiter said, “That’s the policy.”

The actual starter I ordered? Never came. I asked again to bring it after our mains — still nothing. 15 more minutes of waiting in the cold, we gave up and left.

When I mentioned all this while paying, the staff were defensive and dismissive. Not a single apology. Food was not bad but overpriced. For a place charging above-average prices, the lack of basic hospitality is honestly shocking. Would not recommend. Huge letdown.

Trust google reviews and don’t make my mistake They had a low score and they...