The Clay Kitchen • El Nido — Restaurant in El Nido

I visited The Clay Kitchen twice during my visit to El Nido. The first visit, we had some issues with the wait time for our entrees. We were a table of four with no special requests, and the wait definitely left a bad taste in our mouths. There was not a manager available to speak with before leaving, but I got the manager's contact info and sent her an email.

The manager may very well be an angel, and she responded much faster than I would have expected. She went over and above to resolve our issue. I believe she really will work with her staff to try and ensure other guests don't have issues.

During our first visit, we had an order of Calamari that was a bit overdone. The rest of our meal, aside from a long wait, was quite delicious! The pastas were all cooked perfectly, al dente. The seafood in my seafood marinara was all tender and juicy, and the marinara sauce was really good!

My cousin had a four cheese pizza, I'm glad she ordered it because I wouldn't have wanted to share any it was so cheesy and delicious!! 😋 😀 My other cousin had the shrimp and oil pasta, a bit plain for a tomato lover like me, but I can still agree. It was prepared perfectly and worth 5 stars!

The food was so good, and thanks to the manager and staff taking care of us, I went back again the next day for the Caricato (meat lovers) pizza for takeout. It was another home run!

My only caution - they make every order fresh, and perfection takes time, so there may be a little wait.

I highly recommend a visit if you're an Italian food lover like...

Would not return to this place. I am a bit shocked that as of November 2024 it has a high score of 4.5. I would expect a score below 4 based on the food.

Calamari was rubbery (likely overcooked).

Mozzarella sticks were large, dense blocks of cheese with breading so the middle was not melted (still solid). Would recommend they find a new vendor of cheese sticks.

Vegetable pizza did actually have a nice amount of vegetables but not enough cheese.

Al Funghi had a good amount of cheese and had better taste and texture (hence the second star).

None of us enjoyed the crust as it was bland and flavorless. I hope they add a little seasoning and salt to their pizza crust recipes in the future.

The service was impeccable, they were kind and responsive (which is why I gave it a third star).

Atmosphere: They may want to consider a ceiling fan by the kitchen as it was a battle to keep the flies off the food. More fans in general would be good. Otherwise, it had really nice lighting and plants.

Hope they improve in the future as I want these locally owned...

Italian(?) restaurant by the beach with pizza and pasta menu, a few other entree options but generally limited menu for dinner. Ordered a house special pizza and a carbonara pasta and some margaritas. Interesting food combos - the pizza had peaches on it, which I didn't mind, but have had better combos and better pizza, so it was average for me, but cost was higher than I would like. Carbonara also interesting- def not traditional carbonara. It was a cream based sauce with very salty shitake mushrooms and bacon pieces. Tasted good, actually, but I wouldn't call it carbonara. Margaritas were nothing special, no salt rim, low on zingy lime flavor unfortunately. We had a large group, some of our meals were served quite late, and it would have been helpful if they could have split the bill for our group but I get it. If sitting outside for dinner make sure you apply some insect repellent as sand mites did come around dusk. Would give 2.5...