La Mar Portoroz — Restaurant in Upravna enota Piran / Unità amministrativa Pirano

We went there for our last dinner of our holidays in Piran. The restaurant is beautiful, white tablecloths, directly on the beach. Everything started good, the service was professional but also friendly, interesting choice of wines (50€+ for most bottles but that was ok for us), they brought us an amuse-bouche of fish patè that tasted really good with a wide choice of fresh breads and a wonderful focaccia. Then when the starters arrived everything went from bad to worst. My sea bass carpaccio was sliced a bit too thick so it was chewy, but that taste was ok. My husband's tartare tris smelled strongly of fish, and the taste was not nice. I think the fish was not fresh or if it was something else was very wrong with it. We didn't want to complain so we shared it, it was so small anyway. We didn't get food poison but since we also ate at market stalls in Bangkok without any problem maybe we just have strong stomachs. Then came the pasta. Homemade tagliatelle, with shellfish for me and truffles for my husband. The pasta was slightly acidic (??), really bad especially with the truffle sauce. The sauce itself was nice but totally forgettable. Shellfish had no taste (frozen shellfish I buy from Lidl tastes better). Creme Brulè was nice. Then they brought a final orange sorbet that they offer for free, and again it was really good. So in the end, only what we didn't pay was good! (except for the nice wine bottle). Total price aroud 130€. Other restaurants in the very near Piran were definitely better for the same price, it was such a...

Very disappointing and not honest

We came to this restaurant because of the good reviews and nice appearance. It looked like a quality place. But we were really disappointed.

As soon as we sat down, they brought us bread with pâté. We didn’t order it, so we asked the waitress what it was. She said it’s a “nice little starter” for €2.50 per person. We told her we didn’t want it, but she said everyone must get it. Later, she showed us the menu, where this was written in very small print.

So, we were forced to eat and pay for something we didn’t order.

We stayed because we were hungry and hoped the food would be good. But it wasn’t. The fish soup tasted like water with fish and carrots – no flavor at all. We had to add salt and pepper to make it possible to eat. The bruschetta was okay, but nothing special.

In the end, the best-tasting thing was the pâté we didn’t even want.

This restaurant charges extra without asking and serves average food for high prices. We...

We stopped for lunch on our bike ride and randomly chose this place. It has a large inviting outdoor seating area in the shade with misters overlooking the bay. The menu had more than the usual pasta pizza offerings we've seen everywhere.

The food here is crafted. You can taste the joy the chef takes in his craft. I had the leek soup with bread and grilled scallops. What a surprise. The flavors of each dish were delightful. Olive oil and herbs were delicatly blanced in the leek soup. The scallops were perfectly grilled served in the half shell in its own juices, butter and herbs. Delicious! I couldn't stop eating the fresh baked bread despite being off starches.

I had expected more of the same bland starchy tourist food we've been seeing everywhere on our bike tour. I would eat here again any...