PEPENERO Ristorante — Restaurant in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

One of the worst restaurant on the island! First of all what I don’t understand is how an obviously Italian team can serve so bad Italian food? We had Viltello Tonato for a starter, the meat was dry, obviously cut in advance, and the sauce was not mix (first time I have one like that). Then a pizza. Awful tomato sauce, rest was ok. We’ve been urged during all the dîner to finish our plates, they were 3 sneaking around us and taking plates before we even have finished to swallow. We didn’t have any desert as they are all ready to be served under plastic cover. We still had a bottle of wine to finish when they came with the bill, standing next to our table with the credit card machine. We told them we will pay cash when wine will be finished. After 5 minutes another woman came with the same card machine. I must we were a bit annoyed… we finished the wine, let the money on the table and left. Cherry on the cake: they shouted at us “hey did you pay??” For god sake who do you think we are?? We actually paid a lot for the food we had. After all, everyone of them laughed at us! Avoid...

This has got to be the worst place I've ever eaten. My husband is Italian and we thought the restaurant seemed authentic. The foccacia starter was dry bread, I ordered a pasta main which tasted very doughy with mouldy and going off rocket on top. It didn't taste of anything like the gorgonzola is described.My husbands carbonara was straight out of a packet, dry pasta, heavily peppered and eggs were barely cooked. They made a point of saying it was proper Italian carbonara without the cream which is great but it was atrocious. Neither of us could stomach our food. The Grilled side vegetables was about 1 piece. I complained about my food and was told I should have told them so they could have made something else. Why would I want other food when the food was so disgusting with off food served? After arguing with me and telling me it was because the kitchen was hot, they did not apologise. I refused to pay for my dish but felt ripped off on everything to be honest. To add to that they serve extra small fizzy drinks but still charge you a fortune. Do...

We had a wonderful time at Pepenero — a pleasant surprise after feeling skittish from some of the scathing reviews. We split a the mixta salad — huge portion, very fresh and delicious. Then I had pizza and hubby had pasta. Both were excellent. Was it the finest pretentious Italian trattoria? Absolutely not. But you knew that as soon as you saw plastic chairs walking in, and that’s not what we were seeking anyway.

It reminded me of so many little quaint local street cafes and pizzerias I’ve been to in small towns in Italy—those hidden gems that aren’t on the main drag, but are delightful nonetheless. The service and attention to detail were both outstanding, the food was quite delicious, it was quiet — and we loved it so much we stayed for dessert. Get the semifreddo...