La Norma Ristorante & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Longboat Key

Authentic... Exquisite... Essential... Longboat keys, best kept secret. Eggplant gelatini, deep fried eggplant, atop popsicle sticks...) Incredible... The waitress, Paula, was full of spunk, with a smile to match. She informed me she stayed on as staff, after last season, and the subsequent closing of the previous Italian restaurant, “Ciao.” She informed me La Norma, also has a sister location located on Anna Maria island, Isola Bella, which translates to beautiful island from my understand... The chef duo, has a combined residency in the states of around three months... Come to find out, the chef is somewhat famous in his homeland, with a social media following of over twenty thousand... Kudos, to you sir... Authenticity, is self explanatory in that sense, you can’t get much more authentic than a chef who’s been cooking in Italy his entire life... I, for one, am incredibly happy to welcome him to our home... The prices were lower than surrounding restaurants, averaging around $35/$40, dollars a plate, if you order wine with your entree... Otherwise, Ragu meatballs, with fettuccine, $20... My date was entranced with the quality of the pasta, you can taste the difference once you’ve experienced fresh, versus other...... I ordered sesame encrusted bluefin tuna, atop berries, & red onion coulis, finished with a basil mousse... I’m not positive tuna is an Italian traditional meal, but I do know they sure know how to make it irresistible. Grazie grazie grazie... Bella... Thankyou, & beautiful... The jist of my Italian language... Both, fitting for my description... We order a bottle of Tenuta Forconi supertuscan, vivino rates it in the top eight percent of wines in the world, and it did not disappoint... The vineyard is a family friend of the owners, nice perk...) Impeccable service, knowledgeable staff, good wine... My date, obliged me with promises of a second, which I attribute to my charm naturally, I believe the evening, and romantic vestiges this restaurant provided, helped to seal the deal... My eternal thanks...) Do not miss dining at longboats new...

Was not AS impressed as our last two visits. The hostess had us wait out front since we were five minutes early for our reservation. Another party was told he’d try and squeeze them in even though it did not appear to be busy Rich our “waiter” does not have the kind appeal we experienced last two times with the manager and owner. Surprised to see he took order, served the food and cleared our table. Never did ask us how was the meal. Had to ask the host to get us Parmesan cheese. The Chicken picatta was good except for the end too crusty and hard to eat. Surprised to learn from Rich there was no sautéed spinach to order as a side or exchange for pasta. A couple of dishes had spinach so why none to purchase by itself. He just gave us an abrupt NO without checking with chef. Veal Saltimbocca was good but not much for $40. No club soda or White Zin available. We love the garden but some cleaning is due. Wall by where we sat was extremely dirty and nice pavers are showing use with much dirt (an easy once over with a power washer would fix that). Not sure we will be back as we live quite far from LBK but was so impressed with the owner who treated this Italian (Principe) so we’ll. We have passed this places recommendation on to all our friends or anyone looking to eat Italian. No place to post pics Since my original 2/5 post I was contacted personally first thing next morning (got our number from Open Table) from Daniela the owner. She spent half an hour very concerned about my comments. I believe she made notes and plans on correcting all that she can. She even asked that we contact her the next time we have plans to visit. Daniela certainly has that “home town personal touch” to her place. She takes reviews very personally and obviously cares about her restaurant and the way the business is run. We look future to visiting again and get that “personal touch” from her. REMEMBER food is good and very fresh (made to order). Would just like to see my fav wine in menu and the NY style seltzer as a choice of beverage. Thank you...

I was so disappointment in our experience at La Norma last night. We had friends from out of town visiting and we wanted to take them to a local restaurant on LBK, and since it was cold and windy out - we wanted an indoor table. So I booked a table on-line for last night at 7 pm indoors.

We got to the restaurant right at 7:00 pm and the hostess told us that they didn't have any indoor tables available, although I saw two empty tables for 4 inside. I told the hostess we had booked on-line and specifically requested an indoor table at 7:00 pm and it was confirmed via email. She said sorry, but I have other guests coming who want an indoor table. I proceeded to pull up the confirmation email with the indoor table confirmed, and as she saw I was not going to back down, she acquiesced and gave us the table.

After a bad taste in my mouth, not feeling very welcomed, we ordered. The food is usually very good. However, this must have been an off night. The bread came to the table half baked, it was doughy inside. Then my veal dish was way too salty and the meat was chewy.

To add insult to injury, my friend ordered a pizza, and it came to the table late, not with the rest of the entrees, we had almost finished our meals and finally got the pizza. We had asked for it several times and the waiter simply said that they were backed up with pizza orders. Don't understand that as we gave them our order all together. We believe the waiter didn't put it in on time or didn't tell who was making the pizza our timing with the other orders.

We finally got an apology and the waiter said come back, we will do better next time.

Honestly, it will be a long time before we come back...