When I asked for the bill, there was none, the meal would be charged to my hotel room, so that was OK: Si deve fare fiducia...
This place was recommende to us at our Hotel
It was our first night of a long week end...at the Golfo dei Poeti. The terrace, the view, the table reservation, the service and the welcome drink were in style. Like in any good Italian restaurant one orders what the chef recommends, if nothing, the menu.
There was a mineral water card to choose from, but no San Pellegrino, the one I like. Same went for the the wine card. I asked for the local red wine, which is Rossese. "Local red wine doesn't exist here" was the answer. I chose a well known Piedmont Nebbiolo à la carte instead and it was out of stock and the one recommended turned out not to be worth half of its list price but just drinkable.
I communicate in Italian. Misunderstandings are excluded.
We had the menu, a slice of some sort of tunafish in a crust, plus coffee and a grappa then I asked for the bill. There was no bill, my hotel room number would be charged. I left a generous tip because the kind staff of the restaurant couldn't be blamed for the mediocrity of the meal and I thought having spent a rather nice first evening at a beautiful place for well under hundred EUROs, as per the menu card.
I asked again for the bill before saying good bye and got the same answer again, it would be passed to my hotel. Three days later I would discover a room charge for twice the cost of the meal without bill. Very fishy !
All this left a bad aftertaste.
Fortunately the days after we dined at the Gambero Nero in neighbouring Tellaro, wihich I chose without recommendations, by my own criteria of good Ligurian gastronomy and we were absolutely delighted.
Willem & RégineMore