We visited this beautiful little restaurant last month for the first time and it was a unique experience. The service was excellent, very personal, the owner's daughter is the front of house manager and she recited the menu from memory, advising us on our choices....I peeked into the kitchen and the chefs, one male, one female, both looked clean and professional, and the kitchen was orderly as well as being spotless.
The restaurant is in an old 'palmento' where wine was made, and the original stone channels and gullies where the grape juice flowed are still visible. It is stocked full of interesting wines and memorabilia, and the tables are placed at intervals around the building on different levels creating a homely and welcoming environment.
We ordered a house antipasto for two and were not disappointed! Subtle flavours, a wide range of vegetables and spices created a feast which married perfectly with the Syrah we had chosen directly from the cellar.
Our first courses were ravioli filled with pistachio and a risotto with saffron cheese, the risotto was exquisite, the sweetness of the rice perfectly offset by the salty cheese. The pasta was a little thick for my liking and the sauce a little too creamy, but my husband enjoyed it.
We were too full to try their range of steaks, which included wild boar and venison, and neither did we sample the desserts which sounded delicious. They'll have to wait until next time!
The toilets were stocked with toilet paper and soap, a rare commodity here in Sicily, although I couldn't make out which was for women and which for men.
If they could improve on anything it would be the lack of a written menu, and a wine list. I personally need to look at a menu in order to make such a weighty choice, and also we felt we were taking a leap into the dark not knowing prices. All in all the value for money was quite good, we spent €60 in two, with the wine costing €15.
The only truly negative thing was the table below us who insisted on smoking even though we had said that the smoke bothered us. I felt that let them down on the service side and it is for this reason I didn't give it 5 stars.More