Hotel Grotta Palazzese

Only go if you really want to go, and only go for the cave setting, not for the food.

We really contemplated whether to go or not, as on one hand I wanted to see the fuss since this restaurant is often mentioned as one of the most beautiful/romantic restaurants in the world, but also when we checked the reviews we saw so so many horrible reviews, we felt angry just by reading them!
But in the end, we decided to give it a try, but also being prepared to be disappointed.

The verdict, is as my first line - Only go if you really want to go, and only go for the cave setting, not for the food.

Yes, it is really beautiful, and very romantic. The fact that they ask all guests to come dressed adds to the ambiance. So this is not deniable, it is indeed beautiful and romantic.

Service - We didn't experience any bad service. But it's not to say it was any outstanding performance either, which you might expect from paying this much, and them priding themselves as a 5 star restaurant.. No, it was just a normal service you'd get anywhere, nothing bad but nothing special.

Food - Not good. Some really bad. Like my pasta and appetizer was fine, as in good but nothing spectacular either, you can get better stuff at 10% of the price at other local restaurants. But then there were dishes that were really bad! Beef steak was so badly done, my partner didn't want to eat it. It's just not matching the price we are paying. The price EUR 190/person for 3 course is, indeed expensive, but not super super crazy if I think about 5 star restaurants in general, and we would have been ok with that price if the food was great. However, in this restaurant's case, the quality is just no there!! You get such mediocre to really very bad food for this price.
This restaurants really need to sort out the food quality... It's south Italy, where food is so good in general, how difficult is it to be this bad?! I don't understand!!

Worst customer service ever.

We booked a table for my girlfriend’s birthday and paid a 150€ fee online. Just one hour before the reservation, the restaurant sent us an email to tell us they canceled our reservation and that we would be refunded. We were in the car and we drove one hour to go to the restaurant so we did not see the email.

When we arrived, the manager explained us it wasn’t her fault, that it was only an « IT problem », and that she wouldn’t put an extra table for us. She did not even apologize.