Dinner At Ristorante La Barcaccia In Monterosso Al Mare

On the day we arrived in Monterosso al Mare, Kent found a local supermarket where we stocked up some snacks and drinks. We noticed there were two restaurants located opposite the supermarket and we decided to have a light meal in one of them – Il Brigantino di Contardi. Kent and I had one pizza each. The rest of the story belongs to another post, this post is about ‘the other restaurant’ – La Barcaccia, which was the one right next door.

The thing is, we were not very impressed with our dining experience at Il Brigantino di Contardi – not the food, but the management. We walked past La Barcaccia after our meal and saw how busy it was. ‘Perhaps we made a mistake… we must try it tomorrow night!’ we told ourselves. At that time Kent and I still avoided being guided by online reviews, simply because we wanted to try new things with an open mind. So, with two open minds, we stepped into La Barcaccia on our second night in Monterosso. Here’s how it went…

Firstly, we liked our table. It’s at the extension section which was once a veranda. Those big open windows gave us an almost alfresco feel. From my seat, I could even see the ocean! However, our waiter walked away before our order was done! I told him the choice of my second dish when he returned with our drinks. Thankfully, with a glass of sparkling rosé, I was back in the holiday mood. Kent started with a glass of chilled beer.

Kent’s First Dish: Fresh Pasta With Clams, Peppers And Squids

Kent’s first course was from Today’s Special… ‘Lots of diced red and yellow capsicums, a nice quantity of clams and squid,’ he said. ‘However, I don’t think the pasta had been tossed in the sauce before serving as I needed to break up the taglioni with my fork and do the blending myself – which was a little disappointing. And that means that I really didn’t get the rich flavor of the sauce until I was halfway through my overly generous (pasta) serving.’

Generous serving indeed… If I didn’t have a plate of plentiful in front of me, I could have helped Kent by sampling some of his pasta.

My First Dish: Stuffed Ravioli With Seafood

The best thing about it was the cherry tomatoes – they were full of flavour! The sauce was light yet lovely. Four sizable prawns were generous, but their sandy veins took me an extra effort (and time) to clean up. The ravioli was filling but was a little bland for my liking.

By now I guessed why the waiter assumed our order was done and walked away – they were main course quantities!!

Always Go For The Local Produced Wine While In Cinque Terre

For our seafood-focused dishes, we went for a bottle of white. Kent and I had a deal to have only local wines while staying in Cinque Terre. ‘Kent loves it much more than me.’ – a note I wrote regarding this wine we had. Although I don’t recall much about it, I shall take my word for it!

My Second Dish: Grilled Prawns

As mouth-watering as they looked, I hate to say it, that these prawns were overcooked and under-seasoned. Although I was given a piece of lemon, it was still lack of dressing. Eating in a fisherman’s village, I expected more when it came to the seafood. This course was a disappointment for me.

Kent’s Second Dish: Marinaded Salmon With Fennel

‘I have never had a cured salmon dish before but I have had lime-cured white fish.’ noted Kent about his second course, another Menu del Giorno choice. ‘Really, this dish was just too acidic, the taste of the salmon was overpowered, a little tough to the bite, even the fennel I had trouble cutting through. If you love white vinegar on your salad (I don’t), then you may love this dish, I ate mine but was again somewhat disappointed.’

I took a bite of Kent’s fish. His food had the opposite issue from my grilled prawns – too much dressing! The salmon was drenched with vinegar and it took the balance away.

Lemon Sorbet And Complimentary Limoncello

My lemon sorbet came in liquor form, looking elegant in a wine glass. It was lovely, just what I needed at the end of a meal. And I was very pleased the moment our waiter brought us two glasses of Limoncello – on the house! I have very fond memories of discovering and enjoying it from my very first visit to Italy – Rome – many moons ago.

A Traveller’s Note

Celebrity Chef Marco Pierre White once said: ‘Service, environment and atmosphere is key – more important than food.’ And I absolutely agree. So, how was the atmosphere? A Melbourne couple who were a table away from us had been happily chatting with Kent throughout the entire dining time but chose to ignore me. Yes, they acted as if I did not exist. Their poor manners ruined the atmosphere for me. And the service? At the end of our meal, we waited too long to get our bill, so I walked to the counter (and waited) to pay it myself. Busy restaurants with the understaffed situation seemed like a common scene from what we saw in Monterosso.

After this dinner, Kent and I decided to check out the reviews before we tried a new restaurant here. ‘No more tourist trap!’ we thought. And things miraculously improved!!! I will share with you a very different dining story in Monterosso in my upcoming food post.