Monday, August 6, 2012

Ristorante Sant'Antonino - A Nice Combination of Food and Atmosphere in Sorrento

When we were in Sorrento last month, I discovered Ristorante Sant'Antonino (http://www.ristorantesantonino.com/english-home/cuisine-menu/) while looking up another restaurant on the Internet. I decided to try it instead of the other restaurant. I'm glad I did because of the nice combination of food and atmosphere. The prices were very reasonable for a popular restaurant in a major tourist venue at the height of the tourist season.

Ristorante Sant'Antonino has an extensive menu (in both Italian and English) with many local specialties. The menu can be downloaded from the URL above. The restaurant is located at Via Santa Maria delle Grazie 6, just a few feet from Piazza Sant'Antonino. (Sant'Antonino - Saint Antoninus, is the patron saint of Sorrento.)

The ambiance is very nice - it is a roof-garden restaurant with a trellis overhead. Among the plants in the trellis were lemon trees full of lemons. We were amused by a cat walking across the trellis.

There were two musicians playing live music that was a perfect accompaniment to our dinner.

While my daughter and I really enjoyed our meals, my grandchildren were not excited about their pizzas.

My granddaughter had a Margherita pizza for 6, Peasant Salad (Insalata Contadina - lettuce, radicchio, red peppers, and mozzarella) for 7, and a diet coke for 2.50.

My grandson had a Margherita pizza with sausage for 7.50, Treccia Sorrentina cheese (a local version of mozzarella) for 5, and a regular coke for 2.50.

My daughter had Lemon Veal Scaloppine (Scaloppine al Limone) for 10.50.

I had a caprese salad for €8, and scialatielli pasta with shrimp and cherry tomatoes (Scialatielli Gamberi e Pomodorini) for €10. Scialatielli is a pasta which originated in the Amalfi Coast area, and which I love. It is long like spaghetti, but flat on all sides.

We shared a large bottle of mineral water, and I had a half bottle of Fidelis del Taburno Aglianico (90% Aglianico and 10% Merlot), a nice local red wine, for €9 . Aglianico grapes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aglianico) are one of the main grapes used to produce red wines in the Campania and Basilicata regions in southern Italy.

For dessert, my daughter had Delizia al Limone, a traditional Sorrento dessert, for €4.50. It is light and airy sponge cake covered in chantilly lemon sauce. I had Torta Caprese, dark chocolate cake with almonds, for €4.50.

My grandchildren did not have dessert here. They were more interested in having gelato at a gelateria.

My grandaughter had a caffe latte for €3, my daughter had a cappuccino for €3, and I had an espresso for €2.

We were charged a cover charge of €1.50 each.

We were grateful to our waiter for asking the diners at the next table to stop smoking, when we complained that the smoke from their table was blowing into our faces and was very annoying.

The restaurant has several hundred reviews on Trip Advisor, most of them very favorable. Many of those reviews are written by Italians. When I use Trip Advisor to check out restaurants in other countries, I often sort the reviews so that those in the local language appear first. (Trip Advisor reviews can be sorted by language.) Reading reviews written by locals, or at least looking at the nr. of stars they have given, provides insights into how the locals view a restaurant in their own country.

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