**SCAM ARTIST ALERT**
Spoiler Alert: The chef called one of…read moreour guests a whore at the end of our meal and was not going to give us our 13 Euros in change.
Let me start with the pros:
- Good music playing outside that lured us in.
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Now on to the cons:
I attended Red&White on the evening of February 26, 2018 with 3 friends of mine. It was our first night in Taormina and after walking around looking for a restaurant, we were drawn to the music playing from the restaurant front. While perusing their menu outside from a good distance, a man came running to open the door and greet us. It was Gianluca, the owner. After being seated we were met with an enthused speech from Gianluca in which he told us how excited he was to have us there and how passionate he was about serving food to the public that was organic, authentic, and delicious. This was CLEARLY a lie.
First, we tried ordering several different bottles of wine on the menu that we were then told were not available. While this was odd, it was only our first problem, so it wasn't too much of an issue. The real issues began when we ended up ordering.
Amongst the four of us, 3 ordered pizza and 1 ordered salad. Immediately upon ordering our meals, Gianluca's temperament changed. He asked in an annoyed tone if we would like to get a starter, and we politely declined. It wasn't until we got our food that we reached the point of being appalled.
The 3 pizzas were disgusting. They weren't fully cut, they were undercooked, and honestly resembled diarrhea. Additionally, specific key ingredients like basil and oregano that were supposed to be included on my pizza were not included (one single leaf was as you can see in the picture). We were all shocked when the salad that was ordered by one of us came out and was completely inedible, and clearly vegetables from a jar.
After receiving our food, we were not checked on once more. For such a personable and attentive owner at the beginning of our meal, it was like a switch was flicked inside of him after we chose not to order any of his "daily specials" or other pricier items on the menu. We were completely ignored. It was not until we asked for the check that anyone came by again.
We received the check and immediately paid it in Euros. We waited on our 13 Euros in change for about 10 to 15 minutes until finally one of us went to ask for our change back. She was greeted with a surprised "oh..." before they finally gave us our money - we had never said anything about wanting them to keep the extra Euros.
To top it all off, on our way out of the restaurant, one of us tripped. The chef proceeded to call her a whore not knowing that she spoke Italian.
I have never been so horrified and embarrassed by a restaurant experience. I wish I could describe the level of unprofessionalism that both the owner and chef displayed, and I was truly embarrassed for the people of Taormina that this joke of an owner and restaurant are trying to sell this place as "authentic, organic, and locally sourced Italian food." I am from the southern United States and have never had any Italian food there or anywhere else in the country that was as bad as this.
Bonus if you made it this far: the bottle of wine we finally settled on (after the 3 bottles we asked for first weren't available) was amongst the worst red wine I've ever had, the white wine tasted like fermented apple juice, and the free bread was stale.
I recommend this restaurant if you are looking for the worst dining experience in Sicily. Otherwise, stay far away for the owner is simply looking to make money by selling terrible, slimy food to unsuspecting tourists.
This restaurant and its reviews are proof that reviews can be bought. I encourage you to peruse these yourself so that you can get a better grasp on how fake of an establishment this is. He also told us in his enthusiastic opening speech that the restaurant had only been open for a year, when the first yelp review is 2015... Definitely a scam artist.
