Beautiful restaurant with stone arches and ceilings…read more We did the tasting menu. Which was excellent. The tuna tartare was so fresh. The rice and mussels were tasty, however the mussels were tiny. We shared 3 pasta dishes, I really liked the pasta and prawns. We all had the fish special which is cooked with olive oil, zucchini and potatoes and olives. Yumm We were so full that we took dessert home. The service is very good. I highly recommend this restaurant.

We are staying at the Grotta Palazzese, which is the highest end hotel of the region with two…read morereputedly fabulous restaurants. However, other than our breakfasts at the hotel, which we paid to have included with our rooms, we are not likely having dinners here. While their menus will astound many, as well as the views of the caves, which is why many come to dine and visit, we have been seeking less extravagant dinners while here, given our suite is over $1,500 a night at the present Euro conversion. So we consulted YELP for the best rated restaurants in town and that led us here. It was all 4 and 5 ratings, save for a single rating of 1, which was based on a disgruntled patron who never even ate here. They just were declined at the door - due to no reservations, which are recommended - in a manner they deemed obnoxious. It's easy to see why so many though rated this a 5. However, we felt it fell just short in some respects that brought it down to a 4. That said, we are sure many will enjoy a 5 experience. We had a few glasses of local primovito by the glass, which like most places we've dined in Puglia was absurdly reasonable by our local NYC metro area standards. These were poured after complimentary glasses of Prosecco and a lovely small potato soup. We ordered the house special antipasto, which were 5 different small seafood dishes (baked scallops, fried cod, mussels with rice, potatoes, and tomatoes, octopus salad, and yellowfin tuna tartare). This is a must have introduction to any meal. My wife then had one of the catches of the day offerings and I the half lobster with tagliatelle. It's an all seafood restaurant, so if you are looking for something other than that, you'll need to look elsewhere. However, if seafood is your thing, of which there is quite a lot in this town, this restaurant deserves your patronage.

The squid sandwich was the best sandwich I have ever eaten. A good beverage menu too.read more

While I have yet to experience dining inside we chose to eat her 4 times during out short stay in…read morePoliagno! The fresh seafood was such a nice compliment to all the pasta and pizza. While you really can't go wrong with anything on the menu- I highly recommend grabbing a sandwich with fresh burrata! You can order online for pick up if you don't want to stand in line but make sure you plan ahead- all the food is made with care. It's also open from 12-12 making it a popular spot for most of the lunch, dinner and late night crowd. Do not miss this on your visit!

I went here because I have heard terrible things about the Grotta Palazzese food and price. This…read moreplace is toward the east of there and is quite understated from the front. I had a seat upstairs where there was plenty of seating area, plus 2 other floors below. There were fantastic views from the upstairs balcony, but a little windy. Unfortunately the food isn't as good as the views. While not bad, I would rate the food as about average. Service was below average. I was eating my appetizer and had to remind him that I ordered wine. Very unlike an Italian restaurant not to serve you the wine first! I think he was upset that I didn't order water. The only size they had was .75L and it was in a glass bottle, meaning I couldn't take it with me if I didn't finish it. No thank you. Anyway, the calamita was ok and the rest of the experience was about average.

This was a lovely find when looking for a place with a view not far from the masseria we stayed at…read morein Monopoli. It seems nondescript and in an average neighborhood - i.e. not a tourist in site- except for the fact that you have a front row seat on the balcony to the Adriatic. Very low key, all locals, perfect. Great seafood, loved the orecchiette in squid ink with mussels, clams, and squid, and the zucchini flan appetizer was so good we had it twice. Serene evening on the water, great to also watch the sunset in the summer.

One of my favorite meals in Italy! Excellent service, delicious food (octopus appetizer, seafood…read morepasta, and tiramisu) finished with a selection of chocolates. Loved seeing the fresh fish options, and they have several olive oils to choose from to go with the amazing bread basket (they also sell the olive oils) . I felt so welcomed there, like they were really glad to have me as a patron that evening. I chatted with the manager and the server, and was delighted to be gifted bottle of oil at the end of the meal. Thank you for a wonderful evening!

What an absolute gem of a place! Phenomenal service, amazing food, fantastic wine! Truly, this…read moreplace is impeccable!

pasta with shrimp as amazing, it looked plain but tasted next level delish with so many flavors…read morebursting and textures of creamy pasta cooked perfectly. Both seabass with vegetables crusted was cooked to perfection (not over done) moist and fresh. The mackerel was equally satisfying but bigger flakier cut. Highly recommend all of items. service was on point .

Ate here twice in a week, and each meal was wonderfully prepared. I particularly recommend the…read moreseafood dishes. We ate at several places in Polignano, bd none matched this little place for fresh and imaginative cuisine.

Excellent food and service. We had fresh catch of the day with spaghetti. Everything was good. They…read moreeven brought a plate of fresh carrots and cucumbers and great great with olive oil.

My wife orders spaghetti with clams any time she sees it on a menu, and she said this was maybe her…read morefavorite of all time. The raw shellfish tasting was amazing but we probably should've done one instead of two.

If you cannot enjoy a relaxing meal at Da Tuccino, then you (a) can't relax, (b) don't know good…read morefood, (c) don't like seafood (d) all of the above. Perfect setting, amazing seafood and pastas, wonderful service and you're in Italy. Not cheap, but given how good it is Da Tuccino is worth every Euro. Mangia!!

Simply fantastic! We had amazing 'primi' (orichiette ao sugo for my 3 year old, seafood pasta and…read morezucchini with gamberi (shrimp) pasta for the grown ups). We were amazed at the quality of the dishes and the very reasonable portion sizes. Prices were also competitive ($10-13 euros each). Lots of shrimp and seafood. I was amazed my kid ate 90% of her adult portioned pasta after stuffing herself with all the olives she could put her hands on! For 'secondi' we had the fritto misto - octopus, shrimp, tuna and squid. The house white wine was fantastic! All together came down to $60 euro. Service is a bit slow but it's the Italian way. Oh, and since they only had room outside (we didn't have a reservation) they brought us blankets because it was a bit chilly. Win-win!

This is my first time visiting Donna Gina. In all honesty we did not choose to go here, we had…read morereservations at their sister restaurant Grotta Palazzese (the cave restaurant) but there was an online error for a our reservation so we were bumped to Donna Gina... that said, the food was delicious and even tho the menu was "set" we could order whatever we wanted. My only concern was we had a fruit fly in one of our wines and the waiter didn't replace the wine... a little weird... hence my four stars and not five, on a whole excellent restaurant, beautiful location and attentive service.

Donna Gina's was terrible and ruined the last few days of our Italy trip. The three people who ate…read moreseafood got food poisoning and were violently ill with vomiting and the other stuff. When I told the restaurant their response was "you can't prove this was because of our food" - even after I explained that this is the only meal that the three of us ate the same food (it was a forced tasting menu and three of us got the seafood meal and three others got the vegetarian meal - these three didn't get sick) Even before we got sick, we were upset that the food was not good and service was even worse. Ironically, the manager came over to the table and said that the muscles give him gas after eating them after already ordering and having them presented at the table!!? Additionally, we informed the staff that we needed to leave at 11pm and we had not been given our main course or dessert after two hours of sitting at the table. The restaurant was not busy and half of our table sat without food for 45min., while the other half of the table was served multiple dishes. It was very strange. So basically we paid $900 euros for half of our meal. They even ordered us to wait at the front while they went back to our table to check if we signed the receipt, as if we were trying to avoid finalizing the bill. Save yourself from a terrible experience and never ever come to Donna Gina. They poison people and don't take responsibility

Loved, loved, LOVED! Not sure why all the bad reviews of this special place, but we had a…read morewonderful, memorable time there. The food was absolutely fantastic! We chose the chef's menu and our party got to try the meat, seafood, and vegetarian offerings. They were all unique and delicious! Our reservation was for lunch and we were greeted by a lovely receptionist upon arriving. We checked in ahead of our reservation time and were directed to a waiting room. Afterwards, we were seated early in one of the tables overlooking the ocean. The view was spectacular! And the staff were friendly and professional! They allowed us to roam freely around the restaurant and snap many photos. Our dining experience was over a course of 2 hours and we were never rushed. Very lovely if you can go and experience at least once!

For an almost $800.00 dollar meal for two people, the worst experience I have ever had at a…read moresupposedly fine restaurant. You are basically there for the experience and the ambiance, That's it. The food was great but the service, specially from the person who said she spoke Spanish and was born in Miami, she basically manipulated the situation. My wife and I informed her that we were going to take pictures, and that we would be right back to finish our wine. We even left our valuables at the table, not knowing that when we were coming back from taking pictures, they would had cleared our table and were trying to get to my bag, which fortunately I had tied to one of the legs of the table. Be very careful with this establishment, that other than where it is situated, the value for it is not worth the money you spend on it.