This is an interesting and odd place. There is a classic Citroen parked outside pretty much all the time with an Italian flag on one side and a Russian flag on the other. The Russian theme is continued inside with a whole section of the display items dedicated to Russia, with posters, books and lots of 'Matreshka' dolls. There's even a Russian waiter. But it's not a Russian restaurant. It's Italian. An Italian seafood restaurant. In a ski resort.
The Russian connection doesn't end with the decor. The vast majority of clients are Russian and there's even a business card written in Russian suggesting the food and wine portions are generous and that the Russian staff will look after Russians, which they do, as well as everyone else.
The Russian connection becomes a bit clearer when you see that on the wall of fame there's a photo of the owner with President Medvedev. It seems he visited here once for a meal. I'm not sure if he went away happy or sad but the owners were delighted.
There's also a photo with the owner and Bonnie Tyler and frankly I'd much rather see a whole wall dedicated to her!
Onto the food then. They pride themselves on their fresh fish and seafood and while we were waiting for our tagliatelle and lobster (minimum 2 people) we saw them approach a fish tank and pull out a live eel, presumably for serving to another customer and not just for amusement.
The food was pretty reasonable but not amazing. The pasta was a little undercooked in my opinion. There's al dente and then there's taking the pasta off the boil too soon, which is what happened here.
It was tasty though, no complaints there.
The lobster was also tasty, but a little overlooked. An odd combination then, undercooked pasta and overcooked lobster.
But the service was friendly and the atmosphere lively.
I'd go here again but only after sampling some of the other restaurants in town to see what they are like. There was nothing special to bring me back here! read more