We were staying in Massa Lubrense for a week, our second such trip in four years. We have a soft spot for this area and last time developed a serious love for one restaurant in Sant' Agata and were looking forward to returning. We were pretty disappointed then that the restaurant had suffered and was not the same. A blessing in disguise.
We were staying down the road from Pic Nic so had already walked past it a couple times. We had had a long day, it was late, and the prospect of walking up the considerable hill to Sant' Agata gave us reason for pause. We decided to give Pic Nic a try and at first thought they might be closed as we were the only ones in there.
They operate a small inn as well, so it seems like they have a fluid schedule. We had our pick of tables and so of course picked the table with a beautiful view on the terrace. They do speak English but we all enjoyed practicing our Italian. There is both indoor and outdoor dining - we always chose the latter no matter the weather.
They serve a good house wine that is reasonable. Their bruschetta, which by this time we had tried at every place we dined in Italy and we considered ourselves experts, was quite good. Pic Nic definitely used the freshest ingredients. On our first night, I had their seafood pesto linguine and it was phenomenal. As everyone ordered something different and raved about each, subsequent trips back meant trying something different. The pizza is excellent as well. The pastas were always cooked perfectly and the freshness of all the ingredients punched through. Limoncello topped off each fantastic meal.
As there was a pretty good group of us that were often doing different things at different times, we would sometimes drift into Pic Nic a couple at a time until the full group was there. We would drift out in similar fashion, often meaning multiple checks which the staff handled in stride. The staff was always friendly but really didn't hover and never rushed us. Granted that's the Italian way but we really felt like the restaurant was ours for as long as we needed it. It was a really great laid back vibe. read more