Most restaurants in the area were closed on a Monday afternoon but lucky for us, this restaurant…read morewas open. It's a lovely modern restaurant. Our group was seated right away. The food was delicious! Portions were generous and every dish was plated beautifully.

Just a heads-up: We stopped here only because it's where our tour bus stopped, and we were given…read more90 minutes to eat. That said, this place was a treat! Imagine the skill it takes for a smallish restaurant to suddenly be faced with 90 hungry, tired customers speaking a multitude of languages... and yet they acquitted themselves with distinction. Our table-mate really enjoyed the fried calamari plate. My wife and I shared a house salad (the artichoke hearts were a nice touch) and a Cuatro Gusti pizza - nicely topped with a light, thin crust - oozing with yummy goodness! The beer was cold, the tea was hot, the prices were very reasonable and we all got out of there on time. Bravo!

One of the best meals of our lives, truly. The chef made us an extraordinary vegetarian tasting…read moremenu that I expect never to forget. Each course was of course delicious, but more importantly magnetic and filled with moments of surprise -- borrowing the most useful skills of molecular gastronomy without overwhelming the meal itself. I would describe the dishes here but I don't want to ruin the thrill of your first experience. We ended up leaving Sicily with cases of both the white the sommelier recommended and the olive oil featured at La Madia! Any trip to Sicily would be remiss without a visit -- you won't regret it. We made a 4 hour detour to have this meal, spending the night in Licata while homebased in Pollina, and it was well, well worth it.

A two starred restaurant really worth a visit: Pino Cuttaia has created a cute restaurant serving…read moresuperb food and wine in a peculiar surrounding, the suburbs of Licata. The pizza look alike appetizer, the shrimps made up with shrimp meat phillo dough, the soup and cannolo were absolutely amazing. We took the full tasting menu, one of us couldn't eat garlic but this did not represent a problem: Pino simply made 5 different servings for her. Our fault: we didn't mention while booking. Waiters and maitre were kind and polite, chef was charming, willing and helpful. You can't miss La madia if you visit southern sicily.

If you're visiting the Valley of the Temples, go here for dinner for two reasons: First, the view…read moreof the Temples lit up at night is spectacular from this restaurant, especially as we were seated upstairs by the window! We even got there early and drove and parked at the Temples (the gates are closed) to take photos of them lit up, as this restaurant is a 1 minute drive away. Secondly, the food is fabulous! In fact, this restaurant was one of our favorites while touring Sicily! The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated, but it wasn't pretentious and we didn't feel like we needed to dress up. All of the dishes are also gorgeous and huge and super delicious. We actually could not finish everything we finished. The wine list is extensive, too and the prices were excellent for the quality of the food. We would definitely go back!

This restaurant, although casual, has the appearance of being rather upscale given the ambiance and…read moreimpeccable service. It has a great view of the Valley of the temples and although pricey the portions are rather large, but I think they lose some points when it comes to the actual food. It's not so much that the quality wasn't up to par, it's just the flavor combination of the dishes fell short. We started off with the marinated beef which was pretty good, probably the better of the three we got. The two pastas we had, one with colatura di amici and the other with octopus ragout, both were just meh. The pasta with colatura had a creamy sauce, I expected it to be more like aglio e olio, and the fish eggs added crunch but I think dried up the sauce too much. The pasta with the octopus ragout was just bland.