Conveniently located near the "Miracle Square," it is a miracle that this place is still here. Then again, they are in a prime location which should have already indicated to us that this place is a tourist trap. Regardless, our tummy said otherwise, so that is the reason why I get to review this place.
We came here a little early for lunch so there were not a lot of people. We went inside. This place is quite spacious. It does have a vibe of an old restaurant with gaudy yellow table cloths, decors with a maritime motif, and servers that immediately indicated to me that ageism does not exist in Italy. The servers reminded me of Walmart greeters. They were very nice and made us feel welcome.
Being a tourist, I went for their tourist menu. I got the Santa Maria special which is a three course meal. The price was reasonable for the variety of food that I got to taste. Unfortunately, that made me more convince that this place is a tourist trap. My review of this place has a higher standard compared to my typical review which I called the "Italian standard." Even though I did not like this place by my "Italian standard", their food is still better compared to the Italian restaurants I have eaten back home.
The first course was a Seafood Rigatoni. Of course, the pasta was cook perfectly, but the sauce was bland for Italian standard. The mussels were just sad. They were so small. It was either boiled until it all shriveled up, or it was so old that the mussel atrophied.
The second course was fish steak. I believe it was supposed to be swordfish. This would be my first swordfish, and it did not have any taste that stood out. I would not even know whether this was truly a swordfish. As for the preparation, it was drenched in olive oil. So, I did not enjoy it much since it just tasted like olive oil.
The third course was some fruit mix on some sort of sweet syrup. I was not able to catch the name on this dessert. Could it be some well known Italian dessert? It was pretty good and refreshing.
As for the pizza, it was incredible. The bread was crunchy and flavorful. The cheese and the sauce was phenomenal, but all pizza that I have tasted in Italy were phenomenal. So, by "Italian standard", this was just normal.
This place is conveniently located near the most famous spot in Pisa, but that is the only good characteristic of this place. If your tummy can last a little longer to look for a different place, go ahead and do that. If you are like us who have impatient stomach, stick with the pizza. read more