*Eating/Drinking*

Taverna Paradiso—Delightful. Although we were disappointed not to see any evidence of the “crema di pecorino” mentioned in the insider dining pages, we nevertheless had a great experience here. We both ordered cheese-based meals and they were divine, if decadent.

Paco—Excellent. The service here was the best we had in Alghero, and the food was delicious. The pastas were creative and yummy, the lamb was melt-in-your-mouth good, and the tiramisu was rich and wonderful.

Da Pietro—Quite good. The experience here was just as described in the insider pages, with the owner overseeing the restaurant while watching “Rambo” in the corner of the room. My husband’s seafood pasta was very good, and my gnochetti were tasty, if somewhat unremarkable. For desert, the tiramisu was just so-so, but I’d return again and again for the seadas.

Al Solito Posto—Tasty and reasonable, but amazingly slow. This was the only place that we went for lunch, and we arrived at 12:45 on a Monday. I don’t know if this is the wrong time to be having lunch in Alghero (too early? too late?), but we were the only ones there and they seemed to be totally unprepared. About 15 minutes after ordering our spaghetti dishes, I saw one of the cooks hurrying into the kitchen with a bag of groceries that she had obviously just run down the street to buy, and which she promptly started chopping up for our lunch. The good news, of course, is that our food was obviously made to order. But it took just under an hour to get our two simple spaghetti dishes, which borders on absurd. Once we finally got them, however, they were very good. I think the slow service may have just been a fluke–I’d give them another chance…perhaps when there are other diners already in the restaurant.

Bella Napoli—Not so hot. We had two servers, both of whom seemed to be having a really bad day. Neither of them ever smiled, and one of them was positively sneering. Our bottle of red wine was oddly warm—considerably warmer than room/air temperature. We ordered water “con gas,” but received still water. The pizzas were, frankly, just okay. The crust was good as were the toppings. But there was something strange about the tomato sauce that I can’t quite describe—it was almost bubbly, like it was just on the verge of fermenting. I can’t believe I’m even going to say this, but I’ve had better Italian-style pizza in Atlanta, Georgia. We were disappointed all around in this place.

Café Girasol—Superb. We went there twice in the early evening for drinks on the terrace, and we loved it. Gorgeous view, friendly service, and okay-priced drinks. They have some nice little details, such as serving crisps with prosecco or beer and serving cookies and chocolate with port (the local Anghela Ruju…quite good). On one evening, there were several children seated outside and the server gave them each a little toy. I thought that was a nice touch.

As for coffee and gelato, they were delicious everywhere we tried them.

ATL_hat
Atlanta, GA