We had been warned before we travelled to Sicily that Osteria da Rita Dal 1991 always had queues of people waiting outside for a table at this backstreet restaurant . One of my wife’s colleagues had told us that it was worth the wait but, ever the sceptic, I went to see what the, usually, mixed reception would be on the family-run eaterie on the rarely reliable website Trip Advisor. After all, I was on holiday, it was 36 degrees outside and as a result the last thing I really wanted to do was to stand for an hour in the blazing August sun for what might be an average at best late lunch.
“The food was not as tasty as I would like, it tasted bland to me, a little letdown, edible but nothing to write home about,” said Liz, from London, who had posted a review last month. However, her rather scathing view of the Taormina restaurant was counteracted not only by Alfie McMutt, from Billericay, Essex, but by nearly 2,000 other reviewers who rated their experiences as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’. “I was told by family to visit this restaurant but be prepared to queue up! The food and hospitality is top notch (and) we queued for 40 mins in the evening,” Alfie said.
And now, having fed my face at Osteria da Rita, I can add myself to that long list because, from the hour or so we spent inside it, the food was terrific, reasonably priced, the beer and wine great and the service unrushed and patient in the face of some mild hostility. I say that as the North American party.