Sicily......Taormina.....there are good restaurants!

We went back twice to a restaurant recommended by the hotel we were staying at , the Villa Schuler.
It was a good restaurant, Ristorante Al Giardino.......giving good food at a good price......
It was a little off the beaten track..... and a little funky......

but there was a good choice of food...........

and good wine......
We wandered the Taormina streets.....

and were quite taken by the place......

it had a nice feel........

And of course we had to take the funicular to the beach.............

and if you were a child under a certain height you travelled for free.....

We liked the beach area but preferred our view on top!

Sicily........and on to Taormina, our last stop......

From the Autostrada one can't help but see Taormina........surprisingly high up....

We had booked into the Villa Schuler which I don't believe has changed much since it opened in 1905.....

apart from the added lift......

 and the rooms with terraces.......


 It was delightful....

We chose a room with a terrace so that we could be assured of a room with a view.......

 in one direction you could see the Greek Theatre.......

 the other direction showed the coastline.......

To see Mount Etna we had to go to their roof terrace.....

Their gardens are also beautiful and very exotic......

and the breakfast with a view was superb.......

We explored the Greek theatre which is amazing......particularly in terms of location.

 One has a fantastic view of Mount Etna from within the theatre.......

However we had a better view from a balcony/piazza in the town itself......where we timed it perfectly to be at sunset! And it really is smoking........ in fact it puts out puffs which look like someone smoking a cigarette!

From the Duomo door.........

I saw that there was a restaurant across the piazza I had read about.... Al Duomo

So I went across and booked us in.....
Imagine my horror the following night......after we had ordered our food and had a Prosecco...when I noticed a different name on the wall...... Le Quattro Fontane.....

hidden from the street by the umbrellas etc........ but it turned out to be a totally different restaurant on the street level...... the real Al Duomo was upstairs!!!

The restaurant name is presumably a reference  to the fountain in the piazza.......
We definitely cannot recommend the restaurant food........ which was one of our more expensive meals! And not good!! No photos needed!!!

Having now done a little check on Trip Advisor for this restaurant it would seem that they are trading on their location under the real Al Duomo restaurant. One reviewer actually asked them if they were Al Duomo and they said yes and rushed them through their food.....
However now that I have read of others making the same mistake I feel better about it! Initially I felt so stupid..........

“WARNING!!!!”

Reviewed April 8, 2012

DO NOT EAT HERE! We had a reservation for al duomo restaraunt and arrived here. We asked if we were in the right place and they said yes this is al duomo. We were acquainted with a waiter and asked for him by name...we were instructed to sit while they "checked to see if he was around." Once we were seated we were told that he wasn't working tonight...which was strange since our hotel had only made a reservation with him around an hour previously. We were rushed to order and as soon as our starters were placed in front of us we were hovered over. As soon as we ate the last morsel from our plates our mains were shoved in front of us. Very rude service and very strange atmosphere in this place. Just as our main courses were removede (I didnt eat mine) we received a phonecall from our hotel to see why we didn't make our reservation at al duomo. As far as we were concerned we were there. However, it transpired that al duomo is actually upstairs and that this is nothing but a second rate fast food joint. Anyone who thinks the food here is good must have only eaten in similar places in taormina (there are tonnes of them). Once their deception became clear the waiter from al duomo came down to get us...when we queried with the staff here why they had mislead us they simply did not respond! We have since found out from locals and tourists alike that this deception is quite common at this restaraunt which frankly is plain bad practice. Thankfully we ended the night on a high with an AMAZING canolo in the REAL al duomo but please don't be fooled by the ill-cooked meat, the sloppy risotto and the average pasta. If you want to eat true sicilian food try al duomo, al giardino, al saraceno or even mama rosa but under no circumstances eat here as it was our worst and most expensive meal in Taormina!

• Visited April 2012
  We would agree with this reviewer........ the food was not good and it was one of the more expensive meals.....apart from when we were eating at a place with a Michelin star!
  
  
  
  
  
  It actually makes me feel better knowing that others were duped....... I had been wondering how I could have been so stupid! And we totally agree with the above....... food very average.....and it was expensive for what it was......... We definitely do not recommend!However we note that they mention Al  Giardino.... we went back there twice as we found it very good!