L'approdo - SANTA MARGHERITA LIGURE

Un posto sincero. piatti ben cucinati. Niente fronzoli. personale molto gentile e cordiale.

This is a must eat place. Quiet. Run by a husband (chef), wife and son (serve). You must eat in the back patio under the lemon trees (which the wife makes her own limoncello, which is amazing). The lobster spaghetti is amazing and you must start with the mussels.

Since 2002, my family and I have spent our vacations in Santa Margherita each year and we ALWAYS have one meal, if not two, at L'Approdo. The reason we go back every year is DELICIOUS food, CHARMING atmosphere in the back garden (with amazing lemon trees) and the TERRIFIC wife husband (chef) who own the restaurant (they greet us like family each year we see them, asking our children and us). It is not a huge menu but everything on the menu is prepared by hand and is amazing. On this last visit it was just my husband and I, we had the Mussels to start and shared the Lobster Spaghetti (it is a minimum two order) for dinner. Each of these are my personal favorites. All their desserts are to-die-for and homemade. And don't pass up the offer of Limoncello. It is homemade from the lemons in the garden and it is the best ever!! While we were having dinner, this time, a lemon fell from the tree and we were told that is the best lemons to use for Limoncello because they are truly ripe. This is not a touristy place. It is more quiet, old-school and you find the locals. You will only know that they are open if the lights are on, usually Thursday-Sunday. If you want to have an amazing meal, you MUST have dinner at L'Approdo!!!

I will agree with the last review. It was very average and the service was very poor. There was no smiling. There was no theatre. There was no Italian friendliness I’m guessing as the years are going on that this little Italian restaurant is very tired. We were not offered any thing to go with our fish dish my son had five prawns on his plate and by the time you peeled them obviously there’s not much to them. We did have a seabass but we were told it was too big for one person, so we had to share. It was delicious but there was a terrible atmosphere. We were the only people in the garden for dinner. Some more time in customer came much later and I noticed that the service was a little bit more genuine them. We did not leave a tip. It doesn’t look much when you look in to the restaurant you cannot see the garden behind. I really would go somewhere else.

We chose to eat here as it felt authentic and non touristy. It was a terrible choice. Super expensive for what you get, staff are rude, dismissive. Food is ok but you can eat much better elsewhere. Don’t waste your time.