Trattoria La Scogliera

Too many tourists fought for limited restaurant seats around lunch time that we finally found this restaurant have a table just vacated. Since the business was too busy, couldn’t expect any personal touch in service. Grilled sea bass was below our expectation considering this was a no frill dish; our conclusion was the fish might not the best, freshest to begin with. The mussel & seafood spaghetti dishes were fine.
The coffee was nothing worth mentioning either.

After catching an early train to Riomaggiore and then going to Manarola, my wife and I were hungry after a day of touristing under the hot Italian sun. La Scogliera is located in between the water and the central piazza there, and had an inviting patio that lured us in.
I ordered their grilled veggie plate for us to share, then their linguine with mussels and clams for myself, as well as a beer to help cool down.
Bread came out first, and this was one of the few places that gave oil and balsamic with it, although we had to use what was presumably a shallow bowl for my shells, as a dipping plate.
The grilled veggies arrived at the same time as the rest of our food, unfortunately, so things were a bit crowded. The zucchini was nice, but the somewhat thin slices of eggplant just ended up being a bit chewy.
The clams in my linguine were small, but cooked just right. The mussels varied in size, and were also cooked perfectly. The sauce had just a little bit of spice to it, which was nice, but I would have preferred a cream-​based sauce rather than oil/​wine, as the pool in the bottom of the plate wasn’t too appealing. The pasta itself was fine, just not up to par with some of the fresh trofie I had been having elsewhere in Cinque Terre.
The options on the menu are good, but some of the dishes need a little more thought and refined execution to allow them to reach their potential.

Touristy joint but the food is delicious and reasonably priced. I got the sea bass with ravioli and my wife got the pesto pasta. Mine was good, ⁷⁄₁₀ the basil pesto pasta was amazing! 8.5÷10! They don’t have enough wait staff so service was a bit slow, however the owner was quite nice and worked to accommodate us

Seul restaurant ouvert ce midi en très basse saison dans ce petit village des cinque terre, il propose des pâtes, poissons et quelques pizzas.
Les prix sont correct (moins de dix euros pour les pâtes) mais les portions sont assez petites et surtout le fait qu’on doive prendre de l’eau en bouteille (pas de carafe) et payer 2,50 € par personne de frais de couvert alourdissent la note qui fait que le rapport qualité prix n’est plus optimal, dommage!

Had dinner here, spare yourself and go to Billy or Porticciolo instead. This place is not bad, but why waste a meal here when you can enjoy something way better just a few steps away?

In contrast to the wonderful service we received in Monterosso, Manarola was a significant step down.
I enjoyed the food at La Scogliera. I had their local (trofie) pasta with pesto and thought it was great. I also loved my white wine, made from the local green grapes.
But our server seemed like she hated her life. It was Daria-​level angst. She spent most of our meal AWOL, so we got no love when it was time for more water. (We just hiked a freakin’ mountain, lady. Bring the acqua!)
If you head to the bathroom, be forewarned that the only way to turn on the faucet is by stepping on a pedal near the floor.
Total damage for two dishes of pasta and a half-​bottle of amazing wine was $ 44.56.

In short, my advice is to skip Trattoria La Scogliera. Though the service is friendly, it is also disturbingly quick. In fact, I wonder if any of the food is prepared fresh to order. My guess is that the owner/​kitchen staff has grown complacent from catering to tourists and has therefore let food quality slip. The pesto gnocchi was bland. The meat lasagne was so-​so at best and the fried mixed seafood platter was oily and somewhat tasteless. The chocolate moose, which is homemade according to the menu, tasted like Jell-​O instant pudding. Sadly enough, for me, this may have been the highlight of the meal. The local white wine from Manarola was pretty good but can probably be had at a better restaurant.
At the same time, all the servers seamed to be working hard to satisfy guests as best they could.

Sehr zu empfehlen! Das Personal ist freundlich und aufmerksam. Es ist nicht hektisch, sondern sehr angenehm. Das Essen kam zügig und schmeckte soweit sehr gut (die Sauce etwas salzig, aber das ist persönlicher Geschmack). Die Linguine mit Muscheln bestellte ich nach der langen Wanderung gleich zwei Mal hintereinander. Gutes Preis Leistungsverhältnis bei leckerem Essen! Auch meine Tischnachbarin war mit ihrem Essen erster, zweiter Gang, und Dessert sehr zufrieden.

Kleine Trattoria direkt auf dem Weg zum Hafen von Manarola. Zu den Seiten der Gasse zum Hafen liegen Fischerboote, die aufgrund von Platzmangel nach oben gezogen werden. Obwohl dieses Restaurant mitten in einem Touristen Hotspot liegt ist die Qualität des Essens, das Preisniveau und der Service spitze. Sehr empfehlenswert ist das hausgemachte Pesto und das Sorbetto al Limone.