Hotel La Locanda di Alia - Castrovillari

3.1

Alia is resting on its laurels. The restaurant once had a Michelin star apparently and was once very excellent (apparently) however the restaurant (the main reason for coming here) is very average. The food was hit and miss in terms of taste and presented in a very old-fashioned 1980s style. Service deteriorated by the time we got to mains to the point where it was non-existent. The TV in the adjoining lounge area was irritatingly on throughout the night, but around 10pm the chefs trooped out, turned the volume up and settled in to watch a soap opera! All very poor for the prices which are still those you'd expect from a Michelin-starred restaurant. The rooms are a dreadful mish-mash of 1970s and 1980s furniture and the hotel is way out of the centre and difficult to find. This is really only one for foodies who want to risk trying it in the hope it may return to its old (apparently excellent) standards.

10

This is a great place to stay, the resturant has great local food. VERY VERY HAPPY with this hotel.

9.2

Very difficult to find but well worth it when you get there. The restaurant manager and chef so friendly and the food is some of the best I have ever had. Grappa excellent !!!

3.7

Our stay at La Locanda di Alia was at best a mixture of good and bad. The grounds, pool, and gardens were nicely designed and maintained. It is clear that much care and money was spent on design and construction of the Hotel. However, the rooms are very filthy; mold in bathroom, worn out towels, rusty light fixtures, rotting wood, grim on furniture and walls. We would have left right after check in, but, we were looking forward to dinner in “the best restaurant in Calabria” cooked by a “highly rated world class chef”. Well the only thing that was world class was the bill. We were in Italy for four weeks and the meal one of the worst, and far and away the most expensive. Castrovillari is a really nice small city in a beautiful location in the mountains of Calabria. I would definitely the visit there again. But, take my advice La Locanda di Alia and its restaurant are way over rated and over priced. There are plenty of nice reasonably priced hotels and restaurants in the area.

7.7

our stay at locanda d'alia began on the wrong note when we arrived and couldn't even enter the parking lot. everything was locked up. on the fence there was a hand written note with two phone numbers to call, but we didn't have a cell phone and there wasn't any public phone nearby. we finally spotted some helpful people who called both numbers for us and got no response. someone eventually showed up and without any sort of apology let us in, turned on the lights and checked our passports. at that point a friendly desk clerk appeared and showed us to our room. he was very accomodating and helpful. our room was very clean and modern, with an iron loft bed with iron steps (that made walking down its steps kind of jarring in the middle of the night.) other than the steps, the room was great. our great disappointment was the much heralded food at the locanda. it is reputed to be "the best food in calabria." i would like to ask what that statement was based upon. the food was good, not superlative or transcendent. it was presented in a precious style and portion size more akin to the french nouvelle cuisine. the fake flowers on the table did little to make up for the stinginess of the portions. the guests in the dining room seemed quite relaxed (as opposed to how this room would feel in france) and that was nice, but our my opinion the experience was not the authentically calabrian experience we were expecting. we were looking for cooking truly based on cucina casalinga/cucina povera, which is the real cooking of calabria. we expected it to be somewhat "dressed-up" but what we found was a too fussy, frenchified version. we did, however, have a wonderful meal that was true to its roots in altomonte, a small hilltown several miles from castrovillari. it cost one half the price, had no pretensions about being any more than it was..... a very good restaurant serving very good, real food. i want to add that my reason for coming to castrovillari was to dine at locanda d'a

9.9

Our stay was pleasant in every way. The staff was healpful and friendly. The resturant was especially good, with excellent food and service. The wine was very good and affordable. We recommend this hotel highly.