Where to Eat in Ischia Without Risking a Disappointing Dinner

When someone asks me where to go for dinner in Ischia, I don't necessarily think of the restaurant with the most famous dish or the one with the highest number of reviews. I think of something much simpler: where would I send someone I know, knowing that they have decided to dedicate part of their holiday to dinner and I don't want them to be disappointed?

I would recommend Gabbiano Beach. Not because it is my restaurant — although perhaps that has something to do with it — but because I genuinely know how much work goes into every single evening and how important it is to us that the person who chooses us leaves feeling that they made the right decision.

There are many places in Ischia where you can eat well. The difficulty, especially when you only have a few days on the island, is finding an experience with very little room for disappointment. A beautiful setting can make a dinner special, just as an exceptional dish can, but if we want someone to choose us with confidence, all the different parts of the experience have to work together.

Gabbiano Beach is in Citara, on the western side of the island, and here the setting already does part of the work. Every evening, the sun goes down over the sea in front of the restaurant, and no sunset is ever quite the same. When the sun is no longer too strong and the evening finally becomes comfortable, that is when the part of the day begins for which many of our guests chose this place in the first place. When the sun touches the water, the view changes again and, on evenings when the conditions are right, you may even witness the green flash. We cannot promise it, of course. We cannot decide what the sky will do, but we can make sure that, when it happens, our guests are sitting in the right place to enjoy it.

The point is that a beautiful view cannot save a dinner that doesn't work. That is why we have always tried to give the same attention to the things that depend directly on us: the cuisine, the service, the setting and the consistency of the experience.

For us, a dish has to have a precise identity and a recognisable result. We regularly work with the same types of fish and know the products we serve very well. If something changes, we notice it. Naturally, fish is a natural product and can never be mathematically identical, just as the way someone perceives a dish can vary, as can the temperature of the day or simply personal taste. But what arrives at the table must be what we expect to offer.

The next time you come back, I have to be able to give you something I know I can always give you.

That, for us, is what consistency means. And when we find something particularly beautiful and good, we don't look only at the price. If we believe it is worth offering, we offer it. At the same time, we try to understand who it may be best suited to, because something good can be appreciated by everyone, but not everyone necessarily needs to be encouraged to choose it. The guest must always be free to decide, and our job is to give them all the information they need to make that decision.

For us, information is one of the best forms of security we can give a guest.

That is why we try to be transparent even before people arrive. Our menu is available online, and we want anyone considering Gabbiano Beach to be able to understand beforehand what kind of restaurant they will find, what we serve and what kind of experience they can expect. We don't like the idea of someone having to arrive at the table to discover something they could have known beforehand.

Our service comes from the same philosophy. The objective we have given ourselves is not to simply make money during that evening, but to make sure the guest is happy that they chose Gabbiano Beach. When you work with that objective, the money comes as a consequence. First comes the satisfaction of the person sitting in front of you.

And perhaps this is the point I consider most important when recommending Gabbiano Beach to someone. Coming to dinner with us means giving us a part of your time. For someone spending only a few days in Ischia, that time is precious. Many of our guests don't have the luxury of losing an evening of their holiday because they made the wrong choice. They chose to come to us, and we feel responsible for that choice.

That is why we want to be a certainty. A safe harbour for anyone who doesn't want to spend that evening simply hoping that dinner will turn out well.

Over the years, people have chosen Gabbiano Beach for anniversaries, important celebrations and marriage proposals. This means a great deal to us because it means that someone considered our restaurant worthy of hosting a moment of their life. In those situations, the responsibility is even greater: it is not enough to serve good food. Everything matters, from discretion to service, from the table to the right moment to enjoy the sunset.

In the end, however, you don't understand whether you have done your job well when the restaurant is full. You understand it when the sun is no longer too hot, when the evening truly begins and people can enjoy the sea in front of them. You understand it when the sun touches the water. And, paradoxically, you understand it even better when the bill arrives.

That is when you really know whether you have done your job properly.

Because what we would like to hear from someone leaving Gabbiano Beach is very simple:

"It was really worth it. I want to tell someone about this evening."

If someone leaves with that feeling, then, for us, the evening has gone well.

We cannot control the sunset, the sea or the colour of the sky. But we can control how much effort we put into our work and how much respect we have for the time a person has chosen to give us.

That is why, when someone asks me where to eat in Ischia without risking a disappointing dinner, I recommend Gabbiano Beach.

by Gabbiyaah