“Good and less good experiences here”

We had an interesting four night stay at this hotel. It is a nice place with lovely gardens and patio areas. The room was comfortable and clean. On arrival the main reception staff were very friendly and interested in us and where we came from - it didn't appear that they had had many brits staying there. However, having been persuaded by the staff to sample the hotel restaurant we were then left disappointed and things changed. It was a four course meal for 24 euros which sounds good value. However the portions were tiny and frankly the food was not good. The main course was a cold what appeared to be undercooked sausage with cold potatoes. We did complain and to be fair the hotel did not charge us for the food. However it took them two days to confront us about our bad dining experience and during this time the relationship seemed to turn somewhat frosty which made us feel a little uncomfortable. There is no real bar area and you have to go up to a hatch to a somewhat surly looking girl who speaks no english to get a drink. After our dining experience we opted to eat and drink in the town (see my further comments about restaurants). Vulcano is an interesting place to visit and I would recommend this hotel for its location and cleanliness but don't eat there! Breakfast was also disappointing with just a limited cold buffet. Italians seemed to be offered hot food but this did not happen to us until our last day!