the lemon grove restaurant in sorrento

honestly, you can’t go to the amalfi coast and NOT dine under a plethora of lemon trees one night. for some it might seem gimmicky and i’m sure there are plenty of people who would call it a tourist trap. but one thing i am passionate about is unique experiences.

i wasn’t sure what to expect. perhaps being from new zealand surrounded by nature, i assumed a restaurant set underneath a lemon grove would be outside. so as you can imagine, i had my doubts when we arrived to the address and stood in front of a building like all the others.

surely we weren’t at the right place? maybe we had the wrong address. there have to be more lemon grove restaurants along the coast here, maybe we chose a dud. thoughts were flying through my mind as i was thinking about how much we were about to pay to sit INDOORS. safe to say it was not what i had imagined i would be walking into and my expectations suddenly lowered significantly.

it took them a while to find our reservation. i wondered if we would even get to eat there at all! maybe it’s a sign. maybe we are meant to find a different lemon grove restaurant that’s more authentic, and you know, actually under real lemon trees planted in the earth?! not off to a great start

however we’re here now and whatever is meant to be will be. finally they found our booking and we were allowed to step through the door. and i. was. shocked. first of all, the interior was enormous. even if they hadn’t been able to find our reservation i was sure there would be enough space for us as it truly was like stepping through the wardrobe into narnia.

yes, a large portion was indoors. however as you continued up the stairs and through the dining area, the inside and outside somehow merged into one and there were lemons galore. our table was positioned right at the back, which meant it flowed out into the garden area behind it filled with flowers, trees and yes, more lemons.

i don’t know if all of the lemons were real or if there was a convenient mix of authentic and artificial, although the one that dropped out of nowhere was definitively real and gave us all a very real shock as it bounced off a plate and splattered pasta sauce onto it’s wary target. not to worry though, this must be a regular occurrence as the staff swooped in and expertly cleaned the table, the surroundings and even had a quick way of cleaning the splatters that flew onto a dress (keep this in mind when choosing your outfit for the night!)

with a rather large menu i again, was cautious about not setting my expectations too high. after all, we know that’s how they pull tourists in with an abundance of choice compared to the small but refined menus of local restaurants.

but i was here for the experience and you know what? my spinach and ricotta canneloni was good. i wouldn’t go as far as to say it was the best i’ve ever had. but for a restaurant that could very easily have been a terrible tourist trap that belonged only on an instagram highlight reel, i had a pleasant meal and the surrounding environment was truly gorgeous.

after we had eaten, we took time to wander through the gardens sitting behind the tables. fairy lights twinkling hanging from trees. obnoxiously large lemons the size two fists intertwined sitting on tables. the perfect spot for the obligatory insta pic to show that yes, we had in fact been to that famous lemon grove restaurant in sorrento.

a humble brag, but a memory banked and a vision board experience checked off the bucket list. would i go back again? if i was taking someone who had never been, i absolutely would bring them to give them the experience of dining beneath lemons. if it was just me? perhaps i would try somewhere off the beaten path in a more local hidden gem kind of spot. but for the experience? i do believe it’s worth it, at least once in your trip.

the details

restaurant: o’parrucchiano la favorita

rating: 8.5/10 (for the vibes)

location: sorrento

address: corso italia, 71, 80067 sorrento NA, italy