Ranna Villa

We’d planned to eat at the cafe, but went to look at the horses first. A woman came over and rudely demanded to know why we were on the property. After that, we didn’t want to eat there. The grounds felt very depressing, and so did she. Saaremaa has plenty of beautiful places to visit, so I’d avoid this one.

The burger was surprisingly good, and the service was very welcoming. Their solyanka recipe is quite unusual. I couldn’t find the cafe marked on Google Maps, though, and there was no English menu.

The family clearly looks after this place, and the staff are so friendly. Laura’s smile has stayed with us. Their Highland cattle dishes are the specialty, alongside a couple of beers on tap and plenty of bottled choices. We stopped for coffee and could happily have spent the whole afternoon on the cozy, peaceful terrace, plans or no plans.

We were a group of six looking forward to a lovely meal of simple, home-style food, but the mashed potatoes turned out to be made from artificial powder. When we asked the manager if they were artificial, she got very agitated and was extremely impolite. She even said that if we wanted real potatoes, we should go to Tallinn restaurants. This was especially disappointing given the Real Saaremaa Food certificate they display, which didn’t seem to match the standards we experienced. The service was poor, unwelcoming, and arrogant apart from the potato issue too. We had to ask for our dirty dishes to be cleared so there’d be room for coffee cups and dessert plates. We appreciate a simple, homey meal, but bad manners and an unwelcoming attitude toward customers have no place in hospitality. We were the only party dining there at the beginning. The Latin line posted in the service hall, “Nemo me impune lacessit,” might have been a warning. It means, “No one provokes me with impunity.”