Apartmány Laverna

The lack of a properly designed air conditioning system is a really big drawback. After sitting in the restaurant, you smell strongly of the kitchen and burnt oil, so everything has to go straight into the washing machine when you get home.

The food was excellent, though the restaurant could use some renovation. It was also quite cold when we visited.

I’m rating the restaurant only, not the accommodation. The owner clearly cares about the business, judging by the handwritten letter included in every menu, and the restaurant’s concept is fine. The trouble seems to be with the staff, both the waiter and the chef. The waitress was the worst part, aggressive and arrogant, ordering us around with things like, “Make room on the table for your plates!” The final score is still lenient: one point for the food quality, zero for service. The menu is huge, with creative dish names meant to set it apart, but some are hard to figure out. There are also classic mistakes like “Gordon Blue” and vegetarian “champions with ham.” Trying to offer a bit of everything is usually a warning sign, and here the poor quality was even worse than we expected. Our medium steak in herb butter was just a seared piece of meat on a large wooden board, with about a dozen little cubes of cold potatoes and a slice of butter sprinkled with dried basil. The other dishes were unsuccessful or felt like shortcuts too.

The Penthouse had a style I really liked, and it was equipped with everything except a dishwasher. We stayed for two nights. One thing to plan for if you’re driving: it’s on a pedestrian street, and the nearest paid parking is about a five-minute walk away. Parking is paid Monday through Saturday. That’s a drawback of the location, not the accommodation itself.