Etna Giuseppe Fallico

From time to time, we visit the Pfalz region of Germany, flying into Frankfurt and then driving down to Wieblingen, a lovely village now part of the city of Heidelberg where my wife is from. It really has been keeping its village character and if you want to eat out you don’t have a lot of choices… actually it seems you don’t have a choice outside of the country inn “Zur Krone” on Wieblingen’s main street …and this time of the year it was closed apparently because it was still late August — vacation time. What now? We didn’t want to get into Heidelberg overrun with tourists so we chose the other way, driving up north. The first village on our way was Edingen — which has, by the way, a very recommendable ice cream parlor: “Leone”, right across from town-hall. Well, every little “Gasthaus” on our way was closed… except for a small Italian restaurant, “Etna”, on a side street of the thoroughfare (interestingly enough called “Main Street” [Hauptstraße] . It has a nice sidewalk arrangement with tables and chairs, surrounded by bushes; trees round out the picture. Traffic outside was negligible. Sunshades protect you from the sun’s heat which was still bearing down. We settled down. It took a while till the waiter — or was it the owner himself (when checking their website several days later, he pictured prominently on the restaurant’s website ; no other personnel was around — came and took our order for drinks: lemonade for my wife, beer for me. Though just four other tables were occupied, it took ten minutes or so till our drinks arrived. From the menu we chose pizza marinara for my wife, tagliatelle capesante for myself — the latter pasta with pieces of white fish, small shrimps, bay scallops, all in lobster sauce. And then we waited… and waited… and waited. After forty minutes or so, my wife was getting impatient and close to wanting to leave when the food finally arrived. It was average, at best. The pasta of the tagliatelle plate was abundant, the seafood pieces were less so; the lobster sauce tasted rather like a product out of a bottle, and not made at the premises. The pizza was below par; any pizza at a Pizza Hut chain restaurant in the U.S. tastes better, we thought. The center of the pizza here was so soggy my wife declared it to be inedible and left it on the plate. Judging from their conversations with the waiter/owner, most of the other patrons seemed to be regulars from the surroundings, and I could hear how some of them complimented the waiter/owner for the food. Interesting, I thought. Bottom line: nice, quiet location; long wait for food and even for drinks; average to below average quality of food. Unless, for whatever reason, you should be stranded in Edingen and your stomach running on empty, it might be a better idea to look for another place somewhere else.

The service was amazingly friendly and the food was superb. Very nice atmosphere gemütlich! We will be back. (By the way, they also speak English!

My husband and I come here often, and enjoy the excellent food as well as the family atmosphere and friendly service – not to mention the Sicilian wine! Each of us has favourite dishes but it's also a treat to sample the seasonal specials. Today's choices: fennel salad with orange and strawberries, gnocchi al tartufo and fettuccini con salmone e asparigi. :

Went with the family for a couple of meals as we stayed nearby. This is a family run Restaurant who were friendly. Wife is coeliac (gluten free) and they catered for her as well in a separate area with separate utensils (which is peace of mind for coeliacs). Meals came fast and were nice. Kids enjoyed tortellini. Surroundings were clean and had Italian decor. Amenities also clean. Overall a nice restaurant if in Edingen.

Meals are good and nice service. price is also reasonable. The restaurant should have a active web-site. The meal plan and timetable should be regularly updated there.