Medea Cafe - SIRACUSA

The age of the internet is both blessing and curse... it 's both easy to make arrangements and equally easy for them to be undone. When out of the arc me didn 't check my emails for a night or three, I subsequently discovered that our planned Syracuse hotel backed out of the booking arrangements with 3 days to go, leaving us outside an empty establishment and in need of connectivity to check my emails to see if they had been in touch and as it turned out to then find an alternative bed for the evening. Also we had walked to the area from the bus station about 50 minutes with a heavy rucksack and being an elderly sort these days, I needed a break meaning we fell in through the door of the Medea Café rather stressed and knackered. I should stress the restaurant is only about 20 minutes walk away from the bus station but we also got lost. The Medea Café is near one of the main ancient ruins of Syracuse and is well placed although there isn 't a great deal of bar or restaurant competition up there. I guess people don 't walk to places these days. As it was, 1:30 Saturday saw just us and a local guy dining in the place. As we were kind of distracted from the food (the hunt for shelter proved that Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs theory is alive and well so we agreed with the owner 's suggestion of the set lunch at 8 Euros for a couple of courses and a bottle of water. The venue is a very clean and tidy basic light tiled modern café type place and perfectly acceptable. It 's not the kind of place I would propose to my woman in (well actually.... or suggest to my boss it was time for a promotion, but for a pit stop filling lunch, it was spot on the nose. The owner was pleasant and friendly, and sadly he probably thought us ignorant Brits as we spent most of our time either eating or rummaging through the internet on the phone. The pasta dish was a lovely fresh tasting chunk of lasagne. I don 't really like the rich cloying cheesy effort that chain restaurants present, thinking the punter will be dazzled by stoge: no, this was a fresh light heavy on the tomato kind of dish and very generous in portion. It was lovely. For seconds was the meat dish and it was a little more than the Italian standard wedge of chicken and either rice or chips. Instead it came with fresh spinach and absolutely gorgeous and plentiful fennel. Although the meat dish was a little plainer than I would have made it; it was nice and the fresh veggies really made it shine, and it was definitely cooked in the Italian way. To end we had a couple of coffees (the place sells alcohol but we thought we might go on an alcoholic rampage or something given our high emotional state , and our meal came in at 20 Euros for two including a generous tip for the nice filling food. For we impoverished post Brexit Brits living with a terrible exchange rate, that 's nothing to be sniffed at. Summing up, if you want a filling and inexpensive meal then you can do far worse than choose the Medea Café. The facilities were also very clean although as there is no loo seat provided you have to work out your thigh muscles if you need to linger in there.

The staff were very nice at this restaurant and the food was amazing and great value. We had lunch there while waiting for the catacombs to open and it was a pleasant surprise. It is very simple food but it is done well. We had lasagne, grilled chicken and a mix of meatballs served with vegetables. There was free wifi and the food was cheap. The air conditioning was great which was a bonus as the weather was very hot! The coffee was good, and they gave us a complimentary dessert.

A few metres along from the Mercure hotel (turn left out of the door and it's on the same street, just across at the traffic lights). The food is fresh and simple language is a bit of a problem but the staff are patient until you can work out between you what you want to eat.

This little place is nice but however I would give it a lower rating. We were expecting a little more from the reviews but what we found was reheated food. The only freshly cooked food was the grilled chicken breast. If you are looking for cheap food and average quality, this is your place.

We were roaming on the streets of Siracusa, failing to find any open restaurant and hungry for some free WiFi. The place was perfect fit : nice coffee, very good service :