Chez Black Positano, Italy Review

We knew that Chez Black Positano was a tourist trap well before sitting down. Despite how low the bar was, Chez Black found a way to crawl under it.

How did we know Chez Black was a tourist trap? Let’s start with the exterior – they have a boat theme on the inside, fit with windows that make you feel like you’re inside an old wooden ship. The servers match the ambiance with their sailor outfits.

If that wasn’t enough, the walls were littered with pictures of celebrities. What are they compensating for? We’ll learn once the food arrives.

On another note, Chez Black was easily the worst service we had in the Amalfi Coast. “What do you want?” barked the server, with the urgency of an EMT helping someone under cardiac arrest.

“The wine list”, we prefer ordering wine before our food. The list came eventually, after the server gave a look of disdain.

The Food in Chez Black Positano

Knowing that this is a tourist trap, and after our poor first impression, we hedged our bets and ordered as little as possible. We recommend you do exactly the same.

This was the first Italian restaurant we ate at which broke out their menu like an Olive Garden. Instead of the typical Italian menu of an Appetizer, than pastas for the first entrée, and the “segundi” entrée. Sure this will be appealing to Americans who are not used to Italian menu formats, but is that what you’re looking for when you fly to Italy?

Another giveaway was that they served bread with olive oil. Typically, bread is used to “mop up” Italian dishes, not to eat by itself with olive oil. “You’re wasting valuable real estate”, said our Roman tour guide Naseem.

For what it’s worth, the bread was rock hard and not worth any real estate. Good luck feeding that to the fish.

Michelle and I ordered their pasta of the day, which was spaghetti with squid. It was fantastically underwhelming, but at least it was cheap at roughly 20 euros.

We also ordered their seafood and spaghetti. The spaghetti itself was pretty good, but the seafood was also disappointing. They served two prawns intact. This seems like a lot of food, until you open them and realize how little meat is inside each.

Chez Black – The Bottom Line

If you need to eat at a tourist trap, Chez Black will check the box. The restarunt is right by the Amalfi Coast, so the views are great if you’re eating lunch.

Aside from that, the food and service are disappointing regardless of how low your expectations are. Italy should not be the place to have a fake Italian dinner. Stick to the Olive Garden.