La Voute - Calvi

On my first night in Calvi I was exploring the Citadelle where my rental apartment was located and I found this quaint restaurant around the corner. It boasted stunning views of the dark turquoise waters with mountains in the backdrop. The owner was very friendly and luckily for me spoke English since my French is quite poor. The restaurant filled up quite fast as I can understand now because the food is amazing. I started with charcuterie and followed with carbonara pasta. I was so full so I didn't have dessert but I'm sure it'd be just as delicious. Plus, the other dinner guests were very friendly to chat with. I highly recommend La Voute.

Ran across this wonderful little place whose name means “the arch”. Host was gracious and served good wine and even some special tuna dish. Out of the way and worth the steep climb.

We went to a restaurant nearby La Voute and were treated extremely rudely, so left, were we glad we did because we discovered La Voute. Had a conversation with the lovely lady about the menu, she then went and cooked an excellent meal for us. Our meal was accompanied by a very talented singer and his guitar, he was joined by three other singers and we were treated to a very professional performance. We then went to a Polyphonic concert at the Church and were amazed to see the 3 singers were part of the group we had tickets for. We went to book a meal later in the week,met the same lady who told us she only had meat dishes on that evening, I told her I didn't eat meat and it was our Wedding Anniversary, to which she replied it would not be a problem and she would get some fish, what would I like to go with it. It's not often you get such individual attention. Once again the meal was excellent and accompanied by the singer. It was a very memorable evening, and if you want a truly Corsican experience then La Voute provides it.

A small room with 3 or 4 tables, a counter and a small kitchen, all under the vault that gives the restaurant it's name. It feels like eating at friend's home. The food reminded me of my childhood! The biggest surprise of all, was definitely the young servers suddenly becoming the most gifted singers! Traditional Corsican music beautifully interpreted with the sound of a guitar. Great moments to remember for a long time!

I feel sorry for the guys who run this place. What they want is a cool hang out for earnest young men with acoustic guitars and to occasionally serve some wine and beer. What they don't want is to be faffing with customers who may want things (like serving) and focussing on food. We had a menu de jour which was truly awful and included over boiled courgettes, mushy carrots and a dessert which looked like baby food and tasted the same only much sweeter. The lads hang about smoking at the entrance of the restaurant until they are summoned to serve and don't bother clearing dirty glasses or empty bottles away. The inside of the restaurant was chaotic and looked more like a wannabe music studio. La Voute could probably be a great little venue if it was true to itself. It's in a fantastic location in the Citadelle. Just don't bother with the pretence of trying to be a restaurant.