In my opinion Taggia deserves somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. So I'm rounding up from 3.5 to 4 stars. Both the food and service somehow fell a little short of expectations despite the impression that they put forth a lot of effort.
The menu is interesting with a mix of italian staples like pizzas and a diverse selection of seafood and pastas. We started off with some standard antipasto including prosciutto, salumi, olives, cheese, and marcona almonds All were pretty good but nothing to write home about. However, the caponata/burrata spread over grilled bread was a nice way to start off a meal.
My favorite dish is the pan-seared sea scallops in brown butter with grapefruit and capers. With specials like hand-made pastas we also tried the gnocchi with veal ragu and crab ravioli. The veal ragu sauce was hearty and stoodout more than the gnocchi but the flavor of the dish seemed to still lack something. It tasted something like your grandmother would make out in the countryside villa. The sweet corn crab ravioli was also so-so and did not live up to expectations based upon the ingredients and description (ricotta cheese / sweet corn / wilted spinach / porcini butter). The Scottish salmon was good and I would order again even if cooked a little more than to my liking.
The dining room is fairly intimate and if you enjoy eating al fresco there is a great patio. While Chef James and the service staff were very friendly and patient, there were inconsistencies throughout our experiences. Food-wise everything seemed really fresh and the quality of the ingredients high, however, the tastes and presentations seemed more like dinner party food rather than fine dining.