2 Best Restaurants in The Northwest, Ireland

In the heart of Sligo's busy Italian Quarter, Bistro Bianconi has built on its long-established reputation for top-class pizzas baked in a wood-burning oven. Inventive gourmet pizzas include the Michelangelo (goat cheese, caramelized onions, pepperoni, and a sprinkling of Parmesan), the Vegetariano, and the perennial favorite, Quatro Formaggi. The menu is heavy on classic fresh pasta and lasagna, while the signature dish, chicken bocconcini (with glazed ham and cheese), is as popular as ever. Steaks, burgers, and Mediterranean king prawns are also on the menu. If you fancy a cocktail, try the Wild Atlantic Way martini.

This bustling eatery—deservedly one of Sligo's most popular and established since 1994—divides itself into two culinary halves: a relaxed downstairs bar (from 2 pm daily) with red-checkered tablecloths, serving fish pie and steaming bowls of beef-and-Guinness stew; and a more formal (and expensive) upstairs dining room (5:30–9 pm), where lamb, salmon, and steak, including fillet, strip loin, and tomahawk (all the restaurant's beef is air-dried for 45 days), share space on the menu with pasta, trout, scallops, seafood platters, or fine herb gnocchi with wild earth mushrooms. Reservations are required for both bar food and the dining room.