Sicily Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Sicily - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Sicily - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
In a town where life still has a small town village feel, locals fill the outside tables of this trattoria in the central piazza at the base of the castle. The menu is full of seafood specialties—all excellent—but your best best is to ask the server what the chef is suggesting that day. They'll guide you to the best fish brought in that morning.
The brainchild of La Madia chef Pino Cuttaio, Uovo di Seppia is a combination kitchen, cooking school, shop, and bar where you can buy exquisite fresh and stuffed pasta, hand-made bottled sauces, biscuits, cakes, and other gastronomic goodies to take away. Saturday night is arancino and champagne night, kicking off at 6 pm. Check the website for other events.
Street food meets small plates at this ode to the flavors of Sicily. Located on a foot traffic-only street below a rainbow of colored streamers, this compact bistro serves chef-style iterations of the island's greatest "fast food" hits. And they make arguably the best arancini in the region: full of meaty ragu and saffron rice, fried to-order, with a crunchy crust that crackles as you break into it.
This restaurant in Favignana's main square is a must for seafood-lovers. The short, daily changing menu is constructed around the catch of the day, from the grand portions of antipasti to the main courses, and all ingredients are strictly seasonal. The choices may vary, but the kitchen's approach to such dishes as polpette alla ricciola (roulades of amberjack) and calamaro ripieno (stuffed squid) is always creative and original. Choose between dining within the wood-covered interior space or in the terrace garden, which backs onto the town's church. You might finish off your meal with a glass of alloro (laurel) liqueur. The restaurant's name recalls the chant of fishermen during the annual Mattanza tuna catch.
Nicola Mendolia's seaside restaurant is comfortable, casual, and faithfully focused on food—primarily pizza, but with an extensive selection of seafood, pasta, and meat, too. Dark, heavy wooden tables create a comfortable environment filled with a mix of jovial locals and businesspeople, though the most memorable option is to dine on the spacious terrace.
This little gem of a seafood restaurant right on the coast serves wonderfully fresh seafood. It is a very informal dining experience, with friendly staff and excellent prices.
Part concept store, part bar, and part fine gourmet dining experience, this unique eatery is built into a grotto underneath the Chiesa di San Carlo and specializes in deceptively simple grilled dishes and contemporary cocktails. There's live music on the weekends, but it's quite laid-back and unobtrusive.
Although the restaurant gets decidedly mixed reviews, the Archimede pizzeria offers well-made pizzas with classical names, such as the Teocrite, topped with fresh tomato, mozzarella, garlic, onion, and basil. For those who can't face the full-size offerings, minipizzas are also available (albeit at the same price), and everyone should find enough space to sample one of the many bottled beers on the menu.
Located above the boat yard at the far end of the lungomare, this eatery's second floor dining room offers a unique perspective on Aci Trezza. Light permeates the room thanks to the open balcony at the front of the building, which gives an alfresco feel even though you're indoors (a nice compromise in the heat of August). Go for the pasta and grilled seafood; the grilled calamari is particularly good.
On the southern tip of the island, the Asino Beach lido (beach club) is surrounded by palm trees and vegetation along a particularly beautiful stretch of volcanic sand. They offer everything from great pizzas (plus salads and panini) and refreshing cocktails to beach chair and umbrella service.
This rustic little family place offers a selection of basic Sicilian antipasti and pasta dishes. It is a perfect spot to taste the local cuisine and wine and soak up the atmosphere and hospitality.
Dedicated to the Slow Food movement, Casa & Putia puts the emphasis on their raw materials, with the idea that excellent ingredients need little fuss. The emphasis is on letting those ingredients shine through, such as with a flan made of artichokes and caciocavallo cheese. The word putia means bodega, and throughout the restaurant, there are displays of Sicilian products you can buy, from local herbs and jams to boutique amari.
On the edge of the Vucciria, this is one of Palermo's oldest restaurants, dating back to 1890, and still dear to the hearts of locals for its wintertime namesake dish, tortellini in brodo (in beef broth), the specialty of the house. There's an extensive antipasto buffet, and you can't go wrong with the fritella di fave, piselli, and carciofi e ricotta (fried fava beans, peas, artichokes, and ricotta). There's a good selection of offal dishes including oxtail, tongue and tripe, and hearty slow-cooked pork shank for the less adventurous.
Housed in an old palazzo, this casual place has served meals since 1889 and famously keeps a medieval specialty, controfiletto all'Ennese (a veal fillet with onions, artichokes, guanciale, and white wine), on the menu, in addition to a range of slightly more modern seasonal dishes. Choose from a decent selection of Sicilian wines to accompany your meal while you take in the large mirrored wall and local pottery.
An intimate little spot a block from the port, I Ruggeri prides itself on a mix of tradition and experimentation. For example, you might find a savory Babà (typically a dessert pastry soaked in rum) made of pecorino romano. But even the standards are prepared well, such as pasta con le sarde, made with an abundance of wild fennel, toasted almonds, and breadcrumbs.
The stone building that houses Il Borgo was built in 1942 in a style that reflects the neighboring medieval castle. The cool stone walls and wooden furnishings create a wonderfully warm atmosphere while the restaurant itself is focused on a delicious rotating seasonal menu.
This casual restaurant and B&B is located in a converted Norman castle. The restaurant offers a great menu of local Sicilian cuisine and a wood-fired pizza oven.
Seafood is the cuisine of choice in Mondello, though the quality on offer at many of the seafront restaurants can be patchy, to say the least, but you'll find no complaints at this family-run trattoria. With a smart, modern interior and an outdoor terrace, it has an upbeat ambience and a helpful English-speaking staff. Don't get too distracted by the long list of antipasti, good as they are, for there are many choices to choose from for your main. If available, you can't go wrong with the fettuccine with pistachio cream and prawns, or perhaps a steaming pile of spaghetti with clams and mussels, followed by the catch of the day (which really has been caught on the day). A good choice of Sicilian wines is also offered.
Just off Via Costantino Patricio, by the far side of the Cappuccini arch, lies this diminutive restaurant. Outdoor seating and an upstairs kitchen help make room for a few extra tables—a necessity, as locals are well aware that neither the price nor the quality is equaled elsewhere in town. Indulge in the veal cutlet with Etna mushrooms, pasta con le sarde, or a simple slice of grilled pesce spada (swordfish). Reservations are usually essential for more than two people.
A quite subdued place, La Bettola has walls with wooden shelves full of Sicilian wine, white linen tablecloths, elegant cutlery, and service imbued with the ease of tradition. The focus, inevitably, is on fish, with seafood pasta and fish mains, several featuring the red prawns for which Mazara is known throughout Italy. It is largely frequented by locals although in the summer, travelers are attracted to the outdoor terrace.
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