Capri - Where to eat?
 

Where was your favorite place to eat? We're going in late May but have heard that it will be shoulder to shoulder with day-trippers. Maybe we should pack a picnic?
Carol / Brahmama

There is a beautiful restaurant at the top in Ana Capri. Gorgeous views and a lovely lunch. Also a beautiful garden you can walk around in and take pictures of the views.

Don't laugh. We had unbelievable food ( one of the best meals of our three week trip) at a tiny place called LO ZODIACO, down at Marina Grande. Homemade pastas served in gleaming copper pans and pizza (!) was heavenly, and the price (pretty cheap) was even better!

Weadles, your post makes me hungry~! that place sounds great. I'll have to try it next time I am on Capri!

A chi-chi place to have lunch is the patio at Hotel Luna. This is where the beautiful people have lunch. The waiters are very snooty, but ignore them and admire the fabulous view of the garden and azure sky.

Ok, I agree with Weadles on Lo Zodiac, but for lunch (the Pizza Romano divine!). For dinner, we sort of fell upon La Gemma, which has been there forever, and hard to find in the little passages behind the church. It was surprisingly cheap and the food was delicious. Great view as well.

And DON'T forget the best Gelato in town with the homemade waffle cones is right off the Piazza Umberto.

I have to agree with ThinGorgus about lunch at the Hotel Luna. Beautiful setting, so-so food, not made any better by the snooty service. My teenager dropped a fork on the floor, and I thought we were going to get carted off the island on the bellman's luggage cart.

Thanks for the suggestions and replies. All have been transferred to my Capri file.
I did get an email from a friend who recommended:
Canzone di Mare" in the Piccola Marina. It used to be the home of Gracie Fields (if you are old enough to know that name!) and now is a ristorante and a swimming resort.

What fun it is to plan for Italy!

Carol /Brahmama

Surfergirl - is La Gemma down at the Marina Grande or up in Capri town? The restaurant that we really enjoyed was at Villa Brunella for dinner - don't know if it is open for lunch. We are going to Capri for four nites in May - my daughter insisits we eat there twice. SueC1

I think a picnic lunch is a great idea, esp if you do one of the many walks on the islands. Get the Sunflower walking guide to Capri & the Amalfi coast, which also has great walks in the Positano area. They are rated by difficulty and time, so you won't take a trail that is too difficult or will take too long. I heard about these books on this site, and have used them in other parts of Europe. Their website is http://www.sunflowerbooks.co.uk/walking_titles.htm.

Some restaurant recommendations would be:

DA GELSOMINA
Via Migliera 72, Anacapri, Italy
Phone: 081/8371499
http://www.dagelsomina.com/en/3.html

This is in Ana Capri. It is a little walk, about 20 minutes, from the center of Ana Capri, I believe they will also send a car to collect you from Ana Capri. It has incredible views and food. If you are really ambitious you can walk all the way back down to Marina Grande in about an hour (a LOT of steps).

LE GROTTELLE
Via Arco Naturale 13, Anacapri, Italy
Phone: 081/8375719

This is walkable from Capri Town.Casual and inexpensive, very good food.

ADD'O RICCIO
Via Grotta Azzurra 11
80071 Anacapri, Italy
39-081-837-1380

On a cliff above the Blue Grotto.

LA FONTELINA
I Faraglioni, at end of Via Tragara
Capri Town, Italy
Phone: 081/8370845

A great restaurant. They can be reached by boat from Marian Grande; but you should also be able to access it directly from a private boat.

LA SAVARDINA DA EDUARDO
Via Lo Capo
Tel 081 837 63 00
Closed Wednesdays
http://www.lasavardina.com

Walkable from the Piazza in Capri town. Is thought to be the best restaurant on the island. It is a 40 minute walk up a narrow path, that is lined with homes and villas. The views were incredible. The food is just wonderful.

La Gemma is up in Capri town, right behind the church up there.

I strongly recc the original idea of a picnic. Capri village has at least 2 deli/grocer places that will custom make caprese (yum!) or whatever sandwiches and other great healthy and tasty stuff, which is great on your hotel lanai or the occasional park bench.

There is a casual little garden restaurant on the way from Capri village to the Jovis ruins, right where urban turns to rural. It looks too inviting and affordable to expect decent food, but it is fine!

Some comments on Cicerone's info. That Amalfi sunflower book keeps getting recc'd by folks I suspect haven't read it. Aren't the hikes on the coast grueling, as opposed to the benign ones on Capri? They seem to list almost no moderate hikes on that steep coast, and when they could make something managable such as going Ravello to Amalfi, they make it uphill (the quirky directions are hard translate to reverse).

Now for the rest. on Via Migliera; it would be crazy to take the rest.'s offer of a car. Walking Via Migliera should be in your top 3 priorities in AnaCapri regardless of visiting the rest - amongst the wild topography of Anacapri it crosses half the island straight and level, with an unmissable cliff overlook with lighthouse just past restaurant. The street originates just behind the chairlift station, and has only one puzzling Y branch where you have to find the street sign right after trying a branch.

Not sure, but I think the rest. beyond end of Via Tragara doesn't need any boat but can't you just take the trail descending from Tragara? Anyone who doesn't at least take the coast circling version of this trail can almost be declared clinically dead from a Capri-lover point of view. It gives the essence of coast views, and comes up by the Arco Naturale restaurant. Of course one should do the loop in reverse to avoid the sudden endless staircase climb below the arch. Actually there is a gentle but eroding bypass of the stairs near a Lions Club sign.

I second the vote for La Gemma, great antipasta, pleasant service and beautiful views.

Viking, I HAVE read and used the Sunflower book on the Amalfi coast. Maybe our idea of what is “gruelling” is different (I see from previous posts that you find walking around Positano difficult, which I don’t). I found their rating system to be accurate, i.e., if they say a walk is moderate, the trail turns out to be moderately difficult. I have also not found any difficulty in using their reverse directions to go downhill. There are several easy walks in their book as well, IMO, esp along the lower coast elevations.

My reading of the book is that the Amalfi hikes rarely offer a practical easy-ish hike, although there are many subsections like that. Unless you are using very obscure bus stops, you will need to connect their walks together and usually include harsh ones... unlike the Capri, or Italian Lakes, or French Riviera hikes for example. I will take your post as encouragement to try some of the scary ones, and hope they don't kick me off the bus for armpit stains down to my ankles. P.S. for most folks sunflower books are far more accessable and affordable from amazon.com

toppiing for Viking

We'll be staying at La Minerva on via Camarelle. What's the best inexpensive restaurant in that neighborhood? And is there a nearby market for picnic-making?