Eating the Amalfi Coast

It’s hard to eat poorly on the Amalfi Coast. Most of the osterias, trattarias, pizzarias, and ristorantes cater to tourists, but that doesn’t turn out to necessarily be a bad thing (as it can be elsewhere) as there are mostly tourists on the Amalfi Coast. Here’s our dining experience on our recent trip:

Amalfi

Pizzeria Donna Stella. On our first night in town we happened upon this wonderful place after discovering that Trattoria San Guiseppe’s, where I had eaten the first time in Amalfi (more in a moment), was closed for the day. We walked off the main street where most of the more touristy places are and wandered the maze of stair-streets before seeing a sign for Stella’s and decided to try it. There were only five other tables with diners in the small room – three with locals, one with a tourist couple (women from northern Europe?), and one with the young owners – a good sign. We shared a prosciutto and mushroom pizza and green salad, a carafe of house red wine, and a cream and blueberry dessert. It was all excellent.

Trattoria San Guiseppe’s. For lunch the next day we returned to this restaurant, one of my favorite from my trip several years ago. We shared a la Genovese pizza – tomato, mozzarella, tuna, and olives – just as good as I recalled, with a wonderfully caramelized thin crust. There were only two other tables, one with a large group of locals, the other a tourist family.

Ristorante Pizzaria Il Mulino. We had passed this restaurant on the upper end of the main street while visiting the Paper Museum, and while there was only one other table with one couple (tourists; and another tourist couple arrived after us), we decided it looked worth trying (by then we’d realized that most of the restaurants catered to tourists). And it was. We shared a mista de mare antipasta, Jac had a fresh spaghetti with vegetable sauce and cheese dish, and I had gnocchi with a tomato and cheese sauce. All accompanied by a Ravello wine (A. Sammarco rosso). Once again, all very good.

Ristorante Vittoria. The next morning we took the bus up to Ravello, did the spectacular Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo and the Duomo di Ravello, and then searched the map we’d gotten at the Tourist Information office for a restaurant, and settled on the Ristorante Vittoria, near the piazza duomo, where we were. It was a bit unsettling to see the only tables in the place were two groups of loud Germans. But they left soon after we arrived. As we sat there, though, we were encouraged to see a number of apparently nearby shop owners or workers coming in to get take-out boxes. Jac had a pasta (fresh noodles) with clam sauce that was excellent, and I had catch-of-the-day fried seafood, a mix of shrimp, calamari, and three small whole fish, and a mixed salad, all very good. And we lingered over a carafe of the house white wine. A good meal, and good to sit for an hour after several hours of a lot of walking and another couple of hours of more walking as we hiked down the path from Ravello to Amalfi.

Il Tari. We’d passed this restaurant the past two nights and seen that it was nearly full, so we decided to try it on our last night in Amalfi, a Saturday night, and it was crowded with both tourists and locals. And again it turned out to very good: Jac had chicken picata, and I had a fixed price menu of antipasta (ham, mozzarella, tomato, and olives), chicken picata and salad, and pound cake with a lemon-cream sauce. And a shared carafe of house white. A nice last meal in Amalfi.

Positano

La Zagara. After a crowded bus ride from Amalfi to Positano, a long, confusing walk down a lot of steps to our hotel, checking in, walking down to Fornillo Beach, over to the main part of the town, wandering the step-streets, we decide to duck into this café for lunch. It’s the dining mistake of the trip. We only learn later that it’s mainly a pastry place (and I guess a good one), but we head out onto the patio and order a pizzeta (Jac) and calzone (me). Neither is very good (and Jac gets something she didn’t order). But it’s an hour rest before more walking.

Hotel Pupetto. Our hotel, the Hotel Vittoria, shares this restaurant, located on Fornillo Beach, and since we got a 15% discount, we decided to make this our first dinner in Positano. And the restaurant is right on the beach, a hundred or so feet from the water. The waves were our background music (although the kids running around added their layer). As the sun set, a bat flew over our table, gorging on insects. A cat begged for food. Jac had spaghetti carbanara, and I had a fixed price meal of risotto and veal scaloppini, and we shared a carafe of house wine. It wasn’t the best meal of the trip, but it was good – and the total cost was only €40 (€10 for Jac, €20 for me, and €10 for wine).

Ristorante Saraceno d’Ora. After wandering around Positano most of the morning and into the afternoon, we decided to walk back up toward our hotel where we saw a number of restaurants earlier on the road above the hotel. Walking on the street, a waiter at this restaurant (as is common throughout the town) begs us in, and while looking at the menu we hear a couple of tables of locals inside and decide to try it. It turns out to be one of the best meals of the trip. We ordered a four cheese (quarto formaggio) pizza, water and beer, and all – pizza, drink, and service – was excellent. We only learn later it’s the #5 of 52 restaurants in Positano on TripAdvisor. We were offered complimentary limoncellos as digestives.

Ristorante Mediterraneo. We could see this restaurant on the road above our hotel from the balcony and hear the music playing from across the way. I read about it prior to our trip (rated #7 on TripAdvisor), and we’d stopped by to look at the menu in the afternoon before having lunch at nearby Saraceno d’Ora. This was a great last meal on the Amalfi Coast. We started with two antipastas, a plate of prosciutto, salami, sardines, olives, stuffed zucchini flowers, and a separate plate of zucchini flowers; Jac had fried calamari; I had a rigatoni Bolognese; and we split a carafe of house red wine. More than we could eat, but maybe the best meal of the trip. An Aussie couple sat behind us after we’d been served, asked us about our dishes, and ended up ordering what we’d ordered.

Lido

La Sireinta (can’t find an internet link). We spent our final night in Lido, out in East Rome on the beach, a resort which is basically deserted in April, cold, windy, and gray. But we did so so we could just hop a shuttle to the airport in the morning, and in that it turned out OK. We walked around the area in the evening looking for someplace to eat, but there weren’t too many places that looked good (or open). But La Sirenita held some promise (it had carbanara on the menu, which is what I wanted on my last night). We were the only ones in the small, contemporary room. One young waiter balanced his time between us and a soccer game that was playing loudly on a TV. Jac ordered a fettuccini funghi porcini, I ordered insalada de mare and pasta carbanara, and we shared a carafe of house white. And all was very good. We paid in cash, and the owner apologized to us as the waiter had to run off somewhere to get change as we apparently were the only customers of the evening and they didn’t have any.