Restaurants in Campania
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Al Gamberone
This modest trattoria near Pompeii's main square serves good, no-nonsense food. Expect things like pasta with tomato sauce and nicely grilled meat served with a wedge of lemon. Afterwards, don't be surprised if the owner reaches into her bra to pull out a purse for your change.
reviewed
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Pizzeria Donna Stella
A laid-back pizzeria hidden in the quiet back alleys, this tiny place is a a world apart from the bigger, slicker joints on Amalfi's main thoroughfares. Alongside the very good pizzas, dishes of the day are chalked up on a blackboard. Typically, these might include sausage and broccoli, grilled steak or salad.
reviewed
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Al Pontile
Sit outside, front or back with views of the castle as an evocative backdrop to the shopping street or sea. The reassuringly brief menu includes pasta mainstays like puttanesca with capers, tomatoes and olives, as well as reliable meat and fish mains. Smile sweetly and the owner will bring a bottle of limoncello along with the bill, allowing you your fill of lemony top ups.
reviewed
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Aurora Light
At first glance this menu looks more Californian than Campanian. Predominantly vegetarian, the salads have imaginative combos like spicy chickpeas and spinach, or fennel with beetroot and orange. Look closer and you'll see that the enthusiastic young owner has tapped into traditional dishes and given them an innovative twist: white bean soup with baby squid, aubergine parmigiana with a swordfish sauce, stuffed pepper roulade and so on.
The setting on Piazza Tasso is one of the best for people watching, though one of the worst for exhaust fumes.
reviewed
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Bar del Castello
reviewed
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Bar de Maio
This bar has been raising the locals’ cholesterol levels since 1930 with a delicious selection of ultracreamy ice creams, as well as coffee, cocktails and snacks. Take a seat in the square with your cone; this central piazza is a prime people-watching spot. According to residents, it's the best ice-cream parlour on the island.
reviewed
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Caffe Calce
Located just above the Piazza Duomo, this place has a time-tested feel, with its old-fashioned interior and crusty local clientele. The coffee is famously the best in town, and the sweet treats of pastries and ice creams are reliably good.
reviewed
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Caracale
Along this unpretentious marina, with its old fishing boats, piles of fishing nets and meandering cats, any restaurant will provide you with a memorable dining experience. This place is one of the best. Go for a simple fresh seafood dish, like soup with mussels or grilled swordfish and don’t forget to order the tangy fresh lemon salad with fresh mint. Delicious.
reviewed
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Cicirinella
This place has that winning combination of an earthy and inviting atmosphere and unfailingly good, delicately composed dishes. Exposed stone, shelves of wine and an open-plan kitchen set the scene for enjoying traditional Campanian cuisine like pasta with seafood and chickpeas, or a mussel soup that tastes satisfyingly of the sea.
reviewed
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Da Ettore
This homely, eight-table trattoria has an epic reputation. Scan the walls for famous fans like comedy great Totò, and a framed passage from crime writer Massimo Siviero, who mentions Ettore in one of his tales. Casting the spell are solid regional dishes like the signature pasta patata e provola (pasta with potato and provola cheese). Book two days ahead for Sunday lunch.
reviewed
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Da Maria
Just off Piazza del Duomo, at the beginning of the main pedestrian thoroughfare, this cavernous place attracts a dedicated crowd ranging from off-the-yacht Neapolitans to coachloads of tourists. But don’t be put off as the wood-fired pizzas are excellent, the atmosphere is jolly, and the pastas and main courses are solidly reliable, if a tad overpriced.
reviewed
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Da Raffaele
Handily situated in the middle of Via Roma, this brightly-lit, welcoming place has few surprises on the menu but prepares everything well. Try the frittura di pesce all’ischitana (mixed fried fish; €13) or melanzane a funghetti (fried aubergine with tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and basil) and grab a table out front for the best people-watching potential on this pedestrian shopping street.
reviewed
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Donna Rosa
This is one of the Amalfi Coast’s most reputable restaurants, located in mountainside Montepertuso, above Positano. Once a humble trattoria and now run by Rosa’s daughter Raffaella, the culinary lineage is set to continue with Raffaella’s daughter Erika who has studied with Jamie Oliver in London. The celebrity chef has a long connection with the restaurant, having dined here on his honeymoon and declared it to be one of his all-time favourite restaurants.
The menu changes frequently but you can be guaranteed some of the best food – and views – on the coast. Don’t miss the hot chocolate soufflé and be sure to book ahead. Future plans include cooking courses; check…
reviewed
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Fantasia Gelati
This branch of Naples' king of gelato serves fresh, seasonal, icy perfection to Vomero's middle-class gluttons. Do not deprive your taste buds!
reviewed
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Fusco
This place specialises in local dairy produce, including wonderful fior di latte mozzarella made from cows’ milk. The main draw, however, are the decadently creamy and delicious homemade yogurts, with flavours including hazelnut, strawberry, coffee and orange. There is another Fusco branch in Bomerano (see the Green Ribbon Driving Tour boxed text).
reviewed
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Hosteria Toledo
Hung with nostalgic Neapolitan photos and framed banknotes, this warm, welcoming nook in the Quartieri Spagnoli keeps both locals and out-of-towners purring with its reliable Campanian classics. Tuck into soothing pasta e fagioli con le cozze (pasta with beans and mussels), succulent gamberini alla griglia (grilled prawns) or contorni (sides) like smoky, pepper-spiked zucchini alla griglia (grilled zucchini).
reviewed
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Il Focolare
A good choice for those seeking a little turf instead of surf, this is one of the island’s best loved restaurants. Family run, homey and rustic, it has a solidly traditional meat-based menu with steaks, lamb cutlets and specialities, including coniglio all’Ischitana (typical local rabbit dish with tomatoes, garlic and herbs) and tagliatelle al ragu di cinghiale (ribbon-shaped pasta with wild boar ragout).
On the sweet front, the desserts are home-made and exquisite. Owner Riccardo D’Ambra (who runs the restaurants together with his son, Agostino), is a leading local advocate of the Slow Food Movement. If you want seafood, coffee or soft drinks, you'll have to go…
reviewed
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Il Teatro
This superb no-fuss trattoria is tucked away in the atmospheric backstreets of the centro storico. The old-fashioned interior has a series of arches and walls decorated with black-and-white photos and assorted bric-a-brac. Seafood specialities include pesce spada il teatro (swordfish in a tomato, caper and olive-oil sauce), plus there are some good vegetarian options, including scialatielli al teatro (pasta with tomatoes and aubergines).
reviewed
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La Brezza
With a steely grey-and-white interior, free internet and wi-fi, and a terrace with views over the beach and quay, this is the best frontline place for a panini or snack. There are regular art exhibitions and a daily ‘happy hour’ (6pm-8pm), with drinks accompanied by complimentary light eats.
reviewed
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La Cambusa
This restaurant, run by amiable Luigi, is on the front line which, given the number of cash-rich tourists in these parts, could equal high prices for less than average food. Happily, that is not the case here. The locals still rate La Cambusa as a top place for seafood.
Go for simple spaghetti with clams, oven baked sea bass or splash out with the Mediterranean lobster. There is a good selection of side dishes, like roasted artichokes, and the position is Positano at its best.
reviewed
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La Cantina del Feudo
Frequented by locals in the know, this restaurant is tucked up a side street off the pedestrian Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. Eating here is like eating at your grandma’s house when everything was simpler yet the taste was still spot on. The menu changes daily but the emphasis is on vegetable dishes like white beans with chicory, noodles and turnip tops, and ravioli stuffed with cheese and topped with a spinach-cum-pesto sauce. The interior has a rural trattoria feel and there’s an outside terrace for al fresco dining.
reviewed
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La Cantina del Mare
Tired of sand in your sandwiches? This friendly place is located just across the road from the beach and serves excellent dishes to locals and wised-up tourists; seafood is the speciality. Sit on the pretty terrace or in the moodily-lit interior lined with shelves of wine. The bread is pretty special too, made in the oldest bread oven on the island and delivered here daily. English is spoken.
reviewed
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La Fenice
It’s too large and bright for a romantic dinner for two but locals continue to recommend this place for its down-to-earth, well-prepared dishes, particularly the seafood, such as mussels with garlic and parsley, and grilled squid.
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La Lampara
Enjoy the view of the picturesque marina from the restaurant terrace here. The dishes of choice are centred on seafood, based on the freshest catch of the day. Get your feet wet with the marinated seafood antipasti before taking the plunge with a hearty plate of ravioli a’sapore di mare (seafood ravioli).
reviewed
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La Masardona
Naples' iconic pizza fritta – deep-fried pizza dough stuffed with pork ciccioli (dried lard cubes), salami, ham, smoked provola, ricotta, tomato – is best savoured at this no-frills, cult-status joint. Most regulars order it senza ricotta (without ricotta), and wash it down with sweet marsala wine. There's an escarole, olives and provola cheese version, and both come in a snack-size version, called batti l'occhio.
reviewed