Dined at Trattoria Il Mare while in Catania, and it may have been our most truly authentic Sicilian…read moremeal of the trip. The atmosphere was cozy, with a small streetside feel, and the service was genuinely traditional -- it honestly felt like dining in someone's home. We enjoyed a full plate of alici fritti, Insalata Pantesca, pasta con vongole, and scaloppina al Marsala -- everything was perfectly cooked, full of flavor, and paired beautifully with the vino di casa. Overall, a fantastic spot and a definite trip highlight. I only wish we had more time for repeat visits. Saluti

Wanted seafood so tried out Trattoria Il Mare for dinner. It was packed outside but no wait for a…read moretable inside. Menu and ordering is straight the QR code. Coperto was 2,00€/person. - White wine (1,50€ for 1/4L) - Red wine (1,50€ for 1/4L) - Mixed platter (12,00€) - mix of octopus, oyster, squid, sardines, baby shrimp and mixed fried seafood. Favourite was the octopus. Came with a fried fish fritter (surprisingly tender). - Mix grilled seafood (15,00€) - swordfish was dry. Seafood wasn't grilled. Platter was better - Red peppers (4,00€) - cold, marinated style. Meh - Grilled mushrooms (4,00€) - cold, salty porcini mushrooms. Skip it

The food was very tasty and it was lovely sitting outside with a view of Castello Ursino.read more

Outside. Beautiful. Table clothes. Very nice and kind service. Food came out quickly, almost too…read morequick. Didn't care for any of the food. We had two apps and left. Wine was ok they brought out two different bottles to try, place is now packed. Try at your own risk. Not my favorite here. Doris approved 3.5 stars. The whole meal everything pictured was 22.00euro Everyone else cleaned their plates so maybe we didn't pick the right meals.

My wife and I had one of the best dining experiences of our life at Trattoria Giglio Rosso…read more This morning, while walking in Catania we spotted this place and decided to visit it tonight...BOOM! It was delicious! I think we were taken care by the owner judging by the care and passion he gave to us. He gave us some recommendations which we skipped because we wanted to have pasta that night. We ordered grilled octopus with verdure sauce as an appetizer, it was super fresh and delicious. After that we ordered our pasta dishes, my wife went for the Catanian classic Rigatoni alla Norma and I went for the linguini alla Giglio Rosso ( with mussels, prawns, tomatoes, parsley and toasted almonds), it was to die for. We were full by the time to order desserts, my wife and decided to share one, the owner ran away and brought a dessert of its choice for two! BINGO! He blew our taste buds again! We thanked him for the experience and the wonderful food. Top notch!

We popped in upon the recommendation of our airbnb host. There is a large selection of both seafood…read moreand non-seafood dishes. The food was sooooo good. Our server Showeb and the owners were extremely friendly. One of our party spilled sauce on her shirt and the owners graciously brought out stain remover. You do not get that kind of service in my home country. They also ended our meal with complementary homemade almond wine. I highly recommend this restaurant.

An absolute gem! Incredible fresh seafood and amazing service! If you are in Catania, you must stop…read moreby!

This is a fantastic Michelin-starred restaurant located in conjunction with Catania's seafood…read moremarket. We ate everything from sashimi, prawns, squid ink pasta, calimari, oysters... we didn't want the feast to end. Food and wine was affordable, and there was some live music that popped in. Fun and festive dinner!

I read that this place had the best gluten-free pizza people were raving about. They were right,…read morethe gluten-free pizza was excellent, and the regular pizza was also excellent. Pizzas are definitely large in size. They have a lot of other non pizza items so there's something for everyone. I definitely recommend coming here, it's a modern vibe, everyone was very friendly, it's centrally located so walking is easiest. Or if you're driving, you'll just have to find a parking spot somewhere and then plan to walk. Service is not fast, but definitely wasn't slow either, and I'd say prices are on par with similar places in the US. I think 60 euro for 2 pizzas, 1 wine/1 coke, water, and dessert, and the cover charge/seating charge.

This is a gorgeous spot with outdoor dining and a connected bar across the alley!…read more Service was great and English-speaking friendly . The pizza was good but not for us, with New Yorker palates. The pizza as floppy, covered in olive oil to the point of being soupy, and was not cut so it had to be cut while being super soggy. I would recommend if you like this type of pizza, but avoid if you want a crispier slice!

Come here for the nice, shady dining area more than anything else…read more It took quite a bit of time to get our drinks. This was frustrating considering other tables (of locals who were seated after us) were served promptly. There wasn't a food option while we were there, but I understand they source food locally and change their menu by the day. That could be fun to see. We ordered wines and a big beer (Baladin Super) but the menu didn't specify the type of Super, so we ended up with a bitter instead of sour. I liked it enough, but no one else in the group did, unfortunately. I needed to use the restroom and they were completely out of toilet paper. I walked up to the bar and asked for some, and they said it was a "known issue" and pointed at some napkins. Like, fancy table napkins. Interesting. All in all, this was a pretty odd visit and I probably would try a bar elsewhere if I stopped into Catania in the future.

This place is simply amazing! We love coming to Europe and everytime we do it is to find the…read morelocals' spots away from the tourist traps to just hang out, relax and do a little people watching. This is just one of those places! Silvio, the waiter, is what customer service should be and Americans back home should lead by his example. He is as friendly and helpful as can be. I had the best lasagna I have ever had in my life and, being a lasagna aficionado that says a lot, plus ridiculously affordable beer this is the spot to be. I can't wait to bring my wife here when she comes to visit!

We had some really good pizza while we were in Sicily, and this was, for me, #1. We specifically…read morepicked this because it was (1) off the beaten path and (2) very well rated. Come here to have lunch with the locals, and get a really, really, (really) good pizza. (If you're not in the mood, there's a lot of other options - we sat near plenty of pasta eaters if that's what you are in the mood for.) This is the definition of a quick lunch spot, the chairs, tables...super casual. Almost like a cafeteria, but maybe one slight notch above from an ambiance perspective. Not much AC, super hot, who cares. I got a gigantic, ice cold beer to mitigate the heat, and it was a perfect pairing to the pizza. Super simple - sauce, cheese, prosciutto. They even cut it in half for us since we were splitting it. Somehow those three ingredients came together so perfectly that the pizza was almost creamy. That pizza, a 66cl beer, and a huge water - super delicious, we walked out full, and it was only €16. Insanity.

I really enjoyed the food at this restaurant. There was a good variety of pastas, fried chicken and…read morefish and enjoyed the options. We ordered fried swordfish, chicken cutlets, pasta with fish, lasagna with eggplant. The service was extremely good and the owners very friendly. Not knowing Italian in Italy is always a challenge but ordering was extremely easy with a friendly servers . They even called a taxi for us back to our hotel. Highly recommend this place for food and service.

Very lively evening atmosphere sitting on Via Santa Filomena that really gets hopping later on (If…read morethat is what you are looking for, wait until 8PM (20 00) and after). Very nicely prepared, very fresh ingredient dishes at reasonable prices. Definitely worth a try.

We loved loved loved the Pasta alla Norma here so much that when we were in Palermo, we had it…read moreagain! FYI, Pasta alla Norma is Catania's signature dish and absolutely delicious. We also had the Caponata, a must try appetizer. The Porchini Pizza was good, I used the crust to mop up every last bit of the pasta sauce. Ambiance is loud, we sat outdoors and this is located on a bustling street full of restaurants and people. A definite must try if you are in beautiful Catania!