We had a free day in La Spezia after our tour was cancelled due to bad weather so we decided just to walk around the town and have lunch. Our group of 6 did some quick searches and we found Il Pichio rosso was the closest restaurant with good reviews.
We were quickly greeted and seated in the small restaurant. This is definitely a locals type place as we were the only tourists there the entire time. They speak very limited english but with our limited Italian we were able to figure each other out. I would categorize this place and mostly pizza/calzones with some pasta dishes. The house red wine was excellent and inexpensive.
We started off with bruschetta which was prepared so simply, just flatbread fresh tomatoes and olive oil. Absolutely delicious and a great start. Two of us ordered the calzone, three ordered the spaghetti carbonara and one ordered the veal milanese. The calzones were huge and at 7 Euro a definite bargain. The carbonara was okay for me, but I had better in Rome. It was a little bland and just needed some more saltiness like pancetta or parmigiano-reggiano. I was told the veal was very good but did not try it.
For 6 of us the bill was 90 Euro which we all thought was reasonable considering we had 2 liters of wine and beer with our lunch. I would recommend for pizza or calzone but look elsewhere if in the mood for pasta. read more