Clean place with small plates but good taste. Bloody Mary had great flavor. Staff was very…read moreattentive and spoke English. Menu offered in English, which often means you're going to get your standard touristy restaurant offering pizza and pasta that isn't very good. However, the plates were very good. I got the beef in tuna sauce and the octopus and potatoes. The beef paired with the tuna sauce well. Neither overpowered the other. The octopus was very tender and cooked well, Often times you get it tough. It was grilled and gave it a bit of a BBQ flavor. The soft potato cream helped balance that. Definitely worth checking out for something different than pizza and pasta most restaurants are offering throughout Italy.

A pair of classics in their respective cities (1 of 2)…read more - - - - - What? Why aren't there more reviews for Caffe' Parisi? Caffe' Parisi has been around for at least 50 years and is in the Fontanarossa area right outside the Catania Airport property. It's to its east, just past the rental car agencies. You can walk there, although the sidewalk is rough and crusty, just like Catania itself. Caffe' Parisi has a counter to pick up things like pizza by the slice, arancini, desserts, and drinks. You can take them to go or you can move further in to the large eating area. If you do this at night, you can only go so far into this eating area. Then, upon once visiting it during daylight hours, I learned that you can go much further in and, there, they have a section for "gastronomia" (sort of like a "tavola calda" with trays). They do a good job with both the things up front and with the "gastronomia" toward the back. Items are fairly priced. The service is friendly enough and, on one occasion in the back, the guy started to speak to me in his marginal English (with extra vowels that don't exist) and I told him to knock it off. He did. It looks like this is a business that has been handed down and a woman who may be closer to the founders and its founding times is sometimes there. One time she was the cashier and, with me and everyone else in line, she went about her work with this sort of scowl. As I got up to the cash register, something got me to say, "Nun ce bisognu di esseri sgrevita." I was looking to get her to laugh, or at least be less uptight, but she did look a little surprised to hear that from a customer. You won't find this in Italian, because it's the local lingo and means "There's no need to be cranky." I think that covers it. I've mentioned Caffe' Parisi's food (including the lunch "gastronomia"), the large eating areas, the prices, and the service, which is "mostly" good. They see a lot of people - both locals for whom it's a hangout and people who do wander over from the airport. That means they've seen it all and the world weariness here is what makes this place humorous. You can find it right at the traffic circle that has a large metallic airplane in its center, where Santa Maria Goretti intersects with Giuseppe Alla Rena, which runs outside of and in front of the airport. There was a symmetrically placed traffic circle in front of the airport, and it used to be empty. In it, packs of stray dogs would just lie there all day. They have now spruced it up and put an airplane in that traffic circle, too. I asked some employees where the dogs went. One person told me they got moved, or moved themselves, to the streets around Caffe' Parisi. They were harmless, sort of timid, and have seen hordes of people since they came into this world. However, they could be goofy and, sadly, I didn't see them near Parisi. I'm giving Caffe' Parisi 4 stars instead of 5 stars because their pizza slices, which are too thick for my taste, weren't the tastiest and it's far from fine dining. If you have some time and need to eat something, especially during lunch, leave the airport and come here. I have on a few occasions. Also, the ownership and staff at Caffe' Parisi should gloss over my smart-alecky comments about them and their restaurant because, after all, I'm sending them customers!

Bee lined for this place due to the reviews. The views from our seats inside were amazing. Only had…read moretime to order a Ham and Mushroom pizza. Thin, crispy and it was absolutely amazing. Highly recommend this place. We were cruising at had to be back to our meeting point at 12:55 so we had little time to enjoy the food and view. A must go!!!!

Great pasta and awesome pizza. The crust is to die for. The service here is really really great…read more Beautiful views overlooking the water. Best pizza so far.

My husband and I came to Taormina on our honeymoon and visited Caffe Isola Bella almost every night…read morebecause of how welcoming they were and how amazing the food and gelato was!! Anush and Ulek were so welcoming and chatted with us making us feel right at home! Didi prepared the most delicious food, our favorites being the fish and chips (SO FRESH) and the piccante sandwich such a simple, spicy, and again FRESH sandwich! We came one night after dinner just to have a gelato and glass of wine and were treated with such kindness and friendly conversation, we will never forget this special part of our honeymoon! Wishing Anush, Ulek, and Didi all the blessings in the future and 100/10 recommend trying this caffe out if you're in the Taormina area!!

We had a GREAT time at Caffé Isola Bella! Our server, Valerio, was awesome and totally made us…read moreTexans feel welcome and at home. The arancini was the best we had (we got the spinach and ragu) and the pizza was delicious. Already looking forward to going back. Get the house wine, you won't regret it!

Stumbled by this place on my way to the funivia to get up to Taormina. I was starving and didn't…read morefeel like waiting in line and having to find somewhere to eat so I decided to eat at la marina. I wish i got my servers name but he was fantastic. Very polite and professional. Food came out in a perfectly timely manner. Ordered liter of red house wine, side salad and spicy salami pizza to start. Pizza was amazing very delicious and piled with spicy salami. Yum! Next ordered the trofie pasta with tuna, olives and capers (local dish) and a spicy shrimp spaghetti dish which was off the chart. Both pasta dishes were fantastic and the portion size was big. The interior of the restaurant was very cool. They have a great wine display and extensive selection of great wines. I highly recommend eating here. Initially I was skeptical because it is in a super touristy location but I have no regrets. Great food, service and ambiance. Grazie!!

This restaurant is right beside the entrance and exit from the Gondola that brings you up and down…read moreto Taormina. Great service here and friendly Owners. The window sign said that they are open 24 hours so I think this would be a great place to grab a snack late at night. We got here after swimming in the Ionian Sea and me and my co workers were starving from all the swimming and fun we just had and figured we'd grab a bite to eat before heading back up to Taormina. Had some wine and some food and wasn't disappointed. Had the Macaroni al norma and it was very flavorful and good. The bruschetta was about average and the bread was a little crunchy and I didn't really like it. Overall , I wouldn't mind coming back here to eat some food before heading up to Taormina on the Gondola!

So if I was to say, I love this place I would mean it. I do love this place. Right off the bat, I…read morecame up and asked for a table for 1 and they smiled, I thought no way on a Saturday night would they accommodate me, they said no problem we have a table for you and I was treated like a valued person by Guadalcanal, Attilio and Graziana. My pizza was the bomb full of flavor with some extra buffalo mozzarella. The tiramisu is so flavourful. My friends that I'm travelling with are not foodies, they just eat for survival, that is not me and they missed out. Really they were tired and I always pick the restaurants anyway. I would chuze this one every day of the week.

My husband and I came here via cruise ship bus transfer from Messina and are so glad we did! We…read moreonly had about 3 hours in town, and eating pizza was one of our goals! We were the only customers when we arrived at opening time for lunch. Service was prompt and we were allowed to sit outdoors in the shade. We ordered 1 white and 1 red pizza. They were both delightfully crispy and fluffy and flavors delicious. We enjoyed the red one more because we prefer the tart tomato flavor. We wish we had more time to stay and eat more in town, but unfortunately had to go back to our cruise ship. We still think about this pizza from time to time.

The most popular restaurant in all of Taormina does not disappoint. Be prepared for long lines with…read moreno reservations. The atmosphere is lively, the hospitality unlike any restaurant we visited. Very family forward. Ladies kept kissing my daughter's head. The men kept tapping it. They love children. The food was very good. Mixed seafood pasta and the pasta Rita had unique flavors I've never had. Very touristy but experience felt very local.

Osteria da Rita lives up to the reviews (a 4.5 rating for me)- delicious, traditional Sicilian…read morecuisine, welcoming and efficient staff, good energy. We had lunch there two days in a row and the meals were consistently good and the best we had in our two days in Taormina. There seems to be a good social media buzz about the place. Let's start with seating. As all the reviews convey, there are no reservations; first come first served and always a line to get in. For lunch, when we arrived at 11:45 for the line, we were able to get an inside seat when they opened at 12 noon. In the second day we arrived at 11:40 and were able to get a prized outside seat. My observation for lunch is that if you arrive between 11:50 and 12:00 you may risk not getting in the first seating and I heard the staff communicate it would be up to an hour or 90 minutes before the second round of seating. For the food, on the first day we ordered bruschetta (a single piece is complimentary on the house but if you want more should order off the appetizer menu): fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil. One of the best bruschetta's I have had. We also ordered caponata which had whole garlic cloves and traditional elements; would also recommend. Ordered a bottle of the house white which was solid. We both had the braciola (rolled meat) because my wife had a recipe for it from her grandmother and we wanted to compare; it was a good portion and hearty for lunch. We shared a tiramisu for dessert, very rich and creamy and we like that the lady finger cookies still had a bit of a crunch. Next to us a couple from California had the grilled sardines and tuna which they said they really enjoyed. On the second day, we both ordered spritzes (Aperol and Limoncello) and started with the fried calamari; it had a good taste and was very lightly battered and fried. I was expecting something with a bit more batter and maybe more crunchy but glad we tried it. We also ordered a fennel and orange salad which was the highlight of the lunch - so refreshing and a perfect balance. For entrees, I had the spinach and ricotta ravioli which I would absolutely recommend and my spouse had the pasta with a ragu sauce - equally delicious. We decided to hold on dessert and save room for granita later in the afternoon. While sitting outside, many passers by commented to their companions that "this is the place to eat in Taormina". From our experiences there, we would certainly agree.

Visited Da Cristina while in Taormina -- because you can't come to Sicily and not have arancini…read more The setup is very casual with fast ordering, though expect a long wait (worth it). Service was efficient despite the crowds. We tried the prosciutto and cheese arancini, and honestly, it was the first time I truly enjoyed one -- the cheese and prosciutto melted together perfectly, with great texture and flavor. Overall, a classic Taormina stop and definitely worth a visit. Saluti

The Arancini Etna at €4.50 is pretty yummy. A rice ball deep fried to a nice thin light brown…read morecrunch. There's mildly spicy sausage in mildly spicy marinara inside. It's filling and, if you're not careful, slightly messy - use your hands, no fork necessary nor suppled. Grab an espresso or americano to go along with it. Or them, but they're filling, remember, and you're going out for dinner later. Take a number and you'll be served soon. The staff spoke good English when we went. The extensive menu is on your phone, though locals just point at the myriad items on display. Tell them you want your receipt before you pay with your credit card if you are expensing. Sit outside in the very small covered piazza or the very small inside eating area. You'll need to bus your tray yourself. Go there.

Loyal customer for 10 years -- deeply disappointed. My Wife and I have celebrated our anniversary…read moreand countless family occasions here for a decade, always traveling from Dubai for this restaurant. This year, our outdoor table was pushed against the toilets out of the restaurant, and so narrow we had to sit side by side instead of facing each other. When we gently joked about it feeling like a school desk rather than a romantic dinner, the owner reacted with shouting and open hostility, said he'd had enough of complaints, and walked off. We stood there for several minutes expecting him to find a solution -- instead we watched him take orders from other tables while ignoring us completely. We left without eating. The front-of-house management and the owner's attitude have deteriorated badly. A simple table change (booked with one month, shame on them) would have fixed everything,

Great food. Large portions at a reasonable price. Great hosts and chef that greet you and check on…read moreyour food. Open air dining is great after the sun goes down.