This restaurant is carved into the rocks so it's pretty much a cave, which is a lot of what Matera…read moreis about. It was very nice inside and the staff was very friendly. Their English was middling but better than my Italian! My family and I had antipasto, chicken and potatoes, pizza, soup, and ravioli. The chicken and potatoes were great! Frankly, I wanted a straight-forward meat and potatoes meal for a break while touring Italy, and this dish hit the spot--not one tomato on it. The food was good. Cappuccinos were great. We made reservations for dinner and arrived on time at 6pm. The place was empty except for the other tourist family from England. Americans typically eat dinner from 5-7p. Italians eat dinner from 7-9p. We had the restaurant to ourselves for dinner at EVERY establishment we visited until 7p when the locals started showing up. Definitely make reservations if you want to ensure space for your party!

All I need to say is Spaghetti All'Assasina. It was amazing. We had several other dishes and all…read morewere great. Great setting in the magical town of Matera Italy

Not bad but not great , non male ma non eccezionale : they…read moreseated me in a high traffic area by the singer so i was uncomfortable from the get go .. i requested another table, but, no way when you're a solo diner .. food was below average for Matera which has some very good ristoranti .. service was good enough.. but the view of the Sassi was excellent .. ma la vista dei Sassi e stato eccellente !

We had very good service on this big holiday for Italy …read more I ordered the grandmothers pasta orecchiette with red sauce and lamb It was fantastic! My husband had the orecchiette with rapini anchovies and bread crumbs he's loved it . My frond had the spaghetti with anchovies. We were all satisfied and happy . Again the service was great . English menus and English speaking server ! The ambiance was beautiful in caves of course . Twinkle lights on dried grape vines . Lovely

This is a fabulous Italian restaurant in Matera Italy. We started our meals off with a few…read moreappetizers mainly the known foods around the area of southern Italy. Eggplant Parmesan, potatoes, ricotta cheese, fried zucchini flowers with cheese inside these were so good! Sliced meats and olives. Everything was delicious! For our mains my husband had the lamb, it is like a stew and on the bone. He enjoyed it, portions are quite large here. I had the home made cavetelli with red pepper and pecorino cheese my cousin and her husband had the orecchiette pasta. My cousins daughter just wanted pasta with tomato sauce and fries. I tasted the fries and even the fries were delicious! For dessert we shared the lemon sorbetto it was devine!! A little pricey but worth it for the food and the ambience.

Based on the Yelp reviews we gave this restaurant a try. I think it might have changed since…read moreCOVID, because it was just o.k. The service was very good, but the food was nothing special. The ambiance was also just ok. I did enjoy the insalate due, which had crispy proscuitto and homemade croutons, but it didn't come with dressing - rather, they served little packets of oil and aceto balsamico with it. Orchietti is apparently a local specialty, so I ordered theirs, with bacon and crispy peppers (also a local specialty) but the fava bean sauce was not great - thick snd starchy. I appreciated that they had half bottles of local wine, which was nice. My husband enjoyed the baccala, which is a baked cod dish. So not bad, but not as good as noted by prior reviewers. There are better choices in the Sasso Caveoso.

I've been to: Bamontes in Brooklyn, NY that first opened in…read morethe year 1900. Old Homestead Steakhouse opened in 1868 in New York City Tadish Grill in San Francisco opened in 1849 Musso and Franks opening was in 1919 in Los Angeles, CA Today, Il Terrazzino's Restaurant in Matera, Italy opened in the early 1600's. Now we're talking about a restaurant that opened up over 900 years ago and their menu and food is still ridiculously good! I guess their food had had to be good to stay open almost 1,000 years! The views from our balcony table were amazing. The characters serving us were entertaining and our lunch was 1,000 years old fantastic. We opened with a Tonno Salad (Tuna) that was great. I had their specialty of the house pasta which was - FUSILLI AL TEGAMINO with sausage and mozzarella, quick baked pasta with sausage ragù. After you eat a bowl of this, you absolutely know you're in Italy. The beauty of I'll Terrrazzino Ristorante is just how good it is and not being a tourist spot, and maintaining its integrity for 1,000 years! This was a once in a lifetime experience.

Excellent location overlooking the Bari Sassi and very historical too. One could easily miss the…read morevery deep ancient wine cellar , so be sure to ask and trek all the way down to the bottom to imagine what life was like 80 years ago. We did not come for pizza but for many vegetarian dishes , they have 4-5 different minestrones very thick with many options such as grains and chick peas or eggplant and of course the classic mix . Also big nicoise style salad w tuna and a mushroom tagliatelle w house made pasta. We had a couple super nice waiters this is true just about everywhere in Italys south. We split everything plus a nice tartufo de pizzo chocolate hazelnut ice cream roll which is a Calabrian specialty ., 50 euro w wine out the door for 2. I may never return to California ;-/

It's everything you want in an Italian food experience. This ranks way up at the top in all our…read moretravels. Grazie Stano!

We arrived on a Sunday evening in Matera, and we wanted a nice ristorante for Cena (dinner).  Stano…read morewas one of several that our host at Casa Roselli recommended,  and we chose Stano based on its menu featuring dishes that reflect the local cuisine as well as the Basilicata region.  Despite not having a reservation, we were seated without much wait. The restaurant interior is bright,  contemporary with clean lines.  Service was terrific.  We started with drinks and ordered a bottle of wine -- an AGLIANICO DEL VULTURE, Verbo 2020 D.O.P. (4/5 18,00€). For dinner, we enjoyed: FUSILLI IN BIANCO (5/5) -- Fuscilli pasta in a white wine sauce with with peperone crusco (crusco pepper), fried bread crumbs, bacon, and horse cheese.  Pepperoni crusco is deeply rooted in the local cuisine of Basilicata. 13,00€ GUANCIA DI VITELLO (5/5) -- Veal cheek with mashed potatoes and sautéed greens. 20,00€ ARROSTO MISTO AGNELLO (4/5) -- Roast lamb and sausage served with baked potatoes. 18,00€ FILETO ARROSTO DI MANZO (4/5) -- Beautiful grilled steak served with sautéed greens and roasted potatoes -- we ordered this dish "senza glutine". 23,00€ SALADE MISTO (4/5) -- Mixed greens. 4,00€ With our Cover (3,00€ per person), came a delightful loaf of fresh local bread with a great local EVOO (5/5). Overall, we had terrific dining experience in the city of the Sassi.

Great experience at Baccanti - good service and ambiance. I…read moregot the pork chops for my main - the flavours of the mashed potato, peperocino, reduction and pork really worked well together. The only fall back was that the pork chop was too fatty - it was hard to cut off the layers of fat. I do wish they trimmed the chop before searing it to avoid this. The other fallback - I do wish they had served a serrated knife with the main. The wine pairing with my food was perfect. I had the bread, olive oil, salt dessert. The best dish I had here. It was an amazingly creative dish. Don't want to spoil the experience for the readers but this is a MUST order.

Very quaint restaurant with excellent food. They have an extensive wine list to please anyone. We…read morehad the fava bean puree with chickory, white truffle pasta, pork in bechamel sauce and pasta with clam sauce. Every plate was excellent.

This is a charming place cut into a mountain in Matera. It has a blend of casual feel with fine…read moretable settings and table cloths. The team if servers is very helpful in describing the meals and selecting wines. My wife and I split the nochi with local sausage in a delicious cream sauce. Next we shared the slice beef which was surprisingly tender and went well with the potato cakes and mushrooms. Finally, for dessert we had a ricotta and chocolate cake that was like none I'd had before. All this gray food came with a very reasonable price so our entire experience was one we will always remember fondly.

This place is delicious! We waited to get a table and it was well worth it for a late night dinner…read more Great service and friendly staff. We ordered other appetizers to start with that are not pictured, like the local cheese. We chose a local wine of course and it was very good. They have gluten free pasta, crackers to try the local cheese and plenty of dishes that are naturally gluten free.

It was a cold winter's night with nary an open restaurant to be found on Befana Eve in snowy Matera…read more(December 6th, Befana, is the morning where kids in Italy awake to presents brought by the legendary witch). We stumbled upon Osteria Malatesta (Malatesta is an old Italian (Rimini) family name and literally means "bad head" or "crazy") while walking down a back street toward the Sassi di Matera (old town - UNESCO site) where there seemed to be more action and open shops. The place was full except for an open table and the two servers were running around taking orders and delivering food when we arrived. We were just happy to be in a warm room and out of the uncharacteristically bitter cold in Southern Italy. The server told us that the table was reserved, but there were seats available at the "tavola degli amici" (table of the friends), a table for eight where a young couple from Puglia was already sitting, one a forest ranger and his wife a Carabinieri (state police). They invited us to join them, not like they had a choice, and were quite welcoming and friendly. For our antipasto, we decided to share the formaggi (cheese), olive (green olives), e salame (and salami) accompanied by fresh bread. For €8, the plate was a bit sparse with three small triangles of local cheese, about 9-10 green olives, and four slices of salami. I think €4 to €5 would have been a more reasonable price. A litre of local red house (della casa) wine was much more reasonably priced at €4.50 and was quite good. For our entrees, we decided to go light and order only pasta (no meat course). My wife went with the local cavatelli in a pesto, gorgonzola, and almond sauce (€8). The portion was of decent size and the sauce rich and flavorful. THe combination of pesto and gorgonzola was unique, but they pulled it off quite well. I wanted to try a local dish and the server recommended the Orecchiette Cruschi e Mollica Fritta (€8). Cruschi are sun dried sweet Italian peppers with the seeds removed, cut or crushed into tiny pieces, then pan fried in olive oil until crispy. The olive oil and peppers are then added to the cooked cavatelli, sprinkled with fried breadcrumbs. It was quite different than any pasta dish I have had and tasty enough, but there are many more sauces I prefer to this one. The tavern was old with large arched stone ceiling, a bit plain but inviting nonetheless. The tables and chairs were old and wooden with candles burning on all except ours. The service was efficient, but as cold as the air outside, barely talking to us until we left and I told them that I was a food critic. They became all smiles then and treated us like old friends ... too late. CombatCritic Gives Osteria Malatesta 6 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!