Where to eat and drink in Marsala

Marsala is a beautiful coastal city in Sicily, famed for its sweet Marsala wine, salt pans and ancient ruins. If you’re heading to Marsala and wondering what restaurants to book or where to enjoy a drink before dinner, read on! Here’s my recommendations of where to eat and drink in Marsala.

Where to enjoy a drink or aperitivo in Marsala

Mamma Caura at the salt pans

Marsala is not just famous for its Marsala wine, it’s also famous for its salt (saline). An experience you simply must have is aperitivo overlooking a salt pan. There are a few to choose from but we opted to book Mamma Caura, which overlooks the Ettore and Infersa saline mill, which is a working mill. In fact, we could see workers shoveling salt into big piles while we were enjoying our drinks. Note that it’s located about a 15 to 20 minute drive from the city centre.

I really recommend booking in advance on their website as it’s very popular. Plus, if you book ahead you are likely to get a better table – we were sat right at the front so had the perfect view. It’s fairly pricey but we thought it was worth it. It cost €30 per person and that included crostini with amberjack, stracciatella, tomatoes and lemon zest – 3 pieces each – which was absolutely divine, and a glass of champagne or any drink of your choice up to the value of €15. We opted for the champagne to get more value for our money! Although the pour was a bit on the small side. If you book online you pay in advance. Then if you order anything else when you’re there, you pay for that at the end.

We loved the experience! And if we’d had more time, we would have also tried L’arpa in Salina Genna.

Ciacco Putia Gourmet

Located opposite the Chiesa del Purgatorio is Ciacco Putia Gourmet. If you’re into Pet Nat (Pétillant Naturel) wines, this is the place to go. Be warned though… the service is pretty slow. They even have a sign telling you it’s slow! It took us abut 40 mins to order and enjoy a glass of wine so don’t head here if you’re in a rush. But it’s a gorgeous setting with the stunning church in front of you and a fountain behind. They do also serve food if you want to stay for dinner.

Enoteca San Giuseppe

Located in the same street (Via Sebastiano Cammareri Scurti) as Ciacco Putia Gourmet is Enoteca San Giuseppe. It is a really cute little wine bar and wine shop with seats outside. What’s great is that this road is pedestrianised so you can enjoy a drink without cars driving past. The service here is definitely quicker – we ordered and had a drink in front of us in about 5 minutes! As they’re an Enoteca, they have an extensive wine list.

La Sirena Ubriaca

If you’re a wine aficionado and you’re keen to try Sicilian wines, head to La Sireba Ubrica, close to the Cathedral. They are very knowledgeable and will help you choose a local wine based on your preferences. The setting is really lovely too.

Where to eat in Marsala

Grano Pizzeria

We had actually booked dinner at Grano Pizzeria in advance of our holiday so we were happy to see it listed on the recommended restaurants list at our hotel (Dome Hotel). You can’t actually book online so my husband called them to make a booking. He then called again either the day before or on the day to confirm our booking but when we arrived, they didn’t seem to have our booking! As it’s a pizzeria, it doesn’t take long to wait for a table so even if you just turned up, you wouldn’t have a long wait to be seated.

Just to highlight… if you’re walking, your directions on Apple maps might be incorrect. It showed us that it was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel, cutting through a park. However, when we got to the park it was closed and has apparently been closed to the public for years as it’s an archaeological site. So we had to walk the long way round which ended up taking about 25 minutes in total! And yes, I did report it to Apple maps as an incorrect route.

Anyway… back to the food! To start we ordered two of the montanarine – a Neapolitan classic of fried pizza with different toppings. We went for the San Daniele, which had prosciutto crudo, stracciatella and datterino tomatoes and the Romagnola which had Mortadella and pistacchio (we had to order that one as my husband is from Emilia-Romagna!).

To say these fried pizzas are addictive is an understatement! Oh my. I could’ve eaten 10! But, we had to save room for the pizza of course. I must also add that we ordered the roasted octopus with roast potatoes, which is actually a second course, but we had it as a starter. It was nice, although a bit chewy. I’d say order more montanarine – or a salad…

Hands down the pizza at Grano Pizzeria is one of the best I’ve ever had. No wonder the restaurant was packed. I ordered the 24 Mesi which had San Daniele prosciutto crudo aged at 24 months, fior di latte, stracciatella and different tomatoes. Absolutely lush! My husband was a bit purist and went for the Margherita.

If you’re looking for a fantastic pizza in a vibrant setting, then definitely head to Grano Pizzeria. The service was really good too and the wine was great!

La Marinara

La Marinara is a family run restaurant in the historic centre of Marsala in Piazza Mameli. It was recommended by our hotel and it was a great recommendation! We had a fabulous meal.

For our starters we ordered a fish tartare but it had a twist… it had a bulgar wheat base and seaweed on the top – like you’d get in a sushi restaurant. The Japanese flavours were right up my street – I loved it!

For our pasta courses my husband opted for the busiate with lobster. Busiate is a pasta shape that is very typical in Sicily and my husband and I are big fans. His pasta was really good – fabulous flavours.

I ordered something I very rarely order in Sicily but I spotted the table next to us eating it and the smell was so divine, I couldn’t resist. The seafood couscous, I think, is one of their specialties. It was very generous with the seafood! It comes with a sort of bisque that you add to the couscous to your preference. Honestly, it was so good! I would order it again in a heartbeat.

With a name like La Marinara, it’s pretty obvious that seafood is big focus. They actually have a window where you can see all the fish – a bit like a fishmonger – so when we were ordering our fish course we went up to the window to choose the fish. That was quite fun – rather than them bringing you a big plate or a trolley of fish to look at at your table.

Now forgive me because I can’t remember exactly what fish we went for but it was most likely a sea bream or sea bass. We had it served with potatoes, tomatoes and olives. The sauce was fantastic and the fish was lovely and moist. Wasn’t too keen on being served the head though!

When we went inside to pay, they kindly offered us some five-year-old Marsala wine with homemade biscuits, which was a lovely touch. What was even nicer was we raved about the biscuits and they gave a vacuum packed bag to take home with us!

We had such a wonderful evening at La Marinara. Not only was the food fantastic but the setting is really lovely and the service was excellent. As a family run restaurant, they really care and it shows.

Osteria Le Radici

So Osteria Le Radici was another recommendation from our hotel and what a recommendation! It’s actually located off the beaten track meaning that you probably wouldn’t just stumble past it. Well, unless you were visiting the Church of Sant’ Antonino, as it’s next door. We saw it listed on the restaurant recommendations the hotel had left in our room so we went to check it out before booking it. It is a really lovely setting so we asked to see the menu and then I had a quick look on their Instagram account and …sold! We booked a table for the next evening.

Run by a husband and wife team, you can feel the love that goes into every dish at Osteria Le Radici. The food is Sicilian in tradition but with a modern twist that showcases local flavours and seasonal produce.

We started with the crocchette di pulled pork con salsa nduja and the (I kid you not) hot dog di Aragosta (lobster hot dog). The crocchette were so divine! It was nice to have some meat instead of fish or seafood. And the nduja salsa wasn’t too spicy, which my husband was happy about! They were beautifully presented too.

I’m not going to lie… I wasn’t sure about the lobster hot dog but boy was I happy to be proved wrong! It was a bit like a lobster roll from Boston. The roll itself was a buttery brioche and they didn’t skimp on the lobster. My husband even enjoyed the coleslaw which he normally hates. If this is on the menu when you visit, order it!

For my pasta course I ordered the maccheroni del Pastificio Martelli with mussels, cacio cheese, cavolo nero and a touch of lemon. When it arrived, the sauce looked a touch of the watery side but actually it wasn’t at all. It was fabulous! And perfect to dip some bread in.

My husband loves ricci (sea urchins) so he ordered the Spaghettone con ricci with black garlic and a prawn bisque. I’m sorry my blurry photo doesn’t really do it justice but take it from us, it was incredible.

Somehow we managed to squeeze in space for a fish course – to share. We had the Ombrina with chard, a zucchini sauce and potato chips (not fries!). It was a lovely dish to end the meal.

We had a fantastic evening at Osteria Le Radici! The service was warm, friendly and attentive. The food is absolutely fabulous – every single dish. And the setting is really lovely.

La bottega del Carmine

We had our last meal in Marsala at La Bottega del Carmine, which was located about a 2 minute walk from our hotel – handy! From the outside it looks very unassuming as all the tables are actually right at the back in a big garden. And to be honest, the photos they have outside don’t do it justice.

We popped in one day just to confirm our booking and they took us through to see the garden area with the tables so I took a photo. Isn’t it lovely? Like a little oasis.

And then at night it’s even prettier with the strings of lights and the subtle lighting from the table lamps. It really is a gorgeous setting. And thankfully the food matched the setting!

For starters we ordered the arancini with red mullet ragu and the Bluefin tuna tartare, which had some candied orange in it. Both dishes were so good! The tuna was so fresh and it was a really decent portion size.

For the pasta course, my husband ordered the busiate Florio which had red tuna, cherry tomatoes and mint – gorgeous!

I opted for the Lo Spaghetto Bottega, which came with bottarga, lemon zest and red tuna tartare underneath. What was so clever about this pasta is that if you want the tuna cooked, you just mix it all together as the heat from the pasta then cooks it.

After our pasta courses, we shared a fish course which was Le Regine del mare (the Queen of the sea). It was a fillet of Orata (sea bream) with a pistacchio crumb on a bed of creamy leeks. It was so good! And it looked so pretty too.

Somehow we managed to fit in dessert and we chose the Cassata Siciliana all’Arancia. Our server – who was absolutely lovely by the way – recommended it as it was his favourite. Normally we don’t really order cassata but he said it wasn’t a typical cassata – and he was right! It was a bit too sweet for our tastes though, as it had quite a bit of orange sort of jam, but I’m glad we tried it.

We had such a lovely meal at La Bottega del Carmine. The setting is gorgeous, the service was excellent – the chef even came out at one point to serve us a course – and the food was fabulous.

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