Salina is such a beautiful island. I’ve been to most of the Aeolian islands and I have to say that Salina is probably my favourite. It’s a fairly big island with little towns so there are plenty of options of where to eat and drink in Salina. These are my recommendations.
Casa lo Schiavo
Located in one of the main streets in Salina is Casa lo Schiavo. It’s a beautiful, rustic old building and you eat outside in an absolutely gorgeous setting!
They also serve aperitivo so before our dinner we had some drinks and snacks. Where they serve drinks is a bit away from the restaurant tables so you get a lovely view. Plus it’s great for people watching as they stroll before dinner.
The menu had quite a bit of choice and the food was really good and stylishly presented. We shared the grilled octopus with a fava bean puree and toasted bread as a starter and it was fabulous.
My pasta was packed full of flavour although the prawns were a bit overcooked for my liking. However, it was still one of the best pasta courses I had in Salina. Our fish course was a little on the small side but it was absolutely delicious.
We really enjoyed our dinner at Casa lo Schiavo. The food was flavourful, the wine was perfectly chilled, the setting was stunning and the service was excellent. Note that they don’t have online booking so you’ll either need to book in person when you arrive or send them an email at info@casaloschiavo.it to make a reservation.
Il Mare in Cucina
This is a lovely little restaurant with a great story. It’s run by two brothers at the place where their grandfather used to keep his fishing equipment in Santa Marina. When their grandfather left it to them they decided to make it into a restaurant. The menu is very small so I recommend looking at it before booking a table – especially as all the dishes are fish and seafood based.
I ordered the spaghetti con ricci (sea urchins) for my pasta dish and it was really good and they used quality pasta. It was beautifully presented too in a gorgeous bowl/plate.
Whilst our pasta was good, the star of the show was the fish course. When we had arrived they brought out all the fresh fish and lobster to show and explained how it could be cooked. We opted for Sarago, which is a fish common to Italy and the Mediterranean. It’s a bit like sea bream. It was served with tomatoes, capers and potatoes and was also filleted in front of us. The fish was honestly fabulous and not too expensive at €40. We really enjoyed our meal at Il Mare in Cucina!
Da Alfredo
For some of the best granita in Salina, you have to head to Da Alfredo in Lingua. Granita is sort of like an ice-cream but more grainy, and it’s made with fresh fruit or nuts. Typically you eat it with a brioche and you can also ask for cream on the top. I had a pistachio one and my husband had fragola (strawberry). You can also mix two flavours if you wish. It was delicious!
Da Alfredo is also really popular at lunch for their pane cunzato, which is a very typical Sicilian dish meaning ‘seasoned bread’. There are a number of options to choose from. I had the Caprese, which was mozzarella and tomatoes with basil but unfortunately the tomatoes weren’t very flavourful so it was slightly bland. My husband’s was amazing though! He had tuna with mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives, fresh tomatoes and tuna.
You can order a full portion or half portion. Trust me, if you’ve got lots of toppings then a half portion is more than enough as it’s really filling. Just a note that the setting at Da Alfredo isn’t great – it’s not particularly elegant and you sit very close to other tables. When we went it was pretty packed and it took quite a while for the food to arrive. But it’s definitely an experience and if you choose your toppings wisely, it’s delicious!
Capofaro
Capofaro is a Relais & Chateaux hotel set in a vineyard, between Santa Marina and Malfa. The setting at dinner is just incredibly beautiful with the sea on one side and the vineyards and mountain on the other.
They also do wine tastings in front of their vineyard, which is a wonderful experience and great for pre-dinner drinks. There’s also a lovely area by the restaurant where you can have drinks and look out over at neighbouring islands Panarea and Stromboli.
The menu has three different tasting menu options or you can choose two or three courses, excluding dessert. We’re not huge fans of tasting menus so we opted for three courses and then had dessert afterwards.
Our meal at Caporfaro was definitely one of the best meals we had in Salina. The food was beautifully presented and very tasty. It is on the expensive side though – think ‘Michelin star’ but without the actual star! The ingredients are top quality and the restaurant even has its own garden where they grow herbs and vegetables for the dishes. The only part of the meal I personally wasn’t keen on was dessert, although my husband enjoyed it.
If you are looking for a fancy meal, we also ate at Signum, which has a Michelin star and I would definitely recommend Capofaro if you could only choose one.
Maracaibo
Our favourite beach in Salina was Spiaggia dello Scario. It is an incredibly beautiful setting where the water is a green/blue and shines like diamonds. The beach has a little cafe called Maracaibo, which serves simple food such as salads and panini and a couple of hot dishes, such as Parmigiana. They also serve alcoholic drinks too.
If you’re staying at the beach, it’s definitely worth having lunch here. The setting is really cute, you have an amazing view and the food, although simple, was great. The panini were huge and cost €4.50 – bargain!
Pa. Pe. Ró al Glicine
We only stopped at Pa. Pe. Ró al Glicine in Rinella for a coffee before heading to the beach but as soon as we saw their specialty was a ricotta granita with candied capers, we knew we had to try it. Salina is famous for its capers but of course it’s unusual to find them in a granita! It was honestly so good! Definitely worth trying.
It’s a lovely looking cafe too, which also does aperitivo at night in a garden setting. We were staying a bit too far to go for drinks at night but I’m sure it would’ve been great. Oh, and the staff were so friendly – which makes sense as their motto is ‘Dove tutto è felice’, which means ‘where everything is happy.’
Bar Ravesi
Bar Ravesi is part of the Hotel Ravesi in Malfa. They have an indoor and outdoor restaurant, which looked lovely, and is located by the street. We didn’t go for dinner but we did go for an aperitivo before our dinner at the Michelin-starred Signum restaurant (which I’m not including in this post as I wouldn’t recommend it).
The bar is set in the garden with views over the sea and it was gorgeous. We both had an Aperol Spritz, which was fairly pricey at €16 each, however it did come with substantial snacks from the kitchen. They included crostini with various dips, a little frittata and savoury cannoli – as well as olives and peanuts.
We will definitely try the restaurant next time we’re in Salina!
So those are my recommendations of where to eat and drink on the island of Salina. I hope it was helpful! Let me know if you try any of the places I’ve recommended.
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