The Best of Lake Como Restaurants

Let us recommend you some of our favorite Lake Como restaurants on this page. Read on for a brief introduction to dining in the Lake Como area or jump to our virtual tour.

A Lake Como restaurant is more than just a place to eat your meal...in fact, it could become more like your sanctuary...a place where you let your thought float away...

...where you can enjoy stimulating and relaxing conversations with other people...

...and where happy and cheerful waitors cater to your every need.

After a while you will notice that many Lake Como restaurants offer the same types of dishes but each restaurant will try and give it a different twist. For example, a risotto con funghi will never taste exactly the same in each restaurant nor will a sweet encounter with a tiramisu.

In our opinion, the antipasti or appetizers are where Italian restaurants truly excel. Small plates of salami together with melon, or a dish of misultitt fish can really put a smile on your face. Often times they cost almost as much as the main dish, so you may want to split it with your partner or spouse.

Trattorias are just as common in Lake Como. They differ slightly with restaurants in that they are usually family-owned and have slightly cheaper prices. Sometimes English may not be spoken and you may see a limited menu, handwritten on paper. But don't let that distract you...the quality of food in these trattorias is exceptional and often times on-par with world-class restaurants.

If you're just looking for cheap eats, such as an light meal in the middle of the day before your afternoon walks, you may grab a warm dish at one of the bars or a panino sandwich made with a variety of fresh local ingredients. The quality of food is not always great in these places, and you'll notice that Italians mainly use them to get their morning cappuccinos or afternoon espressos which are of excellent quality. We've discovered that the bars right on the lake can be excellent for drinks, but of poor quality when it comes to food. Also, many times you get free munchies when you order a drink...so that may be enough for some people to count as a full meal!

Almost all restaurants in Lake Como are quintessentially Italian. Everything from the smiles on the faces of the waitors/waitresses, to the ornate decor of the interiors spells "Italian". Although a few restaurants in Como and a few hotels on the lake offer international cuisine, we highly recommend trying out some of the regional recipes. You can use our hotel directory to browse through all the hotels offering restaurants in Lake Como.

Como

Many of the trattorias will provide you with the kind of delicious food your grandmother would have made. These small, family-run locales will put special care in to making sure your visit is extra-special. However, because the food is as close to home-cooking as possible, the quality can vary immensely from day to day. One day, your pasta will taste super, yet the next day it may be grossly over-salted. As for snacks, The Pasticerria Monti (Piazza Cavour 21, Como), is a bar/cafe located on the busy piazza and is a favorite place for grabbing a gelato or tasty sandwich.

If you are looking for a very classy place to spend a romantic evening, and spending a lot of money is not an issue try the La Colombetta (Via Diaz 40, Como). You can get healthy dishes serving rare lobster specialties.

The average price without wine will come to about 45 EUR per person.

Bellagio

La Grotta (Salita Cernaia 14, Bellagio) is where we love to eat our pizzas. They are some of the best we've had in our life and my mom usually dislikes eating pizza! Also, many people come to try the fresh fish from the lake such as trout and lavarello - the menu is quite wide so you may have trouble choosing which one to start with. Prices are very reasonable for what you get.

A much more pricey option, is the Risorante Barchetta (Salita Mella 13, Bellagio) which serves delicious twists on the local traditions. Here, you can also get fresh fish such as local perch or angler fish.

Our favorite in Bellagio is actually a little distance from Bellagio (2km), but they organize a little buggy to help you get there. It is the Ristorante da Silvio (12 Via Carcano, Bellagio) which catches its seafood daily and has an outdoor bamboo terrace overlooking the lake. The pike-stuffed ravioli was mouth-watering.

Varenna

For some very fine traditional cuisine, you must eat at least once at the Vecchia Varenna (Contrada Scoscesa 10, Varenna) for a romantic meal right at the edge of the lake. They combine traditional cooking with fresh ingredients including fish from the lake and herbs from the mountains. The risotto con funghi was exceptional.

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