Eating in the Argentario without being fleeced: the right addresses

In the heart of the Tuscan Maremma stands the vain  Monte Argentario, a promontory almost completely embraced by the sea. Joined to the mainland by the Giannella and Feniglia beaches, the Argentario includes the following Porto Santo Stefano, Porto Ercole, Orbetello e l’Isola del Giglio e Giannutri. A true natural treasure that everyone envies and that everyone flocks to in summer.

To avoid running into restaurants with a monstrous quality-price ratio that risk ruining the entire holiday, here is a guide to the best restaurants in Argentario that are good for the stomach and the wallet.

At UMAI SUSHI you can choose between meat or fish sushi, but also exquisite scottona and chianina beef tartare! The menu changes constantly according to the availability of the best fish and meat. UMAI SUSHI is a restaurant that combines the tradition of Japan with Italian culinary culture. Experience the magical atmosphere of UMAI SUSHI, you will be immersed in a traditional Japanese ambience. Discover the ‘cherry tree room’ designed for groups of friends to exclusively enjoy the excellent food and enjoy the blossoming of the traditional Japanese cherry tree.

Restaurant Vecchia Pesa is located at the entrance to the centre of Porto Santo Stefano near parking areas and close to embarkations for the islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

With our convention you can have:

– a 10% discount on the bill for Belvedere customers
– at €50 per person, two courses to choose from the menu (excluding alcohol and caught fish)

Trattoria a Casa di Paolo e Rosita

Restaurant serving fresh fish of the day, chosen directly by the owner.

A simple place, like going to eat at your parents’ house.
Tuscan specialities and homemade pasta and desserts in a family atmosphere with simple wooden furnishings

Consumption on the spot – No home delivery.

La Cooperativa dei Pescatori

In the setting of a 19th-century stable overlooking the Orbetello lagoon, the fishermen’s cooperative restaurant offers the catch of the day cooked Orbetello style.
Starting with the fisherman’s hors d’oeuvre, moving on to hearty and tasty first courses such as gnocchetti with gilthead bream and spaghetti alla chitarra with a sea bass ragout, followed by fried eel and lattarini, grilled sea bass, gilthead bream and mullet along with a variety of side dishes to round off the savoury menu.

There is also a fish market where you can do your shopping and a fishing tourism service that allows you to visit the lagoon by boat as far as the lavorieri, where sea and lagoon waters meet and where the mullet are caught.

Era Ora

Located in the disused complex of the old Orbetello airport, EraOra is a young and fresh restaurant with indoor and outdoor areas enlivened by the land breeze coming down from Argentario. The cuisine is a reflection of its container, fun and contemporary, purely seafood. Cuttlefish and porcini mushrooms, linguine with cheese, pepper and mussels, linguine with eel and lime breadcrumbs and tuna in a pistachio crust with lard are just some of the dishes on the menu. Also try the aperitif formula.

L’Oste Dispensa

L’Oste Dispensa is located in the enchanting setting of Tombolo della Giannella. Here the chef and owner, Stefano Sorci, serves fish of the day from the lagoon. Above all, sea mullet are skilfully prepared in the kitchen and combined with Slow Food Presidia and raw materials from small local producers such as botargo from Orbetello, palamita from the Tuscan sea, Cervia salt and rimbàs black pepper from Malaysia.

Tasting menus include couscous with mussels and mullet roe, strozzapreti with mussels, courgettes and basil, and gargia d’oro with rosemary and chilli pepper. The extra touch? The veranda where you can eat while gently watching the sun go down.

La Bersagliera

If you fancy a pizza, or rather a calzone, you can’t miss a stop at La Bersagliera. In this restaurant and pizzeria you can eat a fantastic giant calzone, unforgettable in its impestato version, i.e. covered with homemadepesto, not at all heavy and indigestible.

The ambience is as informal as the service.

La Vivienda

The La Vivienda restaurant is located in a contemporary farmhouse with a classic feel, set between the Orbetello lagoon, the hills of the Argentario Golf Resort and the Argentario Polo Club course. The restaurant offers a young, high-impact seafood cuisine with hints of the land.

The menu includes Mancini spaghetti with clams, lime and mullet roe, pici all’aglione with oil, chilli and parsley bread crumbs, and roast eel with shiitake mushrooms.

Caccia e Pesca

Caccia e Pesca in Orbetello is an excellent restaurant with contemporary cuisine at reasonable prices. Elaborate dishes such as octopus with coconut, foie gras, toasted pan brioche, celery mousse, pears and hazelnut crumbs or black tortelli stuffed with octopus ragout and chickpea cream can be enjoyed in the indoor dining room or in the intimate outdoor area. Inevitable in the area, cacciucco and stuffed squid. Desserts such as ‘Journey to Cuba’, a phyllo dough cannoli filled with whisky chocolate with toasted sugar ash and mojito mousse, are not trivial.

Il Moletto

For almost seventy years, the restaurant Il Moletto, on the seafront in Porto Santo Stefano, has been a point of reference in Monte Argentario for those who love good seafood cuisine, offered through updated traditional recipes.

Open all year round, both for lunch and dinner, at Moletto, literally on the quay, you can try the fresh, seasonal local catch: rice with prawns, lemon and pine nuts, spaghetti with clams or pirate style, soups, fried fish, tonnarelli with sea bass and hake are some of the specialities to try. There is also a carefully prepared wine list of DOCG, DOC and IGT wines from Monte Argentario and the Maremma.

La Bussola

Traditional, almost institutional cuisine in Porto Santo Stefano is what you can try at La Bussola. The watchword here is fresh fish served, raw, grilled, salted or even aquapazza, baked and steamed.

Don’t miss the Costa d’Argento tagliatelline with cuttlefish, squid, prawns, mussels and clams in white, the potato gnocchi with red prawns, leek and rocket and the mezzelune stuffed with pesto, prawns and truffle.

La Regina di Napoli

For a good Neapolitan pizza go to La Regina di Napoli. Here you can find real Neapolitan pizza accompanied by just as many traditional desserts imported directly from Naples, such as Poppella’s original Fiocco di Neve. In addition to pizza you can order first and second courses and good fried food.

Pizzeria Da Gigetto

Da Gigetto a Porto Santo Stefano you will eat an excellent pinsa romana, extremely fragrant and digestible. In addition to this, traditional first and second courses can be eaten on site or taken away at more than fair prices.

Bar Giulia

An obligatory stop for an aperitif in Porto Santo Stefano is Bar Giulia.

In addition to an aperitif, you can stop for a quick lunch break with well-seasoned salads or for an ice cream.

Dal Greco

At Il Greco you can enjoy good fish dishes with a distinctly Campanian flavour. Pici with lobster, octopus with friggitelli (fried vegetables), tartare, fritters and fish cooked in earthenware are not to be missed.

The portions are generous, the service informal and the wine list small but satisfying.

Gourmet Con Gusto

Hotel Villa Domizia’s Gourmet restaurant with taste has a terrace overlooking the splendid panorama of Tombolo della Giannella and Domitian Bay. Here, in a clean and essential environment, you can enjoy contemporary creations with excellent value for money. Two tasting menus, of four and six courses, offer the possibility of tasting several proposals that best describe the restaurant and the personality of the cuisine led by Vincenzo Dinatale.

You can start with marbled hake in pil pil sauce or mackerel in a double marinade, then move on to pasta mixed with cacciucco and raw langoustines, then mullet, sconcigli and pappa al pomodoro. The service directed by Giovanni Catricalà was also punctual and precise.

La Vecchia Pergola

Vicino al harbour, in Isola del Giglio, there’s La Vecchia Pergola. The food here is traditional: hot and cold starters, spaghetti with urchins, mixed grill and fried squid and prawns. Nothing more and nothing less.

Of course, as the sign says, you eat under the pergola.

Da Santi

At Castello dell’Isola del Giglio, the restaurant to try is Da Santi. Here, with a view of Campese, you can experience real, authentic seafood cuisine. Fish soup, risotto alla pescatora, fish all’isolana are worth trying again and again.

Article written by AGRODOLCE.IT | Francesca Feresin | 16 July 2021