The 6 Best Restaurants in Catania, Sicily, Ranked

Catania has a restaurant on almost every corner, and a week only gives you so many sit-down meals, and I wanted every single one of them to count for something. I wanted them all to be good. The best restaurants in Catania didn't come from a top-ten list for us. Most of them we found by walking past.

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In this guide 5 sections

Fish lamps pulled me into one. A sidewalk full of people eating pulled us into another. One was next door, and our Airbnb owner said to go!

We scored every sit-down meal out of 10. One got a 10. Three got an 8. And one carbonara dragged a lunch down to a 6. Breakfast and pastry shops have their own list.

The Best Restaurants in Catania: My Quick Answer

• Our favorite: Trattoria Achille on Via Plebiscito for grilled horse meat (10/10).
• Seafood: MM Street Food by the fish market. Get the fried calamari and octopus.
• A night out: Mica for Calabrian pasta and a happy hour Aperol spritz.
• Pizza: FAB, for sourdough pizza with Sicilian toppings (dinner only).
• A home-style lunch: Trattoria Da Aldo. Order the pasta alla Norma.
• Just for the Norma: Tarricrii. Skip the carbonara.

#	Restaurant	Where	Order	What we paid for two	Our score
1	Trattoria Achille	Via Plebiscito	Grilled horse slices and sausage	€32 and €38	10/10
2	MM Street Food	By La Pescheria	Fried calamari and octopus	€36	8/10
3	Mica	Via Umberto I	Spaghetti alla certosina or cavatelli with baccalà	€52	8/10
4	FAB	Via delle Scale	The Siciliana pizza	€30.50	8/10
5	Trattoria Da Aldo	Piazza Giuseppe Sciuti	Penne alla Norma	€38.88	7/10
6	Tarricrii	Via Pietro Antonio Coppola	Pasta alla Norma	€36	6/10

Staying near Via Etnea? We walked to almost all of these, and these three hotels keep you in the middle of them.

For this list I'd pick Palazzo Sangiorgio. It's close to Via Plebiscito and the fish market, so the top two are an easy walk. Palace Catania is up by Villa Bellini, near Mica and FAB. Hotel Centrale Europa is the value pick, right on the cathedral square.

The 6 Best Restaurants in Catania, Ranked

1. Trattoria Achille // Horse Meat on Via Plebiscito

Achille is the only restaurant in Catania we went to twice. We went back the very next day! It got a 10 from both of us.

You sit at a plastic table on the sidewalk while the grill smokes right beside you, and we had a jug of house wine on the table both days. Half a liter was €4. We ordered a little of everything, and it was so much food that we skipped dinner both nights.

My favorite was the thin grilled horse slices. They were tender with a bit of fat on the edges. The horse sausage was my second favorite. It was full of herbs and so juicy. Honestly, if nobody told you it was horse, you'd think you were eating beef.

The surprise was the cipollata, a green onion wrapped in bacon and grilled. I'd never had anything like it, and I want to make it at home!

Not ready for horse? The menu has pasta, pork, chicken, and fish too. I'd go on a weekday. Our Sunday lunch took an hour and a half to arrive, and Monday's came out fast. Every plate we ordered and its price is in our Trattoria Achille review.

• Who it's for: anyone who wants a real local lunch, and meat lovers
• Skip it if: you don't want to eat horse, or you want a quiet dinner
• Order: thin grilled horse slices (€5), a horse sausage (€4), and a cipollata (€2), with house wine
• What we paid: €32 and €38 for two (November 2026)
• Where: Via Plebiscito 734

2. MM Street Food // Fried Seafood by the Fish Market

I chose MM because of the fish lamps! Glowing fish hang from a blue ceiling inside. There were onions sitting on the tables. We ended up eating outside, but I'd peek in either way. It's so cute in there.

Our favorite plate was the fried calamari and octopus. It was so good! The batter looked like a light dusting of flour. Every piece was soft and tender. Not chewy at all. It's some of the best calamari and octopus we've ever had.

Ordering here is different. You tick boxes on a paper sheet, and anything from the specials list you write out by hand. A server walked us through it. I liked it. It gave us time to decide. Then I walked inside and handed over the paper.

We also had squid-ink arancini and stuffed sardines. The sardines are in our guide to what to eat in Catania. I'd come here right after a morning at La Pescheria. It's on the edge of the market.

• Who it's for: seafood lovers, and lunch after the fish market
• Skip it if: you want a waiter to take your order at the table
• Order: the fried calamari and octopus (€16 on the board in November 2026)
• What we paid: €36 for two, with two drinks
• Where: Via Pardo 26, on the edge of La Pescheria

3. Mica // Calabrian Pasta and a Happy Hour Spritz

Mica was right by our place. Our Airbnb owner had recommended it too. It was a rainy night and we didn't want to go far. Then we saw the happy hour sign outside and decided to come in for our first Aperol of the whole trip, since we hadn't had one yet.

Here's a confession. I really dislike Aperol spritz. The one time I'd had it, it tasted like peanut butter! This one was a lot better, and it redeemed the Aperol spritz for me.

Mica cooks food from Calabria, the region just across the strait from Sicily. Cream and I each picked a different winner. Cream ordered the cavatelli with a salt cod (baccalà) ragù. I'd never seen that before! It had olives and a nice tang. It was very light.

I ordered the spaghetti alla certosina. My mom makes this exact dish and I hadn't had it in ages, and eating it in a little restaurant in Catania on a rainy night was so comforting and nostalgic for me. I'd never seen it on a menu, ever. I was so excited! I'll admit I know how to make it, so I could make it for a lot less.

Watch out for the chili spread they bring with the bread. Our waiter warned us it was spicy. I didn't believe him. We always get warned! After Thailand, it's hard to beat that spice level. This one was pretty on par!

• Who it's for: a night out, pasta lovers, and anyone who likes it spicy
• Skip it if: you're on a tight budget
• Order: the spaghetti alla certosina or the cavatelli with baccalà (€14 each), and a spritz at happy hour
• What we paid: €52 for two, with two Aperols and the cover charge
• Good to know: happy hour is 5 to 8 p.m., with two Aperol spritzes for €10 (sign, November 2026)
• Where: Via Umberto I 49

4. FAB // Sourdough Pizza With Sicilian Toppings

We started at a table outside in the alley at FAB. It's downstairs and tucked away. They had live music. Then it started to rain and we moved inside to find a huge and funky space with artwork everywhere and tons of cool decor on the walls.

I loved the crust! It tasted like a wheat crust with sunflower seeds. It had such a nice texture and bite. Cream didn't love it as much as I did. FAB makes every pizza with a 7-grain or an ancient-grain sourdough that rises for 48 hours.

The Siciliana was our best pizza. It comes with mint-marinated zucchini and black olives on top. I loved that briny olive flavor. It tasted so fresh. Our other pizza had gorgonzola and crispy pork cheek (the Gorgonzola e Guanciale). It came with walnuts on top. It was amazing too.

So why an 8? If you want a classic pizza, this isn't the place. For good pizza with Sicilian ingredients and cool vibes, it's the place to go.

• Who it's for: pizza lovers who want something different, and a fun night out
• Skip it if: you want a classic margherita
• Order: the Siciliana (€11.50 on the menu, November 2026)
• What we paid: €30.50 for two pizzas, water, and the cover charge
• Good to know: open in the evening only
• Where: Via delle Scale

5. Trattoria Da Aldo // A Lunch Like Eating With Family

We walked past Da Aldo a few times. Then it came up while I was looking for more local places to eat. Inside, it felt like eating in someone's home with their family, and I loved sitting there watching the open kitchen while they prepared the food for everyone in the room. We saw a mix of locals and tourists.

The pasta alla Norma was the winner of our lunch, and I'd order it again. Our other pasta was a penne with sardines and toasted breadcrumbs. It was too bready, and it only had one sardine in it, so it was a bit dry.

We got grilled prawns too. They were tasty, but €10 got us five. Nothing at Da Aldo was bad. It was just pricier than we expected for a local trattoria. That's why it's a 7. I'd still go back.

• Who it's for: a traditional sit-down lunch, and anyone who likes to watch the kitchen
• Skip it if: you're counting every euro
• Order: the pasta alla Norma
• What we paid: €38.88 for two
• Where: Piazza Giuseppe Sciuti 2

6. Tarricrii // Go for the Norma

We found Tarricrii while exploring on the way to the Teatro Massimo Bellini, the opera house. People were eating outside and it looked good. So cute! Every table had a little lamp made from a wine bottle. We sat outside. The little tourist train rolled by and we waved at everyone on it!

The pasta alla Norma was amazing. It's the only reason Tarricrii is on this list. The carbonara was so bad! It looked great on the plate, but it was basically just salt and I couldn't taste anything else in it at all.

Our cannolo came crushed too. It was our first full day and we wanted a proper one. That story is in our best cannoli in Catania. I'd tell a friend to sit outside and order the Norma.

• Who it's for: Norma lovers, and a lunch outside near the opera house
• Skip it if: you want carbonara
• Order: the pasta alla Norma
• What we paid: €36 for two, with water, a dessert, and the cover charge
• Where: Via Pietro Antonio Coppola 47

The Best Lunch in Catania

Tarricrii's €15 lunch menu is what drew us in, and then we didn't order it! We wanted the Norma and the carbonara instead. Looking back, maybe we should have done the lunch menu.

It includes an appetizer and a pasta or main course of the day. Water, wine and coffee come with it. Many trattorias in Catania do a set lunch like this, so I'd look for a sign on the sidewalk.

For lunch, I'd send a friend to Achille or MM first. Both are lunch places in the old markets, and both were our cheapest sit-down meals in the city.

If you'd rather have a local pick the places for you, see food tours in Catania that walk through the markets and the street food.

Good Things to Know About Restaurants in Catania

At Mica, we didn't know we'd pay for the bread with chili. Or to sit down! It's very common in Italy. I wish we'd known these before our first meal.

• 💡 Cover charge (coperto): most sit-down places add one per person, often about €2. It's legal as long as it's on the menu.¹ It usually covers the bread. Some places call it service instead.
• Late dinners: a lot of restaurants close in the afternoon after lunch. Dinner starts around 7 or 8 p.m., and some pizzerias like FAB only open in the evening.
• The antipasto buffet: some trattorias set out a counter of home-cooked starters. On the menu it's "self-service, according to quantity", so you fill a plate and pay by how much you take. I'd ask what a plate costs first.
• An asterisk on the menu means the dish uses frozen ingredients, at least when fresh ones run out.²
• Happy hour: look for signs from about 5 p.m. Two spritzes for €10 at Mica was a good deal.
• Prices change: what we paid is from November 2026.

Where Should You Eat First in Catania?

We'd start at Achille on Via Plebiscito. It's the meal that made our week in Catania, and it's one of the cheapest on this list.

Then I'd spend a morning at the fish market, and after that I'd walk straight over to MM for a plate of the calamari, because it sits right on the edge of the market. Find the fish lamps and you've found it.

Next Steps for Your Catania Trip

• What to eat in Catania
• Trattoria Achille review
• The best cannoli in Catania