3 Restaurants to eat at in Positano, Italy
When spending a holiday in the Amalfi Coast, there shouldn’t be any responsibilities beyond choosing your next meal. To assist you in these critical decisions, I’ve consolidated a Positano restaurant list that you can’t pasta-bly miss.
We stayed in Positano for 3 days and had the pleasure of dining at a variety of restaurants for lunch & dinner (our hotel had a breakfast spread, so obviously I wasn’t going to let that go to waste).
When choosing a restaurant, a few key factors come into play:
- Food quality: I want to explore the local culture through its cuisine. And there’s only so many meals in a day, so it better be good. My trusted recommendations come from friends, locals, and reviews.
- Location: I’m a sucker for restaurants with a great view. Bonus points for proximity to my next destination / hotel.
- Ambiance: How does the restaurant make you feel? Going out to eat is about more than just the food, it’s about the experience.
- Value: Yes, obviously price factors into my decision. However I’m weighing all the other factors on this list and I’m willing to pay more if the restaurant blows it out of the water with the first 3.
Based on my own experience selecting from the hundreds of options and dining around, I’ve narrowed it down to 3 restaurants that should be on your Positano restaurant list. Enjoy!
1. Il Tridente (€€€)
Viale Pasitea, 140, 84017 Positano SA, Italy
Located within Hotel Poseidon, this restaurant offers sweeping panoramic views of Positano. Luckily, you don’t need to be a guest to reserve a table for lunch or dinner. Il Tridente was the first lunch we had during our time in Positano and we were seated out on the terrace where we could take in the view of the colorful houses and sea below.
I’ll admit, I originally came here solely for the view. However — pleasant surprise — the food actually really impressed me! I had the homemade scialatielli pasta with eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and provolone del Monaco (€21), which was surprisingly the best pasta I had on this trip. Scialetielli is a basil-flavored ribbon pasta rolled slightly thicker and cut shorter and wider than the traditional tagliatelle. And the basil flavor melded really well with the eggplant and the melted cheese. I was so enamored by it, I found a video on how to make it here.
And for dessert? The quintessential dessert on the Amalfi Coast is the lemon delight (delizie al limone in Italian), so of course we had to try that. It’s essentially a lemon sponge cake with a lemon and vanilla-bean infused cream. We ended up trying this dessert at 4 different restaurants / cafes during our time here, and this one was my favorite.
Reservations are recommended for lunch and required for dinner during peak season, and can be made here.
2. Ristorante Saraceno d’Oro (€€)
Viale Pasitea, 254, 84017 Positano SA, Italy
Oooh I’m all about delicious food at a competitive price-point. And Ristorante Saraceno d’Oro doesn’t skimp on quality even at the relatively competitive price for Positano restaurants. I enjoyed it so much, we came here twice for dinner.
They’ve got starters, pizzas, pastas, fish, desserts galore. My favorite dishes were the grilled zucchini appetizer (€6) and the homemade scialetielli pasta (€17). This scialetielli was made with a seafood medley instead of the traditional eggplant and tomato sauce.
While the pizza was arguably good, no pizza could really compete with the delicious wood-fired €3.50 pizzas we had in Naples.
Reservations are not required, but I’d recommend calling ahead or going at an earlier dinner hour (before 7PM) is recommended to decrease wait time.
3. Da Vincenzo (€€€)
Viale Pasitea, 172, 84017 Positano SA, Italy
Excellent food in an elegant, romantic setting.
I was a fan of the fried artichoke in our grilled octopus and fried artichoke appetizer (€16). The spaghetti with basil, zucchini, and parmesan (spaghetti alla nerano in Italian) (€18) was also quite lovely.
While the lemon delight was good, it’s not as good as the one at Il Tridente.
Email or call a few weeks ahead to make a reservation, especially during peak season. Information can be found on their website here.
Are there any places I wish I had tried?
If I were to make another trip to Positano, obviously I would go back to the above restaurants. However one that I regret having missed is michelin-star restaurant Ristorante La Sponda (€€€€).
I’ve heard that the restaurant is lit entirely by 450 candles during dinner service. How romantic is that? Sounds uber enchanting to me.
Reservations (especially for dinner) should be made a few months in advance.
