La Capinera

The strong suit of this restaurant is the location and views. For dinner you'll get to see the beautiful waters of the bay, with warm ocean gusts helping to keep you from dying from sweat. The one thing that I'm sure would bother most people but which we actually loved was the commuter and freight trains screening through every 20 minutes. It was such a jarring difference to the atmosphere we honestly thought it was awesome. We saw it as efficient transportation for coastal sicily and wondered how beautiful the views from the passenger trains must be. I think for a Michelin restaurant, the dishes were fine. None of them were real stand outs. The presentation felt a bit gimmicky and generic. Ie, we are a Michelin restaurant, therefore we must serve things in strange containers. Vs , we have unique ideas and we need unique ceramics to showcase them. The biggest offender was probably the coral "tuille" or whatever it was supposed to be. It had absolutely no flavor. You could taste the raw flour with barely any other seasoning. There was supposed to be saffron but it was imperceptible. I know how a mediocre tuille is made. I've botched a few as a hobbyist. Nothing tasted bad. But nothing made us go wow either, except for the views.

Our first impression of the restaurant was already spoiled, as it is located next to a busy southern road with constant traffic noise. Unfortunately, there are only two tables inside with a sea view; all the rest overlook neighboring houses. In the evening, trains passed right next to the restaurant, and there was loud music either from a nearby villa or from the beach. All of this is completely unworthy of a restaurant of this kind. The staff is excellent, and the dishes look appealing, but we found no new or exciting flavors. We left feeling disappointed and still hungry. After this restaurant, we went to another one.

It has a Michelin star for a good reason. Eating here was a full experience and a story. We had the Terra&Fuoco | Land&Fire tasting menu and it was such a delicious experience. The stuff ware lovely and happy to help.

Outstanding service. Beautiful presentation. It felt like a Michelin experience. Food was good but nothing mind blowing. We did a la carte so perhaps the tasting menu is more prestigious. No complaints and decent price for the experience.

If we consider it as 1 star Michelin restaurant, expectations are high, unfortunately it’s not what you expect. Average restaurant with quite simple menu. We took fish menu, during our dining staff hasn’t told us any story behind dishes. So 3 stars overall would be fair enough for the price and service we got.

The meal and service here was of a 1-star quality. We went with the fish tasting menu and a wine paring for an early seating in the evening. Overall the food was lovely along with an appropriate paired wine service.

I had high expectations for La Capinera in Taormina, given its Michelin star rating, but unfortunately the overall experience was a little disappointing. Dishes lacked the creativity and finesse one would expect from a Michelin-starred establishment. Wine pairing was not to my liking. Service was also underwhelming, aside from Cherbern who was great, with very quick service between courses and lacked the timing for the wine pairing. I hope they can improve to meet the standards that come with such accolades. PS you've set your Google maps page to being a hotel not a restaurant. Update - Pietro, would be happy to set up a zoom video call to discuss further upon my return. It isn't the customer's priority to bother the chef on the evening, it is incumbent on the chef to visit their customers on the floor to see how they're enjoying or not.

Was delighted by the service and quality of food. They custom made a few items for our kids while the adults enjoyed the tasting menu. View was great, seating, waitstaff, everything. A wonderful night.

Fantastico seafood and pasta and vino! Wish it was in my backyard! Luv'd it. Would go there every week.

I wish I could leave a better review, but unfortunately my family and I had a horrific experience. The food was good but for a Michelin Star restaurant, it did not exceed the standards at all. My mother was violently ill from spoiled fish. This ruined half of our vacation in Taormina after a year of planning, this was extremely disappointing! For a Michelin Star establishment, this was completely unacceptable and what made matters worse was their lack of empathy in their response. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone. You can simply find much better and authentic Sicilian food at the local restaurants in the village.

La Capinera is an amazing Sicilian restaurant overlooking the water in Taormina Mare. The creative food is prepared by Chef Pietro D'Agostino who is regarded by many as Sicily's best chef. The food at La Capinera is as wonderful as the view is from its terrace. While the food and restaurant is distinctly Sicilian, it is thoroughly modern and very creative. The service is also excellent. La Capinera is a jewel in Taormina Mare and provides a wonderful experience.

The food was excellent, however the service was terrible. For the first 45 minutes, they completely ignored us and would not take our drink order. This is a hard review because the Chef did an excellent job, and the wine was fantastic. However, the poor service completely overpowered the hard work of the kitchen. After a week at the Four Seasons (excellent food and service), I would recommend enjoying the many other restaurants in town.

Charming seaside stop serving refined seafood with authentic Sicilian flavor. The waitstaff speaks passable English and they are very courteous. The pre fix of 6 courses offers a taste of everything. The large seafood crudo was unbelievably fresh. The angelotti was succulent and topped with morsels of fresh raw seafood.

La Capinera is located about an 8 minute drive from Taormina Centro towards Letojanni. This seafood-heavy restaurant has earned a Michelin star, and after our experience there, I would say that overall, it was deserving of such an accolade. The dining patio was located at the back of his off-the-highway little house. Excellent service by the two gentlemen serving us. I was grateful that the restaurant was more laid back and unconventional in the sense that they allowed me to order a la carte, while my partner did the full tasting menu. I never felt the rhythm of the meal disrupted as it was done seamlessly. The tasting menu was seafood-heavy, but I ordered the baccalau, gnocchi and tuna heart steak. The baccalau and gnocchi were truly outstanding. The tuna heart steak was perfectly executed. There was a lot of bread, indeed. I would return in a heartbeat. If you're looking for a more upscale experience outside of Taormina, this would be it!

We were so excited to try La Capinera - it was a more upscale restaurant right outside of Taormina, different from the many touristy restaurants inside the town. I imagine in the summer this place is gorgeous, right on the water and you can sit outside. In the winter, we were the first and only table there for awhile. The chef had already told our hotel he'd be happy to customize a vegetarian meal for us. When we walked in, he even said he'd personally work with us. Then we were sent over the woman who seemed to be their main server who barely spoke English and when we said vegetarian, she soon got almost frustrated and finally sent the chef back out to deal with us. We finally ordered (we thought) two lentil soups, a quiche-like appetizer (supposed to be served in cream sauce but we asked for marinara) and two of the vegetarian pasta. We ended up getting two of everything served. The meal started with their homemade breads and local oil. It was almost too much bread, and it felt like that was their way of compensating for not having better food? The bread wasn't outstanding for homemade bread, so we each had about a piece. The lentil soup was good - it was pureed rather than having chunks of lentil. It had good flavor - nothing stood out about it but it was warm on a cold nice with some good spices (not spicy though). There was a bit of cream swirled on top. The quiche was probably our favorite - cooked to be light and airy with some tasty sautéed vegetables in it. The marinara tasted fresh and worked nicely with the egg. The pasta was certainly the biggest disappointment. To be honest, it felt like packaged noodles with some kind of light cream sauce on it that just oddly stuck to it rather than nicely coating it, and rather than serving some nice, fresh vegetables, we got what felt to be a small mix of frozen veggies. I only had a few bites because it just wasn't good and I was already feeling pretty full from the soup and quiche. Service during food was quite good and friendly (two different people from the first lady we experienced). And I will say that our coats were helped off of us immediately upon entering the restaurant and swept away during the meal, and crumbs were continually wiped from the table. Overall, it definitely didn't feel like a Michelin-star experience though, maybe because we were there during low season?

Not enough good for Michelin level. Good (not the best) service and food. Need to try for experience.