Osteria Nero d'Avola

TL;DR: Beautiful restauraunt with great Sicilian food and service at a slightly higher price range. Definitely worth a visit for a romantic dinner or a treat! First and foremost, these are Sicilian portions!! Bring your appetite and order with this in mind! We enjoyed beautiful Sicilian fare and service, all the waters were fluent in English (bonus) and their hospitality and recommendations were top notch. Highly recommend the peppered mussels and clams to start, but be aware it's a Big portion (easily 1.5-2kgs). We also really enjoyed the fish fillet gratin, a preparation we hadn't seen in Sicily yet - they nailed it! After dinner we sought a recommendation for digestives and were provided some amazing Sicilian Amaro options to choose from. We had the Segesto and sugar free (natural) one. Both were delicious although the latter is not for the faint hearted! Whilst it's a bit more expensive here, it's definitely worth at least one visit. For awareness, the smaller things you might not have elsewhere add up here. Cover (€3 pp), Water, the wine by the glass was a bit more expensive here - go for a bottle if you like wine! Would definitely return to try the other deliciousness on offer.

Definitely must try place in Taormina! Taste of the food is amazing especially we loved shrimps so fresh and tasty. The waiters are super nice and professional.. prices are a bit higher than average but it is normal for this michelin guided restaurant, definitely worth it! If we will be in Taormina later, it is in our number one place to go for a dinner.. Thank you for everything, it was a tasteful experience :)

We visited this restaurant on 3rd September 2023 following recommendations from guide books. The restaurant is located near the Duomo near the upscale Four Seasons White Lotus hotel. The place was quite quiet it could be due to its location. We were given a nice table on the terrace. The service from start to finish was great. The menu was large and there were many choices. All the food we ate was delicious and very large portions. One dish each and one to share is enough for two people. Highly recommend this place!

A culinary treat, just off the main strip of Taormina. A tightly controlled menu still offers a wide array of tastes and flavours, complimented by some full bodied, local wines. The red tuna with onions in particular was a succulent delight from first mouthful to last. Although not the cheapest, and sadly finished with a slightly dry dessert, this remained comfortably the best meal we had in town over our stay.

This place is the place for great food. The pasta was the best we had and the wines too. Definitely worth a try. It is not cheap but compared to the rest it is worth the prices charged.

Very very good typical Sicilian food and the best service, quite elegant street vibe. The Free olive oil,bread,dry tomatoes and olives for starter is very good quality! Just need to come and enjoy the food here!

Great food and general experience. The tuna was so fresh and rich, and the raw red prawns was also amazing. One of the best tiramisu we've tried in sicily - for those who like it with extra coffee and a pinch of chocolate 🙏 It took a little too long for the food to arrive, though. But when it did everything was great.

Overpriced even by Taormina standard. Very ordinary grilled octopus not much taste left as it was not very fresh and maybe overcooked - €25, a very ordinary side salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots was an astonishing €12 . Lighting in the verandah dreary and Piaf musak blasting out. I was the lone diner as I was early and the service staff was bored and not concentrating. A mistake to have followed previous reviews and chose this as my first dinner of my 5 nights' stay. Much better and more reasonable osterias and restaurants nearby.

Pesto pasta was amazing... also, enjoyed the pasta alla Norma... lamb with fennel salad was superb, & complemented the pesto pasta quite well. Am new to fennel, but quickly becoming a huge fan. It's refreshing, simple, & fresh... with olive oil... a good foil to the herbs on the lamb. Dessert was also great... & the wine, fantastic.

This is truly a fabulous restaurant recommended by a local in Taormina. It was tucked away in a charming corner street only a few minutes walk from our hotel. It was a lovely night so we decided to sit outside. This turned out to be a smart decision because there were three local singers who were performing for the tables and they were really very very good. The tuna appetizer and the swordfish there was amazing. As were the pastas we tried. The only negative was the calamari appetizer which was fried and similar to what you'd get in a US chain restaurant. Otherwise everything including the wine recommend by the server was excellent.

Insufferably slow service! Unbelievable one and a half hour wait for the main course. Did not ask ifOur evening was ruined!

Fabulous restaurant with excellent food, service and overall, an amazing experience. The chef, Levi, is a true professional and delivered high qualify, traditional Sicilian dishes such as caprese salad, calamari, fish crudo, mussles and other various dishes. I had a great steak with a wine reduction as my main. Our waitress/pastry chef was very pleasant and made a mean panna cotta. The owner Turi is very friendly and had some exciting stories to share. Make sure to book in advance as it's usually fully booked, and request for a table on the second floor patio. There is some live music action adding to the atmosphere. Highly recommend this restaurant if you're in Taormina.

Authentic Sicilian. Welcome to the restaurant with the profuse bloom of fragrant jasmines. Freshest seafood and well prepared. The hostess and waitstaff seemed preoccupied. Ordering was a bit of a challenge. The waitstaff made an effort to get us fed and on our way in a timely fashion.

Excellent classic Sicilian restaurant in Taormina. Try the black sausage from Messina. Cooked with mushrooms and tomato; meatball dish is exquisite.

We had dinner at this charming gem of a restaurant near our hotel. Staff was attentive, knowledgeable and friendly. Dinner began with an olive oil tasting and the waitress helped us select an excellent Sicilian wine. Chef/owner, Turi, personally checked in on us and it was clear that this is his passion. The Slow Food menu of local and seasonal food is excellent and the polpette is exceptional!

Food, service and ambience were all outstanding. The waiter was very helpful and recommended an excellent wine. We each had an appetizer and a main dish. Each was better than the next. I can't wait to come back again.

We were warmly greeted by the owner. Our table was outside on the patio. Our beautiful server helped us with our wine selection and meal choices. We were NOT disappointed. The red wine chosen was superb. My mushroom/tomato appetizer was delicious. So was my wife's avacado/orange salad. They gave us a variety of olive oils from the region to sample with our bread. My pasta Frutti di Mare was fantastic. My wife's maccaronara pasta with ragu sauce was equally special. To cap off the meal, the pistachio canolis were to die for. Wonderful meal!

This place lived up to every recommendation!! From the service to the ambiance to the food. Everything was perfetto!

Very personal service and wine recommendations were excellent. Food was nicely prepared and presented Delicious

Nice ambience upstairs. Told the Cornelissen Susacaru was unavailable and steered instead to a pretty good rosato from Terre Nere. Food was really good and seafood focused: mussels baked in shell with fennel, pine nuts, bread crumbs; tender octopus showered with richly flavored paprika; spaghetti with sea urchin and bottarga; big-ass gamberoni sauteed with cherry tomatoes. Ask what's fresh and good and heed the advice!

Tried 2 recommended Mt. Etna whites that were disappointing. The tuna tartare was quite good as was the sweet raw shrimp. Both however felt like it needed something else to complement all that protein. The artichoke in carpaccio with lemon and cheese was nothing to write home about, rather boring. The artichoke was firm like a root, sliced thickly with no flavor. The fish of the day in Sicilian sauce was a bit overcooked being firm. The sauce was flavorful on the salty side. Hard to eat this dish without a side bc the sauce was so strong in flavor. Hard to eat the Italian way when the pasta is served first and finished before this main is served.

Great, fresh seafood with friendly service. Food was fantastic. We had Black Cuttle Fish pasta which was very tasty and our child had a a prawn and vegetable pasta which was also tasty. Service was friendly and but they also gave you space and left you to your meal. The upper terrace was a nice spot.

Phenomenal meal in Taormina, showed up without a reservation and they got us in with only a 10-15 minute wait. Complimentary Spumante from the owner was a nice touch while we waited. Wine list was very reasonable and for only €20 we got a great bottle of local Taormina white. My wife got the mixed salumi and formaggio plate followed by the triofe with crema di zucchini. Pasta was clearly made In house and cooked perfectly. The salumi platter was jammed with different meats and cheeses and the absolute best sun dried cherry tomatoes we had ever tasted. That platter in itself could've been the entire meal. I opted to go for the triofe al frutti di mare and fritto misto. Pasta was perfect and the fritto misto not only Included staples like shrimp, calamari and sardines, but also had beautifully done fish cakes. Unfortunately we were too full for dessert. Overall, I don't see getting a better meal anywhere else in Taormina. Friendly staff, top notch service and fresh authentic Sicilian cuisine.