Osteria Antica Marina

Worth to visit I’ve been looking for seafood restaurant in Catania, then I booked for dinner for two. Everything was perfect, especially caramari e gamba fritters and squid ink pasta were impeccable. In addition, I wanted to do something for my friend’s birthday here. The hall staff Luigi listened to me very carefully and he helped a lot!!!!! We have had a good time. I strongly recommend this restaurant!

Dining at Osteria Antica Marina felt like stepping straight into the heartbeat of Catania. Tucked inside the city’s lively fish market, the place buzzes with energy — fishermen shouting, people laughing, the scent of the sea floating through the air. It’s chaotic in the best possible way, and that chaos gives the restaurant its charm. I started with a plate of mixed crudo — raw shrimp, tuna, and squid so fresh it almost melted in my mouth. Then came the pasta with sea urchin, one of the best I’ve ever had: creamy, briny, and perfectly balanced. Every bite tasted like the Sicilian coast itself. My grilled fish was chosen directly from the counter, and the waiter suggested a crisp Etna Bianco that paired beautifully. The service was warm and unpretentious, exactly what I love in a local trattoria. They didn’t rush me, even though the restaurant was full, and their genuine enthusiasm for the food was contagious. It’s not a quiet place — the market noise seeps in constantly — but that’s part of the magic. Osteria Antica Marina isn’t just a restaurant; it’s an experience. If you want to taste the real soul of Catania, this is where you should go.

Yesterday in Catania, we ate fish. This is not, perhaps, a revelation. One eats fish in Sicily. One expects fish in Sicily. But there is fish — the word, the category, the menu item — and then there is fish: the thing itself, hours from the sea, still carrying the memory of water. Fresh fish. Fresh shrimp. Fresh mollusks. Fresh pasta. I list these not to be tedious but to emphasize the essential economy of the meal. Nothing smoked, nothing preserved, nothing that had traveled far or waited long. Everything recent. Everything immediate. This freshness is not merely a quality but a kind of ethics. To serve something fresh is to honor it, to refuse to disguise it, to let it be what it is rather than what you wish it to be. Yummy and delightful, yes — words that sound almost childish in English but that capture something true. The shrimp tasted like shrimp. The mollusks tasted like the sea. The pasta, made that day (one assumes, one hopes, one believes), provided the necessary textural counterpoint: something to soak up the juices, to extend the pleasure, to make the ephemeral last just a moment longer. All accentuated by an Etna white. We left satisfied in that particular way one leaves Italian meals — not stuffed, not overfed, but content. As if the world, for an hour or two, had been exactly as it should be. Which, in Catania yesterday, it was.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The service was excellent, but the food was a slight disappointment. Oysters were delicious, but mussels and pasta were nothing special at all. Nothing to remember.

Perched right next to the fish market, this restaurant obviously serves the freshest seafood. It was too hot to sit outside on the terrace and the interior was nice and cosy. I started with the selection of cooked and raw seafood accompanied by an excellent local Rosé followed by the Spaghetti Vongole. Overall and excellent meal. Service was also exceptional.

Overpriced and tourist trap! The vegetables were not grilled properly and they were raw/cold and there was no olive oil in the salad. Plates and cutlery were low quality. Waiters were extremely arrogant - terrible service and atmosphere. You can find better fish and fish restaurant in Sicily for a better price and atmosphere.

Although a bit on the expensive side, the food is authentic and the service is top notch. Could get crampy because of the tight orientation of the tables. The calamari and mussels were so good. Although the mixed fish fry was a miss. Great wine collection and u can only get the whole bottle.

We ordered oysters and it was a worst experience ever. The oysters came dry and smelly, faster than drinks. I could definetely tell it wasn’t fresh and opened much before we placed the order. After I complained they replaced them to new ones but those didnt seemed to be fresh neither. No sorry or anything from the staff and got a 5 euros compulsary service charge added to the bill. Skip this place if possible

We had an absolutely fantastic lunch at this restaurant right at the Catania fish market. Everything we ate was delicious, particularly the raw fish and shrimp and the squid ink pasta which didn't just have the black ink color, you could actually taste the squid flavor and the pieces of squid were so tender. We also got a grilled seabream, picked by us with the help of the chef. It was grilled to perfection, deboned table side for us and enjoyed with a cold potato salad. Dessert was also good but we expected something different when we read "ricotta and almond cake". Their wine selection is also impressive, at the recommendation of our server we had a delicious bubbly from a vineyard at the foot of Etna that was bone dry, so refreshing and paired perfectly with our food.

This is legit - the location, the food, the staff, all legit. It's in the fishmarket, and it can get seriously bustling outside. That said the benefit is that the ingredients (seafood, of course) are just about as legit as they come - impeccable quality, excellently prepared, and just about as awesome as it gets. Go. Don't think twice about it. Just go.

We sat on the front patio just feet from that morning's fish market. The seafood was amazing... we booked them twice during our stay.

Excellent mussels and baby fried squid. Lovely table setting and service ok. Just what we were looking for. Delicious food.

The most incredible food in Catania.. Nice atmosphere outside dining . Service was primo .. If you want something special and fresh this is your place .

The food is amazing what else do I need to say!!!!!! Great service and just a nice vibe while vacationing in Italy.

I first read about this place in the Times it's so good. Pick one of the set meals EUR 25, 35, 40, 45 or 65 and let chef do the rest (The EUR 25 is a full meal - the rest is a feast !!). Fish so fresh as you wouldn't believe, beautifully seasoned prepared and presented with Sicilian style. The house white wine is good too - Lightly Oaked and stands up well to the variety of seafood and fish.

Great atmosphere. It sits in an outdoor market. The fish is incredibly fresh. The service is pretty good. We went here for mother in law's 60th birthday dinner. If you're looking for the experience of sicily straight off the cover of a magazine, this is it. Pricy but worth it.

If you are visiting Catania one of the highlights is the big outdoor market that takes place in this area. This restaurant is right in the middle of it and boasts very fresh seafood. Fun place to visit!

Good seafood. You can pick fresh. I had lobster. The lobster was on the dry side and I will not recommend it. However they had other varieties of fresh seafood which it was really good. The place is on the pricey side but good food and service. Good for groups I thought.

Great typical italian Fish and Pasta Restaurant directly in the beautiful Fish market. Not a Tourist Spot, but visited mostly by italians in their Lunch breaks. We had a plate of raw marinated fish as a Starter and then Pasta with Sea urchin an scampi & almonds. Very Good. Also the lemon Sorbet was fabulous..

Terrible experience. Arrived at the restaurant at around 1025p. After sitting at an unbusted table for 10 minutes, I was told to change to another table without place settings. Placed an order for primi and secondi courses with a glass of white wine and still water at around 1040p. Bus server arrived at 1055p with a plater of cold, gratin mussels over very dry lettuce. Still had not received proper place settings, like a clean napkin, nor any beverage at all. Around 1100p, after not receiving any beverages or clean place settings, I told the waiter I was leaving. He begged me to stay and told me he would comp the wine. The place settings and beverages came to me at around 1105p. After receiving clean utensils, I tasted the primi course and it was inedible. The white wine was also awfully flat. By 1130p, I left, as the secondi had not yet arrived and all the the other restaurants in the area were about to close. I offered to pay the cost of the first course, but the waiter comped me.

We took a few days holidays from our boat and drove to Catania to breath some city air. This place has a lot to offer, but........ We followed the Lonely Planet recommendation and went to the Osteria Antica Marina today for lunch. As a starter we shared the large marinated seafood, which was more or less tasteless. Some shrimps, chopped red tuna, kind of seaweed etc. , everything fresh, but tasteless. We tried to improve it by adding salt, pepper and olive oil, something we never had to do before on our various visits to restaurants all over Sicily, but it didn't help much. Oh , yes, I forgot to mention it, the pepper mill was put empty on our table. We ordered a bottle of Fondo Forlo Etna Bianco and they didn't bother to put it into a cooler. Okay, the wine was not good either, but I have to blame myself, because I ordered something I've never tried before. And for € 18.- surely overpriced. The grissini were almost black. We fought with the starter, the face of my beloved wife was getting longer and longer and before we could finish, they served already the primi piatti. I really can not remember that has ever happened to us before: either we have been asked, if we are ready or the waiters waited until we finished, cleaned up the table and then served the next course. The pasta , shrimps with almond pasta and spada with melanzane were both soso, each with € 13.50 overpriced for the quality. When I explained all of this, he asked, if I don't like swordfish pasta with eggplant. For sure I like, but this here was just not good. I politely declined his offer to serve us another pasta dish. There many good restaurants in Catania, no need to come here again.