Best Restaurants in Ravenna: Where to Eat, by Style

Best restaurants in Ravenna: how this list is chosen

Every table here is named because a source supports it: the restaurant's own site, a Slow Food Ravenna recommendation reported in a city food listing, or a Romagna eating guide. Nothing is included on the strength of a review score, and no venue is credited with awards or ratings it has not been given. The result is a list skewed towards osterie and trattorias that cook Romagna food rather than international menus.

The split by style matters more than a ranking. A counter piadina, a Slow Food osteria and a seafood trattoria at the coast serve different meals at different paces, and choosing the wrong one for your evening is the most common mistake visitors make. Use the headings to pick your style first, then your area.

Start with Romagna: cappelletti, piadina and squacquerone explained

Ravenna's table is Romagna cooking: homemade filled pasta, grilled and stewed meat, cured pork, and a long list of local cheeses. Among the most popular dishes in the city's restaurants are cappelletti in capon broth or ragù, tortelli filled with ricotta and spinach, and castrato, mature mutton served grilled or stewed. Local fish dishes turn up too, especially at Marina di Ravenna.

The piadina is the quick meal to know. In Ravenna it is thicker than the Rimini style, and the classic filling is squacquerone, a soft fresh cow's-milk cheese, often with cured meats from a deli counter. Order one at a counter for lunch and you eat well for very little; sit down in an osteria and the same money buys a plate of pasta instead.

To drink, the local whites and reds are Albana and Sangiovese di Romagna, and Albana in its sweet passito form suits dry pastries and aged cheese. A single glass alongside a plate of cappelletti is the usual way to try them.

Osteria del Tempo Perso: a calm osteria near San Vitale

Osteria del Tempo Perso sits on Via Gamba, a short walk from the Basilica di San Vitale and set back just enough to feel removed from the mosaic crowds. The room is warm in tone, with informal service and books, records and photographs arranged among the bottles. It is the best all-round choice in the centre for a calm, cooked-to-order dinner after a day of sightseeing.

The kitchen cooks every dish to order and bakes its bread in house daily, and the menu is rewritten roughly every two months, so a return visit rarely repeats the last one. The wine list is refreshed a couple of times a year. The dining room is small, so reserve through the restaurant's own site before a weekend dinner.

Ca' de Ven: piadina and Romagna plates by Piazza del Popolo

Ca' de Ven has been a fixture of the old town since 1975, housed in a fifteenth-century palazzo a few steps from Piazza del Popolo. Long tables mean you may share with other diners, and the piadina is made on the premises rather than bought in. The enoteca keeps its bottles on nineteenth-century shelving, with a corner of books and magazines on Romagna dialect and traditions.

It does not accept bookings, so treat it as a walk-in for a generous lunch or an early dinner and expect to wait at peak times. Order the piadina and a board of cured meats to start, then a Romagna plate from the daily menu. For something quicker nearby, see our Best Pizza in Ravenna guide.

Osteria La Mariola: wine bar, restaurant and enoteca in Palazzo Grossi

Osteria La Mariola occupies the sixteenth-century Palazzo Grossi and runs as three connected spaces: a wine bar, a restaurant and an enoteca, or wine shop. It has been one of the city's most appreciated tables for years, and the setting makes it a good pick when part of the group wants a full meal and part wants something lighter. A meal here costs more than at the city's simpler osterie, so it suits a planned dinner rather than a spontaneous stop.

Bella Venezia: the Bazzari risotto and a classic dining room

Bella Venezia on Via IV Novembre is the traditional dining room of the centre: low arches, two dining rooms and a menu built on classic Romagna cooking. The dish to order is the risotto Bazzari, made with Parmesan, butter, prosciutto, mushrooms and peas, a rich plate that shows the kitchen's hand. Follow it with the bistecca all'ortolana, veal in a cream sauce with prosciutto and courgette.

It suits a sit-down dinner where everyone orders several courses, and the cooking is in the traditional register. Call the restaurant to reserve, especially at weekends, and ask about the day's fish if you want something lighter than the risotto.

Ristorante Cappello: seafood menu that changes daily

Ristorante Cappello, below the hotel of the same name on Via IV Novembre, takes its fish seriously and changes the menu each day around what is available. Among the plates to order is strozzapreti with baby squid, courgette, courgette flowers and saffron, a pasta that shows how the kitchen handles seafood. It is a smarter room than the city's osterie.

Book by phone and ask what came in that morning before deciding between the tasting menu and à la carte. If you would rather keep lunch simple, a piadina counter covers the middle of the day and our lunch in Ravenna guide covers the rest.

La Piadina del Melarancio: counter-order piadina in the centre

La Piadina del Melarancio on Via IV Novembre is the place to go when you want the city's flatbread without a sit-down meal. You order at the counter and wait in a back room until your number is called, which keeps the queue moving even at busy times. The range covers most fillings, so it is a safe stop for a mixed group.

This is the real trade-off in Ravenna eating: a counter piadina is fast and cheap, while a seated osteria lunch takes an hour and costs several times as much for the same calories. Build one of each into a two-day visit rather than choosing between them. For coffee and a pastry before the mosaics, see breakfast in Ravenna.

RossoCorsa and Osteria L'Acciuga: two more city picks

A city food listing reports Slow Food Ravenna recommending RossoCorsa on Via Trieste and Osteria L'Acciuga on Viale Baracca, both in the city. Treat the recommendation as a signal of cooking rather than a ranking: these are tables chosen for the quality of what reaches the plate. Both suit readers who have already eaten the classics and want a second dinner.

RossoCorsa sits on Via Trieste and Osteria L'Acciuga on Viale Baracca, giving two further central options if you have already booked the osterie listed above. Both are worth as a second dinner or on a longer stay.

Seafood at Marina di Ravenna: Trattoria Alma, Taverna dei Velai and Trattoria I Pescatori

The beach suburb of Marina di Ravenna holds the city's fish trattorias, and the three to know are Trattoria Alma on Via della Pace, Taverna dei Velai on Via Thaon de Revel and Trattoria I Pescatori on Via Molo Dalmazia. Slow Food Ravenna lists all three, which is a strong endorsement in this guide for seafood. Expect simple cooking rather than a long menu.

This is a different trip from a centro storico dinner: a bus or car ride out of town, a walk along the canal, and a longer lunch. Go at midday, and book by phone since the rooms are small and fill with locals at weekends.

Eating cheaply in the Romagna countryside: Bagnacavallo, Cotignola, Faenza and Zagonara

With a car, the countryside around Ravenna is where the cheapest and most generous Romagna cooking sits. Ristorante Conti Guidi at Bagnacavallo, Lo Spiedo Imperiale and Agriturismo La Barchessa at Cotignola, Trattoria San Andrea at Faenza and La Trattoriaccia at Zagonara are all family-run trattorias and farm restaurants within roughly half an hour to fifty minutes of the city, according to a 2018 Romagna eating guide. In that year the writer reported spending between about ten and thirty euro a head, the lowest at La Trattoriaccia.

The style varies: Conti Guidi also runs a pizzeria and serves piadine, Lo Spiedo Imperiale adds fish, and La Barchessa keeps a grill going for meat. La Trattoriaccia is the most old-fashioned of the group, with homemade pasta and no menu to choose from, so go willing to eat what is cooking that day.

If you are driving, plan the trattoria as the main meal and skip a centre lunch; the roads between Bagnacavallo, Cotignola and Faenza are short and easy. Ristorante Conti Guidi also appears in our wider lunch in Ravenna picks for readers who want a midday table outside the city.

Where to eat near Piazza del Popolo and the centro storico

The tightest cluster of good tables is between Piazza del Popolo and Via IV Novembre: Ca' de Ven, Bella Venezia, Ristorante Cappello and La Piadina del Melarancio are all within a few minutes of each other. For a single day in Ravenna, start with a piadina at the counter, then book one of the seated rooms for dinner. The market hall, the Mercato Coperto di Ravenna, is covered in our cappelletti guide for readers who want to buy the ingredients instead.

Osteria del Tempo Perso anchors the San Vitale side of the centre, which makes it the natural dinner after the mosaics. Osteria La Mariola sits in Palazzo Grossi on the same central grid. If you are planning drinks before dinner, the aperitivo options around Via IX Febbraio are a short walk from all of them.

Booking, coperto and how a Ravenna table works

Small osterie in Ravenna fill quickly, so reserve by phone or through the restaurant's website for dinner, and for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Ca' de Ven is the exception on this list: it does not accept bookings, so arrive early or accept a wait. Counter piadina places need no reservation but do queue at peak hours.

Coperto is the small per-person cover charge added to seated meals in Italy, covering bread and service; it appears on the bill rather than the menu price, and counter orders for piadina or coffee do not carry it. Pay at the table in restaurants, and at the till before drinking a standing coffee at a bar.

Which restaurant suits which kind of meal

For a first dinner after the mosaics, book Osteria del Tempo Perso; for a quick lunch between sights, order at La Piadina del Melarancio; for a celebration in the centre, choose Ristorante Cappello or Bella Venezia. Families and groups do well at Ca' de Ven, where sharing long tables is normal and the piadina is made on site. Readers who want a longer, cheaper meal should drive out to the countryside trattorias.

If seafood is the point of the trip, plan a Marina di Ravenna lunch and keep the city for Romagna cooking. Two days is enough to cover one osteria dinner, one counter lunch and one fish meal without repeating a style.

Which Ravenna table should you book first?

Book Osteria del Tempo Perso first: it is the closest thing to a complete Ravenna meal, with a kitchen that cooks to order and a room that stays quiet even when the city is busy. Add a counter piadina for lunch and one seafood lunch at Marina di Ravenna to see the full range of the city's cooking.

If you have a car and a smaller budget, swap the second city dinner for a countryside trattoria around Bagnacavallo or Cotignola. The drive is short and the cooking is the same Romagna repertoire at a lower price, though the room will be simpler and the menu shorter.