Where and What to Eat in Verona: Recommended Restaurants and Must-Try Specialties

A trip is not just about attractions and sightseeing, but also about experiences, and there's no better way to discover a destination than through its culinary traditions. Verona, the City of Love, will make you fall in love with its wonderful attractions like the Arena, but it will also captivate your taste buds with recipes passed down from generation to generation. And let’s not forget the must-have aperitivo hour.
Let’s explore where and what to eat in Verona.

Best Restaurants to Eat in Verona

To experience authentic Veronese cuisine, not the touristy kind, we recommend choosing traditional osterias, offering homemade and generous dishes paired with local wines. One of the areas with the highest concentration of restaurants is Sottoriva, while Piazza delle Erbe is the perfect spot for a social aperitivo, almost a ritual in Veneto.

Here are 15 recommended places to eat:

1 - Osteria Caffè Monte Baldo

Foto di Osteria Caffe Monte Baldo.

• Description: historic osteria in the heart of Verona, near Piazza delle Erbe. Perfect for aperitivo, with a wide selection of wines and cicchetti featuring local products.
• Average price: from €15.00 per person
• Address: via Rosa, 12 - Get directions / Facebook Page

2 - Osteria Verona Antica

• Description: traditional Veronese cuisine, featuring dishes like horse and donkey meat, and an outdoor stone terrace with views of the river and Castel San Pietro.
• Average price: from €25.00 per person
• Address: via Sottoriva, 10 - Get directions / Instagram Page

3 - Hostaria Vecchia Fontanina

Foto di Hostaria Vecchia Fontanina.

• Description: a typical osteria just steps from Piazza dei Signori. Checkered tablecloths and an informal atmosphere, serving traditional Veronese dishes like Amarone risotto.
• Average price: from €20.00 per person
• Address: Piazzetta Chiavica, 5 - Get directions / Facebook Page

4 - Locanda 4 Cuochi

Foto di Locanda 4 Cuochi.

• Description: an elegant restaurant behind the Verona Arena, offering an excellent and extensive wine list featuring Veronese and Italian wines, and creative Italian cuisine.
• Average price: from €30.00 per person
• Address: via Alberto Mario, 12 - Get directions / Facebook Page

5 - Osteria Sottoriva

• Description: family-friendly and rustic atmosphere, menu with traditional Venetian and Veronese dishes.
• Average price: from €20.00 per person
• Address: via Sottoriva, 9 - Get directions / Instagram Page

6 - Vecio Macello

Foto di Vecio Macello.

• Description: a restaurant specializing in fish-based dishes, also offering tasting menus.
• Average price: from €30.00 per person
• Address: via Macello, 8 - Get directions / Facebook Page

7 - Elk Bakery

Foto di Elk Bakery.

• Description: a restaurant with an industrial chic-style café, very Instagrammable, also offering brunch on weekends, loved by young people.
• Average price: from €20.00 per person
• Address: via IV Novembre, 1A - Get directions / Facebook Page

8 - Terrazza Bar Al Ponte

Foto di Terrazza Bar Al Ponte.

• Description: the perfect spot for brunch, aperitivos, and quick lunches, featuring a wonderful outdoor terrace overlooking Ponte Pietra and Castel San Pietro.
• Average price: from €10.00 per person
• Address: via Ponte Pietra, 26 - Get directions / Facebook Page

9 - Re Teodorico

Foto di Re Teodorico.

• Description: an elegant restaurant near Castel San Pietro, offering a terrace with a city view, revisited Italian cuisine, and aperitivos.
• Average price: from €35.00 per person
• Address: Piazzale Castel San Pietro, 1 - Get directions / Facebook Page

10 - Casa Mazzanti Caffè

Foto di Casa Mazzanti Caffè.

• Description: a venue in Piazza delle Erbe ideal for quick lunches, dinners, or aperitivos, offering a wide selection of wines, cocktails, sandwiches, and tramezzini.
• Average price: from €15.00 per person
• Address: Piazza delle Erbe, 32 - Get directions / Facebook Page

11 - Ristorante Antica Torretta

Foto di Ristorante Antica Torretta.

• Description: a restaurant with a stone terrace, offering revisited Italian traditional dishes and tasting menus paired with wines.
• Average price: from €45.00 per person
• Address: Piazza Broilo, 1 - Get directions / Facebook Page

12 - Osteria al Duca

Foto di Osteria al Duca.

• Description: a restaurant located in the old stables of what is believed to be Romeo's house, serving traditional Veronese dishes.
• Average price: from €25.00 per person
• Address: via Arche Scaligere, 2 - Get directions / Facebook Page

13 - Al Bersagliere

Foto di Antica Trattoria Al Bersagliere.

• Description: a restaurant in a 13th-century old cellar, with a retro style and jukebox, serving Veronese dishes such as Amarone risotto.
• Average price: from €25.00 per person
• Address: via Dietro Pallone, 1 - Get directions / Facebook Page

14 - Trattoria al Pompiere

Foto di Trattoria al Pompiere.

• Description: a trattoria with checkered tablecloths and walls covered in photographs, almost from another era, serving local dishes and wines.
• Average price: from €25.00 per person
• Address: vicolo Regina D’Ungheria, 5 - Get directions / Facebook Page

15 - La Bottega della Gina XXL

Foto di la bottega della gina xxl.

• Description: a small take-away place in the historic center, offering handmade tortelli with various fillings.
• Average price: from €12.00 per person
• Address: via Abramo Massalongo, 5 - Get directions / Facebook Page

Must-Try Dishes

Veronese cuisine offers a wide and varied selection of local products: fish from nearby Lake Garda, rice from Bassa Veronese, cheeses from Lessinia, and excellent wines from Valpolicella. The oldest recipes are mainly traditional peasant dishes, with simple yet hearty ingredients.

Here are 10 specialties you shouldn't miss:

1 - Risotto all'Amarone

Foto di Massimiliano Aroffo.

• Description: a typical Veronese dish made with Vialone Nano rice and Amarone red wine for the creamy texture.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €9.00
• Main ingredients: Vialone Nano rice, Amarone wine

2 - Risotto al Tastasal

• Description: risotto with salted and peppered ground pork, "tastasal" meaning "taste the salt" in dialect. Best paired with red wine.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €8.00
• Main ingredients: rice, ground pork, salt, and pepper

3 - Bigoli con le Sarde

• Description: a typical Venetian dish, bigoli is fresh egg pasta. In Verona, it’s a traditional Christmas Eve and Lent Friday dish.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €8.00
• Main ingredients: egg pasta, sardines, onions

4 - Gnocchi di Patate

• Description: a typical Verona dish, made year-round for any occasion. Often served with tomato sauce or butter and sage.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €10.00
• Main ingredients: potatoes

5 - Lesso e Pearà

• Description: a traditional Sunday dish in Verona during winter, consisting of boiled meat and vegetables served with a bread crumb sauce seasoned with pepper, cheese, and broth.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €15.00
• Main ingredients: meat, vegetables, pearà sauce

6 - Pastissada de Caval

Foto di PetroniusArb.

• Description: a traditional Veronese recipe over 1,500 years old, a horse meat stew flavored with Valpolicella red wine, served with polenta.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €15.00
• Main ingredients: horse meat, Valpolicella wine

7 - Polenta e Osei

Foto di Ivan Vighetto.

• Description: polenta is one of the stars of Veronese cuisine. It is often accompanied by various sides, one of the most famous being polenta e osei, which features birds cooked on a spit or pan-fried.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €15.00
• Main ingredients: polenta, birds

8 - Luccio e Polenta

• Description: another traditional dish with polenta, this one featuring pike, a delicate fish commonly found in Lake Garda.
• Recommended for: lunch, dinner
• Average cost: €15.00
• Main ingredients: polenta, pike

9 - Pandoro

• Description: perhaps the most famous dessert of Verona. Pandoro, a naturally leavened sweet bread, is an icon of Christmas celebrations, created by Domenico Melegatti in 1884.
• Recommended for: breakfast, snack
• Average cost: from €20.00/kg
• Main ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar, butter

10 - Torta Russa

• Description: the most well-known dessert of Verona after Pandoro. It features a puff pastry shell and a filling of amaretti and almonds.
• Recommended for: breakfast, snack
• Average cost: €4.00 per slice
• Main ingredients: puff pastry, amaretti, almonds, eggs