Best Restaurants in Pantelleria

Last updated: October 2026

• Best Budget Restaurants
• Best Mid-Range Restaurants
• Best High-Level Restaurants

Best Budget Restaurants

• Pasticceria Gelateria Katia
• Panificio Terremoto
• Trattoria da Pina
• La Risacca (Ristorante-Pizzeria)
• Dispensa Pantesca (Enobistronomia)
• Panificio Mangiaforte
• Kayà Kayà Bar del Porto
• Il Goloso (Bar)

Pasticceria Gelateria Katia

Pasticceria Gelateria Katia is a pastry shop and gelateria at Lungomare Paolo Borsellino 84, on the waterfront of Pantelleria Town — the town where the ferry and the hydrofoil from Trapani arrive. The shop describes itself as “a true corner of sweetness in the heart of Pantelleria, where Sicilian tradition blends with a passion for the art of pastry”, and says that Katia and her team make their gelato from fresh, genuine ingredients.

The website lists artisanal gelato and granita, Sicilian cannoli and cassata, baci panteschi (the island’s fried, ricotta-filled wafers), mustaccioli, sesame biscuits, pasticciotti, pesche pantesche, fresh pasta (ravioli, tagliatelle, pasta alla chitarra, gnocchi) and made-to-order cakes. Three gelato flavours are featured on the site: Fondente Capperi e Origano (dark chocolate with capers and oregano), Opunzia and Pistacchio e Zenzero (pistachio and ginger).

Good to know. The shop’s blog describes an itinerant service that takes the gelateria to Pantelleria’s beaches. The website does not publish opening hours or prices. The shop’s Tripadvisor listing, which the business manages, gives daily hours of 9:00–13:30 and 16:30–23:00, says cash only, and notes vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options; confirm before you plan around them.

Quick facts
• Address Lungomare Paolo Borsellino 84, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 392 892 9760 (website) · +39 389 850 5041 (Tripadvisor listing)
• Website gelateriakatiapantelleria.it
• Hours 9:00–13:30 and 16:30–23:00 daily, per its Tripadvisor listing
• Payment Cash only, per the same listing
• Best for gelato, pastries and baci panteschi on the waterfront

Panificio Terremoto

Panificio Terremoto is a bakery in Khamma, one of Pantelleria’s contrade, at Via Khamma 112. Its website sells a short list of packaged baked goods through an e-shop: orange treccine, sesame biscuits, biscuits made with passito, taralli with sun-dried tomato and capers, pasticciotti, pignolata, almond paste and mustazzoli. The bakery says its products are always fresh, made with genuine ingredients and without chemical preservatives, and that in airtight containers they keep for four to five months.

Good to know. The website does not publish opening hours, and the bakery’s Tripadvisor listing is unclaimed, so phone ahead before driving out to Khamma. For a sit-down meal instead, see the high-level restaurants further down this page; the bakery’s own details are on its official contact page.

Quick facts
• Address Via Khamma 112, 91017 Khamma, Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 0923 915039
• Email [email protected]
• Website panificioterremotopnl.webnode.it
• Best for biscuits and sweets to take away

Trattoria da Pina

Trattoria da Pina stands at Via Lago 34, beside the Lago di Venere — the volcanic lake known to visitors as the Specchio di Venere, described in the lake section of our thermal springs guide. Its website emphasises the setting, friendly service and live music.

The menu is not published online. The website describes four parts to it — antipasti, pasta, fresh seafood that changes with the day’s catch, and house-made desserts — and the staff explain what is available at the table. No prices are published. To book, call the number below; the trattoria accepts reservations.

Good to know. The website lists the trattoria as open every day from 10:00 to midnight, while its Tripadvisor listing, which the restaurant manages, gives 10:00 to 23:00 — call if you plan a late table. It posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Quick facts
• Address Via Lago 34, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 371 646 7059
• Email [email protected]
• Website trattoriadapina.shop
• Hours Daily, from 10:00 until 23:00 or midnight (see above)
• Best for a meal beside the Lago di Venere

La Risacca (Ristorante-Pizzeria)

La Risacca is a restaurant-pizzeria in Pantelleria Town, at Via Milano 18 on the corner with Via Don Alonzo Errera. Its Tripadvisor listing, which the restaurant manages, files it under Italian, pizza and Sicilian cooking and notes outdoor seating, table service, takeaway and reservations.

Good to know. The restaurant has no website; the hours come from its Tripadvisor listing: lunch 12:30–14:30 every day and dinner from 20:00 to 22:45 (23:00 from Thursday to Sunday). Call before you go, and find the restaurant on Facebook. To round off a meal the island way, see Passito di Pantelleria in our wine guide.

Quick facts
• Address Via Milano 18 (corner of Via Don Alonzo Errera), 91017 Pantelleria Town (TP)
• Phone +39 0923 912 975
• Facebook La Risacca “Pantelleria”
• Hours Lunch 12:30–14:30 · Dinner 20:00–22:45 (23:00 Thu–Sun), per its Tripadvisor listing
• Best for pizza and Sicilian dishes in town

Dispensa Pantesca (Enobistronomia)

Dispensa Pantesca Enobistronomia opened on 20 June 2019 at Scauri Basso 9, in an old dammuso, as an extension of the restaurant La Nicchia, which has been open since 1987. It was founded by Gianni Busetta and Grazia Cucci, and the wine list is built around the island: according to its website, inside you will find all of Pantelleria’s Zibibbo wines and passiti.

At lunch the website mentions fish and vegetable couscous, insalata pantesca and raw fish and shellfish, served on the dammuso’s traditional ducchene with Zibibbo wines; in the evening, aperitifs on the domes of the dammuso under the stars; and after dinner a list with “many passiti”. A shop (bottega) sells Pantelleria capers, pâtés and sauces, oregano, Sicilian wines, DOP cheeses, Slow Food products such as Menaica anchovies, olive oil and artisanal chocolate.

Good to know. Opening hours, prices and a booking policy are not published on the website, so call or message ahead. Follow it on Instagram or Facebook.

Quick facts
• Address Scauri Basso 9, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 331 496 4751 | +39 0923 916 342
• Email [email protected]
• Website dispensapantesca.com
• Best for Zibibbo and passito wines with island dishes, and a shop for local products

Panificio Mangiaforte

Panificio Mangiaforte (also listed as Forno Mangiaforte) is a bakery on Via Silvio Pellico in Pantelleria Town. It has no website, and we could not check its street number, phone, hours or products against an official source, so we are not publishing them here. Its Facebook page is the place to look for news, and its Tripadvisor listing (unclaimed) shows what visitors have written. Planning a day on foot? Our hiking and outdoor guide covers the island’s trails.

Quick facts
• Address Via Silvio Pellico, Pantelleria Town (number to be confirmed)
• Facebook Forno Mangiaforte Murana
• Phone and hours not verified — ask locally

Kayà Kayà Bar del Porto

Kayà Kayà Bar del Porto is a bar at the port of Scauri, on the south-west coast, run by the team of the Altamarea restaurant. It also has its own entry in our bars and nightlife guide.

Its Tripadvisor listing, which the business manages, describes a bar and café serving breakfast, lunch, brunch and drinks, with outdoor seating, a full bar, free Wi-Fi, table service and reservations; dogs are welcome and cards are accepted. The listing gives hours of 9:00–21:00 Monday to Friday and 9:00–23:30 on Saturday and Sunday — confirm before you go, and check the bar’s Instagram or Facebook for the current schedule. For somewhere to swim, see Balata dei Turchi in our beaches guide.

Quick facts
• Address Porto di Scauri, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 366 980 9129
• Social @kayakayapantelleria
• Hours Mon–Fri 9:00–21:00 · Sat–Sun 9:00–23:30, per its Tripadvisor listing
• Best for breakfast or a drink by the harbour

Il Goloso (Bar)

Il Goloso is a bar at Via Borgo Italia 35 in Pantelleria Town — the street of Alchimia Café and Caffè Aurora in our bars and nightlife guide. Tripadvisor lists it as a bar serving breakfast. That listing is unclaimed and the bar has no website we could find, so we cannot confirm its phone, hours, menu or prices; ask locally or at your accommodation before planning a stop around it. After a morning in town, see Cala Levante in our beaches guide.

Quick facts
• Address Via Borgo Italia 35, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Listing Tripadvisor
• Phone and hours not verified — ask locally

Best Mid-Range Restaurants

• Il Principe e Il Pirata
• La Favarotta
• Altamarea
• Dammuso Ristorante
• Acquamore
• La Nicchia
• Le Cale
• Il Cappero Cibo e Gusto
• La Vela

Il Principe e Il Pirata

Osteria Il Principe e Il Pirata stands at Punta Karace, on the perimeter road between Cala Gadir and the Arco dell’Elefante: a typical island house with a large sea-view terrace. It is one of two Pantelleria restaurants in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Italia, listed for traditional Sicilian cooking at a reasonable price (€€).

It is a family osteria: the Casano family — Franca, Luciano, Marco and Simone — look after the guests, the kitchen and the wine. The menu follows the seasons and the island’s old recipes; the one published on the osteria’s website has included a fish tartare and a crustacean crudo of the day, grilled octopus with a crumble of Pantelleria caper berries, fried ravioli panteschi filled with ricotta and mint, and the traditional Pantescan couscous with fish and vegetables.

The wine list puts the island’s best labels first, then ranges across the rest of Italy and beyond the Alps. To taste passito where it is made, Bukkuram, Marco De Bartoli’s estate, takes visits by reservation.

Season & booking. Open from April to October, for lunch and dinner. Bookings are by phone only — the MICHELIN Guide, too, sends you to the restaurant directly — and the menu, with prices, is on the osteria’s website.

Quick facts
• Address Località Punta Karace 5, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 0923 691 108 (phone bookings only)
• Email [email protected]
• Website ilprincipeeilpirata.it
• Season April to October, lunch and dinner
• Best for family-run island cooking on a sea-view terrace

La Favarotta

Hidden among caper bushes and olive terraces in Contrada Khamma Fuori, La Favarotta feels more like a farmhouse dinner party than a restaurant. A narrow lane veers off the SP68 coastal road, climbs past dry-stone walls and ends at a low dammuso with a pergola strung in fairy lights. From the garden tables you can glimpse the south-east coastline and, on cloudless evenings, the faint glow of Tunisia across the channel. Review platforms agree it is worth the detour: TripAdvisor lists 1,100 + reviews at 3.7 / 5, while Restaurant Guru aggregates a solid 4.4 rating and ranks it among the island’s top countryside trattorie. Vanity Fair Italia even calls it “one of the ten addresses you can’t miss on Pantelleria”. See feature

The estate belongs to the Murana family, grape-growers since the 1920s, and that heritage drives the menu. Chef Alessandro Murana sources vegetables from his terraced garden and fish from the small pier at Gadir; if the boats stay in, he simply expands the vegetarian selection. A sample antipasto board—documented on the restaurant’s Instagram feed—might include caper-leaf bruschetta, mint-ricotta croquettes and marinated lampuga (mahi-mahi) with wild fennel pollen. Pasta lovers queue for the hand-pinched ravioli panteschi stuffed with sweet ricotta, a recipe highlighted by the Pantelleria National Park’s “Menu del Parco” guide. Main courses lean rustic: charcoal-grilled calamari, swordfish steak with oregano and lemon, or slow-braised kid goat finished in zibibbo wine.

Dessert is non-negotiable. The kitchen’s bacio pantesco arrives sizzling—two rosette wafers fried to order, sandwiched around chilled ricotta and drizzled with mille-fiori honey. Italia.it lists it among the “must-try sweets” of the island, praising the lightness of the batter. Italia.it listing Pair it with a glass of amber passito from the family’s micro-cellar and you will understand why locals book weeks ahead for August dinners.

Prices fit comfortably in the mid-range category: plan on €30–€45 pp for antipasto, pasta and dessert, a figure echoed by budgeting portal Piatti.menu. Card payments (Visa, Mastercard and AmEx) are accepted, pets are welcome on the terrace and there is free Wi-Fi—amenities confirmed on the Italia.it service grid. The trattoria is also wheelchair-accessible with a ramp from the gravel car park. Service details

Atmosphere. Seating sprawls beneath a pergola hung with bougainvillea; hurricane lanterns and volcanic-rock candleholders create a soft glow after dusk. A gentle sea breeze funnels up the valley, so even July evenings feel comfortable without fans. Live marranzano (Sicilian jaw harp) concerts pop up on Fridays—watch for announcements on the restaurant’s Facebook page. If you fancy a post-meal soak, the steaming rock pools at Gadir hot springs lie ten minutes’ drive downhill—bring swimwear and heed the “no glass” rule.

Logistics. Official hours are 19:00 – 24:00 daily, verified on Pagine Gialle. Lunch service runs only on Sundays in high season (reserve via WhatsApp before 12:00). Parking is plentiful along the access lane, but scooters will navigate the bends more easily than rental cars. Families should request the citrus-grove tables where kids can roam safely between dwarf lemon trees.

Quick facts
• Address Contrada Khamma Fuori SNC, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 915 446
• Email [email protected]
• Hours 19:00 – 24:00 (Sun lunch in high season)
• Price range €30 – €45 per person
• Best for garden-to-table ravioli, countryside sunset ambience

Altamarea

Altamarea occupies a teak-decked terrace that juts over the fishing harbour of Scauri (Via Scauri Porto 5-6). From the rail you can watch lobster traps being unloaded while the kitchen grills your octopus, and at sunset the horizon flames behind the black-lava headlands that guard the inlet. The postcode (91017) puts it a 20-minute coastal drive from Pantelleria Town or an easy five-minute scooter hop from Sataria hot-spring grotto. The double identity—a refined seafood restaurant by day, a buzzy lounge-bar/club after dark—earns Altamarea spots on almost every “where to eat” list for the island, including Pantelleria Experience, Sicily.co.uk and Wanderlog’s “Top Family Restaurants” round-up.

The space itself is unabashedly theatrical: bleached-wood floors, canvas sails for shade and a glossy oyster bar fashioned from local basalt. Down a spiral stair you’ll find the Altamarea Club, a vaulted lava cave that morphs into a DJ booth after 23:30—hence the steady stream of Instagram Stories on @altamareapantelleria_official showing barefoot dancing until 3 a.m.

From boat to plate Chef Luca Galletti buys fish straight off the dinghies moored below the terrace, so menus change with the tides. A typical starter board might feature red-prawn tartare, swordfish carpaccio drizzled with caper-leaf oil and sesame-rimmed pane cunzato to mop up the juices. Pasta highlights include busiate allo scorfano (scorpion-fish ragù brightened with wild fennel) and an indulgent sea-urchin carbonara that regulars describe as “summer on a fork” in Google reviews. Mains lean simple—charcoal-grilled amberjack with lemon thyme, or salt-baked grouper cracked tableside—because the produce hardly needs embellishment.

Couscous & kebabs under the stars Every Thursday the kitchen hosts a “Maghreb-meets-Sicily” night that riffs on Pantelleria’s North-African heritage. Expect fragrant fish couscous steamed over a saffron broth, lamb kebabs marinated in zibibbo must and a fiery harissa made with local chilli. After midnight, tables are cleared, lanterns appear and the resident DJ switches from bossa nova to deep house, turning dinner into a dockside party that often spills onto the adjoining pier.

Dietary notes Gluten-free travellers can request chickpea-flour batter for the calamari and a 48-hour rice-flour pizza dough baked in a separate tin—details flagged in the Pantelleria Experience write-up. Vegans will find zucchini flower tempura, grilled artichokes with caper-mint pesto and a bright citrus-avocado salad. Children get half-portion pasta and the kitchen will split mains gratis, making Altamarea surprisingly family-friendly for a venue that turns into a club after dark (hence its inclusion in Wanderlog’s “Best Family Restaurants” list).

Price & service Altamarea slots neatly into the mid-range band of this guide: budget about €35–€55 per person for antipasto, pasta or main and a glass of wine. Service aims for polished-casual; floor staff zip around in boat shoes and linen while the maître d’ keeps a watchful eye on pacing so you finish dessert just as the DJ ramps up. A concise dessert card offers prickly-pear sorbet, sesame semifreddo and—of course—the island’s beloved bacio pantesco fried to order and served with a drizzle of zibibbo syrup.

Logistics & seating tips Restaurant hours are 12 :30 – 15 :00 & 19 :30 – 23 :30 (club continues until 03 :00 in July & August). Reserve the front-row tables labelled “Wave Zone” on the booking form if you want splash-level sea views—these disappear weeks ahead in high season. Drivers will find free roadside parking along Via Scauri Porto after 19 :00, but scooters squeeze into bays beside the ice-cream kiosk next door. Sailors can radio channel 77 for a tender service that drops guests right at the deck stairs, a perk highlighted on the restaurant’s Facebook events page.

Why go? Because few places on Pantelleria capture the island’s twin souls—authentic seafaring cuisine and free-spirited nightlife—as neatly as Altamarea. Arrive for a languid lunch of crimson prawn crudo, linger over a bottle of skin-contact zibibbo, then dance barefoot under the stars while fishing boats bob beneath the deck. It’s the sort of day-to-night experience that turns a simple meal into a postcard memory.

Quick facts
• Address Via Scauri Porto 5-6, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 366 489 4172
• Instagram @altamareapantelleria_official
• Hours 12 :30 – 15 :00 & 19 :30 – 23 :30 (club until 03 :00 Jul–Aug)
• Price range €35 – €55 per person
• Best for harbour-edge seafood, sunset aperitivo, after-dinner DJ sets

Dammuso Ristorante

Tucked into a 300-year-old dammuso on Via Principe Amedeo 72, Dammuso Ristorante is the kind of cosy stone-vault you could walk past without noticing—were it not for the soft glow of lanterns and the aroma of wild-fennel bread drifting into the alley. The building sits two minutes’ stroll inland from the Castello Barbacane and the ferry quay, yet once you duck beneath the low archway you’re in another world of lava-stone walls, antique farm tools and linen-draped tables. Review platforms back the first impression: TripAdvisor tallies 1,200 + reviews at 4.5 / 5, while Restaurant Guru keeps the Google score at 4.6 and lists the venue among the town’s top five for seafood-forward cuisine.

Chef-owner Lorenzo Sardo describes his cooking as “Pantescan roots with a contemporary twist.” That means starters of red-prawn tartare laced with caper-leaf oil, tempura zucchini flowers piped with mint-ricotta, and a cult favourite panelle (chick-pea fritters) topped with smoked swordfish mousse. A seasonal highlight—documented on the restaurant’s Instagram feed—is spring sea-urchin carbonara: house-made tagliolini tossed tableside in an urchin-roe emulsion, showered with bottarga dust. Mains lean elemental: charcoal-grilled amberjack, salt-baked grouper cracked open under a rosemary sprig, or slow-braised kid goat finished with zibibbo and mountain myrtle.

Pasta lovers should not skip the busiate al pesto pantesco, a recipe so faithful to tradition that the Pantelleria National Park “Menu del Parco” guide lists it as a benchmark version. Vegetarians can swap fish ragù for a vibrant tomato-almond pesto, while coeliacs will find corn-flour busiate boiled in a separate pan—details noted by celiac-travel blog Gluten Free Italy.

Our hiking guide suggests it for dinner in town after a day on the island’s trails, Montagna Grande included.

Dessert spotlight – bacio pantesco. Dammuso fries its wafer rosettes to order, pipes them with cinnamon-orange ricotta and finishes with a drizzle of wild-flower honey. Italian food magazine Gambero Rosso lists this rendition among the island’s top three, praising the “astonishing lightness” of the batter.

Pricing & service. Expect to spend €38 – €55 per person for antipasto, pasta or main and a glass of zibibbo, matching the mid-range bracket of this guide. Service is warm yet unhurried; many diners report chats with Chef Lorenzo about fishing conditions or caper harvest dates. Bookings are essential July–September—call or use the WhatsApp number below. Off-season the restaurant closes Mondays and switches to a single dinner service; check hours on their Facebook page.

Good to know. The vaulted dining room seats 25, but the five outdoor tables snagged by jasmine planters are prime real estate on balmy nights. Cyclists love that Dammuso offers a free charge-point for e-bikes (ask staff for the socket tucked behind the wine barrel). Drivers can park along Via Borgo Italia and walk the cobbles; scooters squeeze into the alley right by the entrance.

Quick facts
• Address Via Principe Amedeo 72, 91017 Pantelleria Town, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 912 693
• Facebook facebook.com/dammusoristorante
• Hours 19 :30 – 23 :30 Tue–Sun (lunch Sun 12 :30 – 14 :30, closed Mon off-season)
• Price range €38 – €55 per person
• Best for urchin carbonara, vaulted lava-stone ambience

Acquamore

Acquamore is the restaurant of the Pantelleria Dream Resort, a resort of dammusi at Cala Tramontana, facing the Arco dell’Elefante. Tables are set on panoramic terraces among the greenery, and the restaurant has its own website and booking line.

The kitchen is led by chef Pietro Mangani, who trained in starred kitchens alongside Heinz Beck, Riccardo Di Giacinto and Quique Dacosta; the house style is creative Mediterranean cooking. Vegetables come from the restaurant’s own biodynamic garden, grown without pesticides or weedkillers, and there is a lounge bar for cocktails. The lunch and dinner menus and the wine list are published on the restaurant’s website.

Hours & booking. The restaurant publishes breakfast 8:00–10:30, lunch 13:00–15:30 and dinner 19:30–22:30; it does not state a season, so check before you go outside summer. Book by phone or through the form on its website; the resort itself is at pantelleriadreamresort.it.

Quick facts
• Address Via dei Mennuli snc, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) — Pantelleria Dream Resort, Cala Tramontana
• Phone +39 375 576 8541
• Email [email protected]
• Website acquamorepantelleria.com
• Hours Breakfast 8:00–10:30 · Lunch 13:00–15:30 · Dinner 19:30–22:30
• Best for creative cooking with a kitchen garden of its own

La Nicchia

La Nicchia has been cooking in Scauri since 1987, when Gianni Busetta restored an old dammuso and turned it into a restaurant. It stands in Scauri Basso, a few steps from the village of Scauri on the south-west coast, and the setting is still the island’s own: stone walls, vaulted rooms, wooden tables, and a garden where trees grow between the tables and the lamps hang from the branches.

The cooking starts from the island’s larder — fish, vegetables, herbs, ricotta, almonds and Pantelleria capers. Some dishes have been on the menu for a long time: aubergine caponata with toasted almonds, fish couscous, ravioli filled with ricotta and mint, rabbit with vegetables, olives and capers. Alongside them come lighter fish plates — raw fish, amberjack, octopus — and pizza, now a fixture of the menu. Dessert is the bacio pantesco, two fried wafers filled with ricotta cream, and dinner often ends with a glass of Passito.

The wine list focuses on Pantelleria and Sicilian labels, with Zibibbo in its different styles, from dry wines to passito; to taste them where they grow, estates such as Coste Ghirlanda open for visits on request. For lunch or an aperitivo, Gianni Busetta and Grazia Cucci opened the Dispensa Pantesca next door in 2019 — bistro, wine bar and shop in another dammuso — while La Nicchia remains the place for dinner.

Good to know. Call to check opening days and to book. Don’t confuse the restaurant with lanicchia.com: that is the online shop of La Nicchia di Pantelleria, an island caper producer. The restaurant’s own site is lanicchia.it, and it posts on Facebook. Its story is told in a July 2026 profile in Eventi Culturali Magazine.

Quick facts
• Address Scauri Basso 11, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 0923 916 342
• Website lanicchia.it
• Facebook facebook.com/lanicchiapantelleria
• Best for long-standing Pantescan dishes in a garden, and pizza

Le Cale

Le Cale sits exactly where you would want a sea-view table on Pantelleria: perched on the black lava rock between Cala Levante and Cala Tramontana, at Contrada Cala Levante 34, with turquoise water below and the Arco dell’Elefante—the island’s most photographed landmark—in plain sight. The owners describe the place without fuss on the official site: squarely local cooking, typical Pantescan specialities and a few original twists, on a terrace “set into the black rock, surrounded by turquoise sea”. Reviews live on TripAdvisor.

Getting there. The restaurant stands right at the fork where the coast road splits for the twin coves—“al bivio delle due cale”, as their own site puts it. Follow the perimeter road to the island’s north-east corner and leave the car by the Cala Levante access: you are a few steps from the water and from the Arco dell’Elefante viewpoint. If you have spent the morning swimming below the faraglione, you can walk up for lunch without moving the scooter.

The all-day kitchen. Le Cale’s kitchen runs non-stop from 09:00 to 24:00—breakfast, lunch, aperitivo and dinner without the mid-afternoon shutdown that catches out so many visitors elsewhere on the island. The owners are explicit about the drop-in spirit: if you are simply passing through, stop “just long enough to sip a glass of wine as the sun goes down”.

The food. The menu is deliberately local—island ingredients and Pantescan classics with the chef’s twist. Guest reviews featured on the restaurant’s own homepage single out the spaghetti ai ricci di mare (sea-urchin spaghetti) and the tagliata di tonno in a sesame crust; the current dishes are published on the menu page.

Lunch or dinner? Both work, differently. Daytime is barefoot-casual—swimsuits, granite, a plate of pasta between swims. In the evening the terrace turns quieter and more scenic, with the faraglione silhouetted against the last light: the moment regulars book for.

Events. The team also hosts dinners and parties under the Pantelleria sky—concerts and special evenings are announced on the Eventi page, and the terrace can be arranged for private events on request.

Dessert spotlight – bacio pantesco. A guest review featured on Le Cale’s own homepage calls their fried-wafer-and-ricotta classic “the best on the island”, and the Sicilian cassatina “moving”. Strong words; easy test.

Wine & drinks. The list leans island-first: a chilled zibibbo secco with seafood at lunch, a glass of passito with dessert, and sunset aperitivo service on the terrace when the light turns gold over the coves.

Prices & booking. Le Cale doesn’t publish a fixed price range—check the current menu online before you go. Book by phone at +39 0923 915451 or on WhatsApp at +39 347 7975259; sea-view tables go first in July and August.

Opening hours. Kitchen open with continuous service 09:00–24:00 in season. For off-season days, storm closures and event nights, check their Facebook page or Instagram before driving out.

Quick facts
• Address Contrada Cala Levante 34, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 915451 · WhatsApp +39 347 7975259
• Email [email protected]
• Website lecale.it
• Hours Kitchen non-stop 09:00–24:00 (in season)
• Price range See the current menu online
• Best for Arco dell’Elefante views, all-day kitchen, sunset aperitivo

Il Cappero Cibo e Gusto

Sitting just off the main piazza on Via Roma 33, Il Cappero Cibo e Gusto is the town-centre spot where locals mix happily with ferry-fresh travellers. The dining room occupies a converted caper warehouse: lava-stone walls, an open pizza oven that glows orange at night and, in fine weather, half a dozen bistro tables that spill onto the pavement. Review platforms agree it punches above its price tag—Restaurant Guru reports a 4.4/5 Google score from 1,600+ votes, while TripAdvisor lists 800+ reviews and a Travelers’ Choice badge.

Why the name? Capers are the island’s edible icon and appear in almost every dish: fried leaves as aperitivo, citrus-bright pesto on pizza, and sweet-sour berries dotting the insalata pantesca that lands on every table. No surprise the kitchen buys daily from family plots in Khamma and Scauri, a farm-to-fork ethos praised by the local tourism board’s “Where to Eat” directory.

Signature starters rotate with the catch: red-prawn tartare laced with caper-leaf oil, tempura baby calamari with lemon-mint aioli, and a sharing board of rabbit terrine slow-braised in zibibbo wine. Repeat visitors rave about the warm sesame focaccia that arrives straight from the wood oven with caper-flower butter—a photo favourite on Instagram.

Pasta highlights showcase the island’s larder: paccheri with cherry tomatoes, pistachio and prawns; linguine tossed in sea-urchin cream; and hand-pinched ravioli panteschi stuffed with sweet ricotta and dressed in datterino tomato reduction—a combination singled out in multiple July 2025 reviews on TripAdvisor Italia. Coeliacs can request corn-flour pasta boiled in a dedicated pot, a detail applauded by Gluten Free Italy.

Wood-fired pizza is available every night from 19 :30. Try the “Pantesca” topped with caper leaves, cherry tomatoes and oregano, or the vegetarian “Mursia” featuring grilled zucchini and smoked provola. Restaurant Guru’s dish cloud places pizza, seafood and tiramisu among the most-ordered plates, confirming the kitchen’s broad appeal.

Main courses lean simple to let produce shine: charcoal-seared amberjack with wild-fennel gremolata, salt-baked grouper cracked tableside, or kid goat braised in zibibbo and herbs. Thursday evenings bring a North-African nod—fragrant fish couscous for two—mirroring the island’s centuries-old trade routes.

Dessert spotlight – bacio pantesco. Two wafer rosettes are flash-fried to order, sandwiched around cinnamon-orange ricotta and dusted with icing sugar. Food blog The Travel Bites recently ranked Il Cappero’s version “best in town” for its feather-light batter. Pair it with a glass of chilled passito or the kitchen’s prickly-pear granita if you’re after something lighter.

Opening hours are 19 :30 – 23 :00 daily (kitchen pauses mid-afternoon). July–August tables vanish fast; book via WhatsApp or call the number below. The dining room is wheelchair-accessible, and staff happily prepare half portions for children.

Quick facts
• Address Via Roma 33, 91017 Pantelleria Town, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 912 725
• Website facebook.com/cappero.cibo
• Hours 19 :30 – 23 :00 daily
• Price range €30 – €45 per person
• Best for wood-fired pizza, sea-urchin pasta, award-winning bacio pantesco

La Vela

La Vela perches on a timber balcony at Contrada Scauri Scalo 18, so close to the water that spray sometimes freckles the first-row tables. From here you watch lobster cages lifted onto dinghies while the kitchen grills today’s catch—a scene that earned the restaurant 1,000-plus TripAdvisor reviews and a solid 3.6 / 5, plus a 4.5 Google score aggregated by Restaurant Guru. A lone chalkboard by the stairwell announces: “Pesce fresco, vista mare, prezzi onesti” (“fresh fish, sea view, honest prices”)—and that mantra still guides the Bonomo family, who have run the place since the 1970s.

Getting there. Drive fifteen minutes west from Pantelleria Town on the SP54, park beside the Scauri pier and climb the external stair wedged between a gelateria and the boat-rental kiosk. Sailors can radio channel 77 for a tender berth at the restaurant’s ladder—handy if you’re moored after snorkelling the lava arches of Cala Balata

The concept. Chef Pia Rosa Bonomo calls her cooking “Pantescan soul, seaside simplicity.” Starters change with the boats: red-prawn tartare on citrus gel, panelle (chick-pea fritters) topped with caper-mint pesto, and tempura caper leaves that crunch like seaweed crisps. Warm sesame focaccia lands first—split it open and the harbour breeze perfumes the crumb.

Pasta icons. Spring means busiate al riccio—hand-twirled spirals slicked with sea-urchin cream—while summer brings linguine alla lampuga (mahi-mahi ragù brightened with wild fennel). Vegetarian diners gravitate to ravioli panteschi stuffed with sweet ricotta and finished in datterino-tomato reduction; coeliacs can request corn-flour pasta boiled in its own pan, a courtesy applauded by Celiac-Travel blogs and highlighted on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Fish couscous on Fridays. A nod to North-African heritage, the saffron-fragrant broth simmers scorpion-fish, almonds and zibibbo raisins. The €42 platter serves two and includes a glass of skin-contact zibibbo—Wanderlog reviewers call it “the island’s best value coastal couscous.”

Mains & grill. The lava-stone barbecue works overtime: charcoal-seared amberjack drizzled with caper-leaf oil; salt-baked grouper cracked tableside amid clouds of rosemary-scented steam; and, for carnivores, kid goat slow-braised in zibibbo and myrtle. Pair any dish with the kitchen’s lemon-mint salad of oranges, fennel and olives—an Arabic legacy that brightens the palate.

Dessert spotlight – bacio pantesco. Two wafer rosettes are flash-fried to order, piped with cinnamon-orange ricotta and dusted with icing sugar. Food blog The Travel Bites ranked La Vela’s version “best on the harbour” for its feather-light crunch. Lighter palates can opt for prickly-pear granita or a sphere of mulberry sorbet drowned in sparkling zibibbo.

Prices & service. Expect to spend €35–€55 per person for antipasto, pasta or main, dessert and a glass of wine—squarely mid-range. Linen-aproned staff keep the vibe relaxed; many grew up in Scauri and know the fishermen by first name, so don’t hesitate to ask which species landed that morning. Children are welcome (half-portion pasta is free of charge), and pets curl up under terrace tables.

Hours. Dinner 19 : 30 – 23 : 30 daily; lunch 12 : 30 – 14 : 30 Saturday–Monday May-September (hours posted on Menuweb). Off-season the restaurant closes on Tuesdays. Windy scirocco days may shutter the balcony; check real-time updates via their Instagram Stories.

Before you go. Arrive early to sip an aperitivo on the pier, or linger after dinner and wander five minutes north to the Scauri lighthouse—a postcard spot for star-trails photos without light pollution. If you’re touring the south-west coast by scooter, La Vela makes a perfect lunch stop between the hot springs at Sataria and the snorkelling coves around Martingana.

Quick facts
• Address Contrada Scauri Scalo 18, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 916 566
• Email [email protected]
• Website facebook.com/ristorantelavelapantelleria
• Hours 12 : 30–14 : 30 (Sat–Mon, May–Sep) & 19 : 30–23 : 30 daily
• Price range €35 – €55 per person
• Best for harbour-edge fish couscous, sea-urchin pasta, sunset balcony views

Best High-Level Restaurants

• Scruscio (Cossyra Hotel)
• Sesiventi
• I Giardini dei Rodo
• U’ Truscio Ristorante
• L’Officina – Tenuta Coste Ghirlanda
• Zateré (Zubebi Resort)
• La Cucina di Parco dei Sesi
• Rifugio Firiciakki

Scruscio (Cossyra Hotel)

The island’s most ambitious kitchen after you leave the trattorie behind: Scruscio is the restaurant of the Cossyra Hotel in Contrada Mursia, on the north-west coast, where chef Bottaro treats Pantescan tradition as a starting point rather than a rulebook. It reads as a seafood osteria reinvented — contemporary, elegant, and built around whatever the boats landed that morning.

The dining room opens onto a terrace where, on a clear evening, sea and sky run together over the Mursia lava coast — the west-facing side of the island, so this is a sunset table. The signature is a pasta with sea anemones and urchins; the rest of the menu moves with the season and the catch. It sits within the Cossyra Hotel, so non-residents should book ahead, especially in August.

Contacts & booking. Contrada Mursia 20, 91017 Pantelleria (TP) · Official page cossyrahotel.it ↗ · reserve through the hotel. Best for creative island seafood and a west-coast sunset.

Sesiventi

Carved into the volcanic plateau of Mursia – Altopiano dei Sesi, Sesiventi is half archaeological viewpoint, half sunset lounge: white-stucco cupolas rise from a millennial garden of caper bushes and dwarf palms, framing an uninterrupted view of the Strait of Sicily. Set your navigator to “Parco dei Sesi e Muro Alto, 91017 Pantelleria” and follow the lantern-lit path to the reception desk where staff whisk you uphill in an electric buggy. The location alone explains 440+ diner reviews on TripAdvisor and a 4 / 5 average on Restaurant Guru.

The ritual: arrive for “Aperitivo sulle Cupole”—€40 secures a premium cocktail and a six-bite tasting flight inspired by island flavours (mint-ricotta croquettes, caper-leaf tempura, smoked swordfish carpaccio). Details sit on the digital menu at leggimenu.it. After the first round you pay à la carte; popular drinks include the “Sesi Mojito” spiked with passito and the barrel-aged Negroni. DJ sets ignite from 23:00 and roll till 04:00, so sunset spritz often morphs into star-lit dancing—as the Pantelleria Experience event diary confirms.

Food beyond snacks lands after 20 :30 when the rooftop kitchen plates hand-pinched ravioli panteschi in datterino reduction, charcoal-seared amberjack on chick-pea purée and a Friday-only fish couscous that shows Pantelleria’s Maghreb soul. Sluurpy diners rate the sea-urchin linguine a must-order; check the rolling menu on Instagram @_sesiventi_.

Atmosphere & extras. Seating options range from garden beanbags to the Insta-famous stone cupolas (book these). Expect afrobeats and deep-house grooves; VIP nights pull big-name DJs—see recent line-ups on Wanderlog’s “Famous Restaurants” page. Dress code is island-smart: linen, espadrilles, no beachwear after 19 :00.

Prices & hours. Aperitivo from €40; dinner plates €18–€28; cocktails €12–€16. Doors open 18 :30 – 04 :00 seven nights, peak DJ sets Thu–Sun. Reserve cupola seats 48 h ahead via WhatsApp +39 366 272 0228; same-day walk-ins use the garden bar.

Quick facts
• Address Parco dei Sesi e Muro Alto, Mursia, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 366 272 0228
• Hours 18 :30 – 04 :00 daily
• Price range Aperitivo €40 | Dinner €18 – €28 | Cocktails €12 – €16
• Best for cupola-top sunsets, DJ nightlife

I Giardini dei Rodo

Dinner at I Giardini dei Rodo feels like a private garden party: you step through a whitewashed arch in Via Bonomo Alto, Scauri, then wander stone paths past citrus trees and palm fronds to linen-draped tables set in a dammuso courtyard. Strings of Edison bulbs glint off lava walls while crickets provide the soundtrack and, on clear nights, the glow of North Africa sits low on the horizon.

The Michelin Guide calls the ambience “romantic and original,” and reviewers on TripAdvisor and Google echo the verdict: regional flavours meet modern technique, service is warm but unhurried, and the setting—part orchard, part archaeological viewpoint—steals every show.

Signature journey (chef Salvatore Pilo switches dishes weekly):

• Prawn carpaccio marinated in citrus and caper-leaf oil, served on chilled lava slabs.
• Aubergine croquettes with smoked tomato coulis and mint.
• Hand-pinched ravioli panteschi in datterino-tomato reduction, sprinkled with toasted almond crumbs.
• Rabbit rollatina braised in zibibbo, finished with passito glaze and wild-oregano vegetables.
• Caper semifreddo – a cult dessert that balances salty buds, honey and citrus zest.
• The island’s obligatory bacio pantesco piped with cinnamon-orange ricotta.

Vegetarians can swap fish ragù for saffron-risotto-stuffed courgette flowers, while coeliacs get corn-flour pasta cooked in a dedicated pot. Vegan tasting tracks appear on 24 h notice and use garden herbs and orchard fruit in place of dairy.

Prices & times – Tasting menu €75; à-la-carte starters €18–€22, mains €32–€38. The gate opens 19 :30 – 01 :00 (closed Monday off-season). Book the “orange-grove table” a week ahead in high summer; WhatsApp replies usually arrive within hours.

Need-to-know – Children over ten welcome; pets allowed on leash. Free parking curls along the country lane outside the wall, but scooters can park just inside the gate. Wheelchair users should request the front pergola area (no steps). Bring a light jacket: the plateau breeze cools quickly after the sun drops behind Monte Gelkhamar.

Quick facts
• Address Via Bonomo Alto, Scauri Basso, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 334 141 4002
• Email [email protected]
• Website igiardinideirodo.it
• Hours 19 :30 – 01 :00 (closed Mon off-season)
• Price range Tasting €75 | À la carte €18–€38
• Best for garden tasting menus, caper semifreddo, romantic sunset ambience

Ù Truscio Ristorante

Ù Truscio began as a street-food truck and is now a rural restaurant inland at Bukkuram, run by owner-chef Antonio Errera. It is one of the island’s best-rated tables — 4.4 out of 5 on Tripadvisor and consistently in the island’s top ten — and the appeal is the opposite of a view restaurant: you drive up into the vineyards for cooking rather than scenery.

The menu changes daily around what the boats and the garden give. Expect very fresh fish, savoury pies, grilled meat and a short list of chef’s specials rather than a fixed carte. Book ahead in July and August: it is a small room and it fills.

Quick facts
• Address Via Bukkuram Sopra 5, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 327 459 9926
• Website utruscioristorante.it
• Reviews Tripadvisor
• Best for daily-catch cooking away from the coast road

L’Officina – Tenuta Coste Ghirlanda

L’Officina is not a restaurant in the usual sense but the tasting space of Tenuta Coste Ghirlanda: a private lounge looking over the Plain of Ghirlanda, in the centre of the island, with the sea on the horizon. You sit at small tables under the stars and taste the estate’s wines with a selection of its own produce, served in changing combinations — or simply a local pastry with a glass of the estate’s passito.

It is an evening place — a glass of wine at sunset, passito later on — and it also hosts dinners, celebrations and weddings. No menu, prices or opening hours are published: contact the estate to agree a time and a format.

Quick facts
• Address Piana di Ghirlanda, 91017 Pantelleria (TP)
• Phone +39 333 391 3695 · +39 0923 187 5997
• Email [email protected]
• Website costeghirlanda.it › L’Officina
• Best for an evening of wine and estate produce at a working vineyard

Zateré (Zubebi Resort)

Tucked in the vine-striped foothills behind Pantelleria Town, Zateré is the signature restaurant at boutique Zubebi Resort, an 18-suite retreat carved out of 18^th-century dammusi. Set your navigator to Contrada Zubebi 11; a torch-lit driveway threads through zibibbo rows to a cube of lava stone and glass that hovers above the valley like a giant lantern. From the teak terrace you can see the airport runway shimmer to the south and the moonrise over Montagna Grande to the east—one of the few spots on the island serving both sunrise breakfasts and candle-lit dinners.

Although the dining room belongs to a hotel, outside guests are welcome. The gatehouse rings reception, a golf cart ferries you up the slope, and suddenly you’re in a split-level lounge of linen sofas, basalt walls and an open kitchen framed by floor-to-ceiling windows. Chef Martina Parisi (ex-Gagini Palermo) describes her style as “volcanic produce, French knife work, Arabic perfume,” a credo that underpins the two nightly tasting routes—“Scirocco” (six plates, €95) and “Maestrale” (eight plates, €125). À-la-carte is available at lunchtime, when many locals drive up just for her caper-leaf tempura.

Highlights change every fortnight but recent menus have featured:

• Raw red prawn on prickly-pear granita with mint oil.
• Busiate al riccio—hand-twirled spirals slicked in sea-urchin cream and dusted with Bronte pistachio.
• Couscous di pesce steamed over saffron broth, scorpion fish and zibibbo-soaked raisins (served family-style for two).
• Lamb saddle cooked sous-vide, glazed in passito reduction, paired with myrtle-smoked carrots.
• Bacio pantesco fried to order, piped with cinnamon-orange ricotta, plated on citrus coulis and crowned with a shard of sesame croccante.

Vegetarians can swap fish ragù for a vibrant tomato-almond ammogghiu, while coeliacs receive corn-flour pasta boiled in a separate pan—a detail praised in multiple 2025 Google reviews. Vegan diners (24 h notice) get roasted fennel hearts with caper-pesto crust and a dairy-free lemon-verbena sorbet that tastes like Mediterranean air.

Prices & hours place Zateré at the upper edge of mid-range: tasting €95–€125; lunchtime starters €18–€22, mains €30–€38, desserts €12. Breakfast for hotel guests (outsiders on request) runs 08:00-10:30; lunch 13:00-15:00; dinner 19:30-23:00 (closed Monday off-season). Dress code skews “island smart”—linen yes, flip-flops after 20:00 no.

Atmosphere & extras—Tables spill onto a jasmine-scented patio; hurricane lanterns line the basalt walls; and once a week a violin-DJ duo performs sunset sets beside the infinity pool. Children over ten are welcome; pets allowed on lead outside. Before leaving, browse the tiny shop for caper-flower salt, vineyard honey and passito-scented candles.

Quick facts
• Address Contrada Zubebi 11, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 912 162
• Email [email protected]
• Website zubebi.com/en/resort-with-restaurant-pantelleria
• Hours Breakfast 08:00–10:30 | Lunch 13:00–15:00 | Dinner 19:30–23:00 (closed Mon off-season)
• Price range Tasting €95–€125 | À la carte €18–€38
• Best for vineyard sunsets, sea-urchin busiate

Amuni – La Cucina di Parco dei Sesi

Surrounded by 5,000-year-old sesi tombs, caper fields and olive groves, Amuni is the restaurant of the twelve-room agriturismo Parco dei Sesi at Strada Perimetrale Ovest 95, about 12 minutes by car from the port. Relaunched under its new name—“Amuni is La Cucina di Parco dei Sesi”, as the official page puts it—the restaurant is now open to the public, and the tables move with the evening: a rooftop facing the sea, a circular garden of volcanic stone, the pergola, or the capers’ field ringed by archaeological ruins.

The kitchen is led by Massimiliano, owner and founder of Parco dei Sesi, cooking his Sicilian family’s recipes over the house wood oven. The farm-to-table claim is literal here—capers and an intense olive oil from the Pantelleria estate, vegetables from the family’s second farm in Salemi, the rest from local producers—and “homemade” is a daily routine: breakfast cakes, aperitivo focaccia, pizza dough and hand-made ravioli all start from scratch.

The weekly rhythm (2026 season):

• Aperitivi open to the public every Monday and Friday—a tasting of Sicilian and local delicacies with the terrace facing Africa.
• Pizza night every Sunday from 1 June to 15 September, from the wood oven, under the stars.
• Capers-field dinner every Thursday: a convivial table set between Monte Gelkhamar and the sea, built around cuscus di pesce, the island’s ancestral fish couscous.
• Kitchen closed on Wednesdays—house guests can still have a glass of wine at sunset.
• Weekend welcome lunch (July to early September) with the pasta del giorno, reserved for hotel guests on check-in days.
• Foraged notes: the island’s wild, flavourful greens make their way into the plates whenever the season allows.

Menus are adapted to a wide range of diets—vegetarian, gluten-free and specific requirements are handled on request, with the stated mission of keeping the integrity of the Cucina Siciliana intact while doing so.

Wine & drinks – the cellar champions Pantelleria’s natural wines: Passito, Zibibbo and bottles from the small vineyards that farm the UNESCO-listed vite ad alberello, poured to match whatever leaves the wood oven that night.

Prices & booking – menus and prices aren’t published online; tables are booked by SMS at +39 379 186 4567 and the team confirms the format of the evening when you book. Event catering, weddings and retreat menus are arranged bespoke, with no predefined packages.

Atmosphere & extras – l’art de la table à la française meets Sicilian generosity, in the owners’ own words: considered table settings, candle-lit volcanic stone, and a different corner of the estate for every dinner. Before leaving, ask about the estate’s capers and olive oil.

Quick facts
• Address Strada Perimetrale Ovest 95, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone / SMS +39 379 186 4567
• Email [email protected]
• Website parcodeisesi.com/amunipantelleria
• Hours Kitchen closed Wed · public aperitivi Mon & Fri · pizza night Sun (1 Jun–15 Sep)
• Price range Menus on request (SMS booking)
• Best for wood-oven pizza under the stars, capers-field couscous dinners, archaeological sunset views

Rifugio Firiciakki

Perched 310 m above sea level on the forested ridge behind Sibà, Rifugio Firiciakki delivers the island’s highest dinner table and a sweeping panorama that runs from the crater of Montagna Grande to the twinkling pier lights of Pantelleria Town. The “refuge” occupies a restored lava-stone farmstead at Via Grotta di Benikulà 21; set your sat-nav for that address, park beside caper bushes and follow tiki-torches up six shallow steps to a teak veranda seemingly suspended over the valley. Locals joke you can smell pine resin, oregano and wood-smoke on the evening breeze. See the full diner reviews on TripAdvisor.

Google users rate the refuge 4.6 / 5 from 900-plus votes, and Restaurant Guru keeps it among the island’s top countryside kitchens for seafood and grill plates. Owners Paola & Massimo Cuomo built the space as a “mountain refuge with sea soul”—timber beams, a lava-stone hearth, shelves of home-brined capers and picture windows framing sunset flame.

Menu philosophy. “Km 0 in a 360° view.” Fish arrives each dawn from Scauri’s boats; vegetables and herbs grow in terraces behind the car park; goat and rabbit come from a neighbour in Sibà. Every Thursday the week’s chalkboard menu appears on their Instagram feed (@rifugio_firiciakki), and fuller write-ups follow on Facebook each weekend.

• Starters —red-prawn carpaccio with caper-leaf oil; tempura zucchini blossoms filled with mint-ricotta; bruschette topped with wild-fennel sausage. The fried caper leaves are a cult favourite in Italian reviews.
• Pasta —busiate al riccio (sea-urchin cream, pistachio dust) and ricotta-filled ravioli panteschi in datterino reduction satisfy pescatarians and vegetarians alike.
• Main grills —charcoal-seared amberjack with oregano EVOO; salt-baked grouper cracked tableside in a rosemary-steam cloud; kid-goat shank braised six hours in zibibbo and myrtle.
• Friday couscous —saffron broth with scorpionfish, almonds and zibibbo raisins (order by 14:00 the same day).
• Dessert icon —the island’s obligatory bacio pantesco: wafer rosettes fried to order, piped with cinnamon-orange ricotta and drizzled with vineyard honey.

Prices & hours. Budget around €38–€60 pp for antipasto, pasta or main, dessert and a glass of wine. Dinner runs 19 :30 – 23 :00 Wednesday–Monday (closed Tuesday); Sunday lunch opens 12 :30 – 14 :30 in shoulder season. Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay accepted; free on-site parking fills by 20 :00.

Atmosphere & service. Linen-clad tables, flickering hurricane lanterns and fleece blankets handed round when the mountain breeze kicks in. Staff grew up in nearby Sibà and happily explain which fisherman landed your grouper or when that morning’s capers were picked. Children over ten are welcome; pets on leash may sit on the outer deck.

Quick facts
• Address Via Grotta di Benikulà 21, 91017 Pantelleria, Italy
• Phone +39 0923 582 415
• Instagram @rifugio_firiciakki
• Hours Dinner 19 :30–23 :00 (Wed–Mon) | Sunday lunch 12 :30–14 :30 (Apr–Oct)
• Price range €38 – €60 per person
• Best for mountain-view grills, sea-urchin busiate, caper-leaf tempura