SORRENTO ???? Plus MATERA

Regional Dining Discussions Italy, Spain, Portugal
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My partner and I will begin our vacation in the South with four nights here.
There are quite a few restaurants OUTSIDE the city that sound excellent and I would love to re-visit LE TORRE outside Massa, where I had a lovely lunch more than ten years ago. But I had a car on that trip and won’t have one this time.

Both LE TORRE and LO STUZZICHINO in Sant’ Agata sui Due Golfi have SlowFood “snails” and I want to have dinners at both, if I can figure out a way to get to them without paying taxi fares that will be double the price of the dinners, or more.

(I’d also like to try LO SCOGLIO in Marina de Cantone but again, there’s the issue of getting there..)

What about in Sorrento city? I’ve marked these, so far; please let me know if you have any comments:

ANTONINO ESPOSITO, for pizza

DA BOB COOK FISH. (found this in the Michelin guide; listed, not starred and not Bib Gourmand)

I can’t find anything else that’s drawing me and I’m not sure if we should even try DA BOB; we’re not looking for “fancy,” although we will get a credit of about 80 euro for use at the hotel which could be used for their in-house (“casual”) restaurant, TERRAZZA VICTORIA. We’d be fine having pizza for two dinners, if it’s great pizza.

I’d so appreciate any tips based on recent experiences. Many thanks!!

Next stop will be Matera, for two nights. I thought we’d return to two restaurants where we had great dinners two years ago, LA LOPA and TRATTORIA STANO, but open to all suggestions.

I had lunch at LATTERIA RIZZI about 15 years ago–is that worth a visit for dinner and to buy some local ingredients?

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Lo Stuzzichino is absolutely worth the trip up the hill to Sant Ágata…we liked it better than La Torre. I believe there is a bus from Sorrento that will take you to the town, if you don’t want to spring for a cab.

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Here was some info I posted from a couple of years ago

Second the idea of looking into the local bus system, AI can be your helper but even google maps will give some suggestions. It looks like Il Stuzzuchino is about a 5 minute walk from a bus stop? This might be a time when booking a lunch rather than a dinner makes sense - I dont know what late night schedules would look like. it could also be possible to send queries to restaurants for example about a local car service that could bring you out from a public transit connection in Massa, say. It should be wonderful to get back to that area

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Jen, thanks..I had read your post and like the idea of phoning the restaurants to see about transport, especially getting back to the hotel. I’ll be sue to report back on where we ate..

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Im also remembering how we got our hotel in Chiavari (Liguria) to arrange a car to take us up to La Brinca in Ne and back. I thought the price was worth it and we did not have to worry about schedules, when to call for a ride home, etc.

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I just found this site and love it! Check out Ristorante Lemò just outside Sorrento. Beautiful restaurant in a working lemon grove. We ate there in June 2024 during the first week it was open and it was great! For a great sandwich in Sorrento check out A’Marenna - Sorrento Bakery & Bistrot.

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Ashley, many thanks..will check those out..it appears that LEMO might have a shuttle or provide some transport from Sorrento itself…

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Yes, I’m pretty sure they do. The road up to the restaurant is VERY narrow-a typical car does not fit. When we went they had just opened so the tour was free. By the way, I’ve read all your Puglia/Matera trip reports. Headed there this June with the fam. Was last there very briefly in 2008.

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new here, but having been a beneficiary of a lot of the discussion here on Lazio, Campania, and even Molise, i thought i’d mention my experience staying in Massa Lubrense in 2024. we stayed in a bed&breakfast, and had our first meal with the host family, which was great!. On the second night, wanting to reach out to the coast for views and food, they recommended Da Michele in the harbor near Punta Lagno. I decided on go this route (and risk being a funneled tourist) vs. Stuzzichino in desire of a quieter dining experience. I also followed the same thinking and decided to not trod the well worn path to Lo Scoglio (so maybe I am missing out). I.e. caveat on my frame of reference.

our dinner at Da Michele was marked with great weather, warmth (I mean the service!), and solid food. No other non-italian speaking folks there. On the rustic side, but delicious, and overall, happy/satisfied vibes. Was this the height of rustic seafood cuisine? No, but the fish was fresh, localized and every bit as good as my core memories of the same genre for lunch while at Da Adolfo in Positano ten-plus years back.

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Paccheri with what looks like a gurnard?

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Langoustines

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Fritti

Like many of the ristorante’s in the area, there is free car service. We got a pick-up and drop-off back home on a moderately busy night by the owner. Nice touch.

Heading back to the coast of Campania on a shorter trip this July to Conca dei Marini, so unfortunately won’t be able to update this thread.

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Garcus, I’m so glad you added your comments here, and I hope you will continue to contribute to this forum. Very good to learn of your good experience at DA MICHELE. I’m so suspicious of restaurants in that area that offer free transport; this stems from a very poor dinner at IL RITROVO, in Montepertuso, above Positano. Crammed into a van with many other diners to get there. While waiting for the others to extract themselves from the van, I walked away to look at the restaurant adjacent, DONNA ROSA. The driver began screaming at me to come back; he must have been afraid that I was going to take advantage of the free, only to have dinner at the other restaurant.

The dinner felt like a wedding meal..no choice of dishes…food was fair enough, but disappointing in light of the other restaurants we could have (should have) tried, instead. And then, an endless wait for the van to fill up before being driven down the hills and back to our hotel, which was in Praiano. (I don’t remember if they came to the hotel for us, or if we made it to the collection point in Positano)

Looking back on this, I think that IL RITROVO might well be a good restaurant, if one comes on their own, without the advantage of the shuttle, and chooses dishes from their menu, rather than buying into the set deal that comes with the shuttle…

Do you all have any opinion on that? I do understand the idea of having a shuttle; if they did not, how many tourists would make the trek up the hundreds of steps to go to Montepuertuso? There seem to be three restaurants up there, and I’ll have to ask around for local opinion of those places..

I really did want to try LO STUZZICHINO, but the idea of paying more for a taxi than for dinner does make me wonder where my priorities lie (??). However, considering the exorbitant hotel price, it won’t make much different in the long run if we do pay for transport…

I’ve always wanted to eat at LO SCOGLIO; it’s been round for years, but was featured on a tv show hosted by Stanley Tucci, so I wonder if it’s now mobbed with foreign tourists…maybe not due to the location, and if the food is great, I don’t care too much…

I’ve put DA MICHELE on the list for another night; we only have four nights in Sorrento, so want to choose wisely…thanks so much for your input here…please continue to add your comments, and pics!! We’d love to hear about your stay in Conca del Marini… So many people have crossed the AC off their lists (including me) but I wonder if it’s possible to have a fabulous vacation and avoid the tourist crowds if you choose a slightly less-known area like you will do… If you’ve not been to Cetara and have the time, you might want to try that town for restaurants; I think there is a ferry stop there. But you probably know al of this!

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Thanks! Enjoy your information and insights.

I guess there are 2 models for courtesy shuttle service in the area. One is the van for capacity (no experience here), the other is a personal car. I must admit Da Michele throws up some red flags; clean website, views, and shuttle service; but the shuttle was the personal beater of the owner, so we were the only ones that fit. The cooking there was more solid than having views would have suggested. And not mobbed with non-italian speaking tourists. That’s about it.

When I made a reservation at Lo Stuzzichino, they had courtesy car service (prob a van, and this may have been offered since I was staying in a remote part of Massa). Ended up canceling as I sought a quieter time.

The courtesy car service seems to be a thing. Where we stay in Conca, we got to know the owner/staff at the grocery store, and upon first seeing me drenched in sweat on the climb there, they offered car service to/from Hotel Belvedere in a beater for our entire week’s stay. We’re doing the same thing again this July. Aside from targeted, and well-researched reservations (which Da Michele was not), I prefer to settle in the slow travel routine of not planning an itinerary, strolling, shopping, and cooking.

AC is terrible from a mass tourism perspective, but Conca dei Marini escapes that. The beach is tiny, there’s not much to see/do, and the steep geo filters people out. We stay on the beach in a condo above La Tonnarrella (a former tuna fishing facility I guess), and love it. Gambled on staying above a restaurant, but oddly super sound-insulated, and no cooking smells! We found a similar place on the grand spiaggia in Positano way-back in the before-times, but pricing is exorbitant now. Also the same can be had up north in Camogli (but mobbed by italian toursists!), but I prefer southern italy vs. northern.

Will update here on La Tonnarrella, but honestly just eating there since we arrive with no time to shop & cook. Expectations are low.

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Garcus, yes. Getting a ride from an owner or staff of a hotel is one thing, and maybe we will get lucky and find someone willing to drive us to LO STUZZICHINO. What was not good was that jam-packed van that took all of us willing participants up to Montepuertuso for that set meal. I am going to do my best to find a way to get there apart from a taxi; if not, we will probably go anyway, but I can decide once we arrive. I will report back soon that, and on everywhere else we eat during those four days.

I’d love to hear of your eating adventures; Conca sounds like an ideal place to stay. I’m done with all the famous towns in that area…that’s one positive about being old enough to have visited before they were as swarmed as they are today.

One area I did like a lot was Maratea, further south…but with a few caveats, the first of which is that a car is absolutely necessary. The second is that the restaurant scene did not seem to be exceptional. There are lots of restaurants, in the town, along the coast, around the port, and up in the hills–but not surprisingly, because this is a tourist area, even though most of the tourists seemed to be Italian or other European, the numbers are large compared to the small population of the town and surroundings and I thought the restaurants reflected that. We had no luck finding any of those mythical “locals-only” spots… Sapri is a quick drive north from Maratea, but we never ventured that far on those windy coastal roads in the dark… It’s also a pretty quick drive south to reach the Calabrian border and Praia a Mare, and the town of Scalea… There’s always a next trip…

I hope you will continue to contribute here, and to have a fantastic vacation!

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For what it’s worth, Sant’ Agata is a very pleasant little town. The owners of Lo Stuzzichino own two adjacent airbnb units that are extremely nice. And there are other good restaurants in town, such as Don Alfonso 1890. Probably best with a rental car, though. Personally, I found Sorrento to be overrun by mass tourism…

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Hahaha, I see another poster–maybe a child but so what– could not resist the siren song of the orange Fanta. I, a confirmed non-soda drinker, was in Italy last summertime (again). Many days I saw folks enjoying their lunch, dinner, snack, whatever with an orange Fanta. Why fight fate? Why fight Fanta?

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Fanta in Europe is quite different and much better than the stuff you get in the US. Actual fruit juice in it, sugar and no hfcs and no artificial coloring.

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I like the lemon Fanta myself!!! So many good “sodas” in Europe!!

I want to take a look at Sant’Agata…I know that Sorrento is teeming with tourists. WE have four days before heading to Matera and Puglia. Originally planned to spend them in Naples but partner cannot wander around in that big city, so I can plant him at the pool in Sorrento and see if I can dig up some out of the way spots…

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You guys are so generous with your comments and help. I need to work down further south, and Maratea was not on my radar but now it is!

The Fanta is so iconic, and with pizza - you just can’t compose a better casual meal that says “i’ve arrived (in Italy!)”

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