After a long day at sea and sightseeing, we were starving. It was packed outside so we decided to check out the inside. Thankfully there were three levels of seating inside and they were able to sit us on the bottom floor. Everything at others tables looked really good and smelled even better. We ordered... LEMON SPRITZ HUGO SPRITZ TAGLIOLINI MEZZ'ASTICE (LOBSTER PASTA) TROFIE AL PESTO (PASTA WITH GREEN BEANS AND PESTO) Both our drinks were very crisp and refreshing. But my husband and I loved Hugo Spritz more. My lobster pasta was incredible! My husband loved his pasta as well. It was definitely a great choice to eat here. There's a restroom for males and females in the basement. It was for one person at a time and led to long lines. The staff are very welcoming and pleasant. We were charged 6€ cover charge. If you end up here via boat or train, do yourself a favor and eat here. read more

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We had amazing service and the mushroom risotto was incredibly creamy. The walnut cream ravioli home made pasta was delicious!

This restaurant is an absolute delight. This was recommended to us by our tour guide during our visit to Cinque Terre. The staff were so friendly and knowledgeable about each dish. The pesto was absolutely to die for as well as the Cinque Terre white wine. The patio was absolutely gorgeous and a great place to soak in the ambiance. Dessert was also 10/10. We could not have asked for a better place to wrap up the beauty of the Cinque Terre. read more

Il Moretto - Ligurian Near Me - Monterosso Al Mare, SP

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We were lucky enough to be on a tour of the beautiful cinque terra when we stopped in this little town for lunch. We took a little bit of time looking around for a good spot and decided on Il Moretto. Service: Great service, extremely nice staff, also gave us one of those secondary tables to store our wine, olive oil, and other things on in order to have more table space. Food: absolutely a 5 star spot. The spaghetti, although it does not look like much, was prepared amazingly with red pepper and a douse of olive oil. The two other dishes we got were very similar, cold cuts and steak both topped with arugula salad, both of which were amazing. Pricing: The pricing here was extremely reasonable, we got 3 dishes and a bottle of rose for around 70 euros. Also in a very nice central location in the town (Monterosso), right near shops and in the hustle and bustle of other restaurants/activity. read more

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Our family loved the pasta at Morretto! Trifole with pesto, spaghetti bolognese, ravioli with salmon filling, linguine with lobster, and spaghetti with tomato/basil pesto, grilled swordfish, appetizers of marinated mussels, stuffed anchovies and a caprese salad. Very good meal! read more

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Amazing Risotto with mushroom. Also had the Sword Fish which was also fantastic. Would highly recommend for the food and environment.

Beautiful spot in Monterosso for dinner. We dined outside, but inside looked lush and comfortable. The service was some of the best in Europe and the finest in our time in Cinque Terra. I had the lobster, which was served in a way I've never experienced. The lobster was in shell but came out with the pasta and sauce on the lobster. De shelling a lobster can be tough, but cover it in a delicious tomato based sauce with linguine and you've got a challenge. Needless to say there was a bit of a mess and while my wife's soup was amazing and her steak and salad amazing, I wouldn't try the lobster challenge again. Also I didn't realize until the end I had been given a full bib. read more

Il Moretto - Lobster challenge!!! - Ligurian Near Me - Monterosso Al Mare, SP

Really nice restaurant, especially if you sit outside. We ordered the lobster with pasta and they gave us cute bibs and a shell cracker. Yum! read more

Food was excellent, as always. We had the seafood pasta, lobster pasta, a gnocchi dish and a couple others (we were 9 people). Can highly recommend for the food. We love Cinque Terre and find the entire area to be incredible and everyone is so very nice, but the servers here were quite rude. This was disappointing as we came back here specifically due to the memory from our last trip to the area when we visited this spot 4 times in a week because the service was spectacular along with the food. read more

Good restaurant in a prime spot. Unlike many of the other restaurants in CT, they seem to truly want as many customers as possible. This led to a more crowded dining area but no complaints as we were able to find a table late one night. My girlfriend ordered the limoncello grouper ravioli and I had prawn gnocchi. Both meals were enjoyable. Service was solid as well. read more

Il Moretto - Ligurian Near Me - Monterosso Al Mare, SP

Moretto was recommended by the staff at our hotel stating it was one of the places the locals went to. The food was super. We wanted to try local wines and the staff made great recommendations. We ate at other highly rated restaurants, but this was the best place we ate at Cinque Terra. 5 stars! read more

After a long, long day of hiking, my girl and I needed to relax in the worst way. We only had time for one meal in Monterosso, so we looked up the New York Times article "Treasures of the Cinque Terre" - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/travel/treasures-of-the-cinque-terre.html?pagewanted=4&_r=0 Il Moretto was on the list. So we made our way down to the restaurant and were immediately seated. Servers were very accommodating and kind. (We were dressed in our most comfortable clothes and didn't feel out of place, even though it seems like a "nicer" restaurant.) I ordered the steak filet with green pepper sauce. It was perfectly cooked. Absolutely fell apart on my fork. If I had it to do over again, I'd pass on the sauce. It didn't really add anything to the dish. My girlfriend ordered lasagna that was to die for. The lightest noodles you've ever tasted. We had an amazing bottle of Cinque Terre wine and stayed very late. It was virtually a perfect evening. Total damage for two entrees and a full bottle of wine - $73.33. If you're staying in Monterosso, I'm sure all the restaurants are fantastic, but Il Moretto was top notch. read more

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Delicious food and vegetarian options ! Great outdoor seating and service! Bread was nice!

We found this place after wanting to depart from our tour group for lunch. Glad we did. Carpaccio of polipio (octopus) octopus isn't usually memorable but this one is. Tender melt in your mouth tastes of the sea. Obviously a house speciality. The day's special was spaghetti with crab. But it was so much more than that! It was presented in a ceramic pot almost a large as the table and still slightly simmering. Although thoroughly flavored by the crab...you really couldn't eat the crab meat. They were too small. Large prawns were in there, but had to be peeled with extensive effort. Overall a delicious pasta dish that was more about presentation than anything else. Everything that cam from the kitchen looked amazing. Frutti di mare, gnocchi, pesto, fresh fish, etc. all looked perfect. It's only a block up from the pier, but far enough away from where the tour groups go. Very authentic an extremely friendly staff treat you like familia. read more

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Had the most amazing lunch here. Food was delicious and service equally as great. A must try!

Funny place - excuse me, can I have a bit of olive oil this pasta is too dry? Waitress looking at me like mad - "yes... is 2.5 euros charge, e?" read more

By far the worst service I've received so far in Italy. Granted, you don't go to an Italian restaurant for the service, good food and good service do not go together in Italy. With that in mind, the service at It Moretto was another level lower than the worst we've had so far in this trip. Keep in mind, I am of Italian decent and understand the culture. I've prepared my family before the trip that the experience is different. Even with our expectations set I was blown away by how terrible out waiters attitude. Not only did it take us much longer that the expected long time to order, receive and eat our meal but it took excruciating long to pay and leave. it was an ugly scene for sure that was only exasperated by the waiter continued arguing with me as I was complaint about his shitty attitude. Do yourself a favor, avoid this place at all costs. Sometimes the food makes up for the disastrous service but not here. read more

This restaurant was in a beautiful setting right in the middle of Monterosso the food was good not excellent I guess our biggest issue was the girls serving us seemed like she would've pretty much rather of been anywhere but serving our table. It was good but a bit pricey overall but read more

We enjoyed a splendid meal here! It began with a giant cauldron of marinated mussels for four of us, followed by tender and perfectly fried calamari, and Tuscan favorite tofie pasta with pesto. It's right on the main square in old town. Reservations are a must. read more

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Very tasty! Get their seafood appetizer with a bit of everything, it's great. Nice staff and yummy food. Try their moscato, it has bubbles and tastes amazing. Come here and enjoy! read more

We picked Il Moretto because we have good friends with the same last name. Thank God we had a silly way of choosing our dinner spot, because it was the best meal we've eaten during our week in Italy. We ordered the mussels for an appetizer and based on the price thought maybe we'd get 7 or 8 each. Then the waitress brought over a massive cauldron of steaming mussels, and we probably ate 15 each! The mussels were tender and the broth was equal parts salty, garlicky and lemony. Just so good. I don't think I've seen my husband smile so much about food (especially not anything I make ;) ) And I haven't even talked about the main dishes yet. I ordered the salmon ravioli and it was another large portion. The salmon and roasted tomato flavors made it very rich and what I imagine Italian comfort food tastes like! My husband ate the shrimp gnocchi and loved it. The gnocchi was very light (an oxymoron?) and there was plenty of shrimp for each bite. I loved the layout of the restaurant - 3 levels and we didn't feel cramped like we did in many other restaurants in Italy. The service was friendly and timely! read more

Il Moretto - Il Moretto logo - Ligurian Near Me - Monterosso Al Mare, SP

One of the best meals we had in Italy! Huge portions, vegetarian/vegan friendly (all ingredients listed on the menu). My daughter and I were going to split the vegetable soup as an appetizer. Out came a huge pot of soup - enough to feed 3 - for only 11€. My husband enjoyed the generous serving of stuffed mussels. We ordered the mushroom risotto - completely vegan - the only opportunity for me to have risotto in Italy as a vegetarian. It said you must have two people ordering it. It was easily enough food for four for 22€! Simple pasta dishes were reasonably priced and again, enormous portions. It looked like other diners came for the seafood. Great flavors! Would work well if you plan to eat family style. Nice to have vegetarian options. read more

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In coastal town, save room for all the fresh fish dishes you can possibly handle. I promise, you will never experience seafood prepared like this in any American restaurant. It gets incredibly busy around 7 PM. It does take reservations, but making them in English is difficult and if you don't speak Italian attempting to translate is also as difficult. Make plans to stay for around two hours, eat, drink, digest, then drink some more, and top it off with dessert and maybe another drink :-) try the grappo Bianca it will send you mind spinning and make you talk philosophy well into the hours of the night... read more

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Fabulously Fresh seafood in a classically Italian Ristorante! Service is friendly and prompt. We had appetizers, 1st and 2nd finishing with an espresso. Stop here and enjoy!! read more

Il Moretto - Ligurian Near Me - Monterosso Al Mare, SP

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as a tourist i would expect a restaurant like this to make me want to come back to the area but after the disrespect that was shown by the waiting staff as well as the extremely high prices and below average food, i will not be returning. shit was mid asf. read more

Nice calamari! The ricotta spinach ravioli was like none other and quel surprise! Tg swordfish filet was perfection! And the grilled veggies? You can't go wrong! We even loved the neighborhood cat who sat in my lap for 10 minutes! Tiramisu was retry good, but I preferred the kitty-snuggles more!! read more

Don't be fooled by the tourist-trap location, this place is genuinely good. Food is excellent, we had freshly fried fish superb pasta and some very nicely prepared starters. Recommended. read more

We ate fried anchovies and grilled squid which were both excellent. They came with no sides so we also had grilled vegetables. Everything was delicious. But they were short staffed. Food came in reasonable time but took forever to get out check. The poor waitresses were working as fast as they could. read more

Another great dinner choice in Monterosso. Gets quite busy so get here early or make reservations. Got the gnocchi with bolognese and vegetable minestrone. Gnocchi was cooked perfectly and sauce was delicious. Soup came in heaping pot (easily could feed three). Soup had a really nice lemon basil seasoning. Reasonably priced as well. read more

Il Moretto - Gnocchi with bolognese and vegetable minestrone. - Ligurian Near Me - Monterosso Al Mare, SP

Dinner twice here. Both times the food was wonderful. Anchovies Monterosso were a first time and fantastic! Service was relaxed and a pleasure. Dinner here is not to be rushed. read more

My husband and I eat several meals in Italy so we can try to taste as many different restaurants and dishes as possible. We were referred to this restaurant by a server at different restaurant who claimed "that is where I go to eat when I'm not eating at my restaurant." So we had high expectations. We had the Ligurian Cod as an appetizer and Spaghetti for our main (cannot remember name, it was the meatless tomato one - but not the "Italian Spaghetti"). The cod came out immediately after ordering, and was fresh, tender but had a nice crispy outside. No sauce required. Spaghetti was out probably 30+ min later - likely due to a HUGE influx of people rolling into the restaurant (see service comments below). Spaghetti was good; WAY better than that Ragu / Prego crap in a jar at home (which I refuse to eat) and way better than anything I could make. Freshly prepared, full of onions and olive oil and perfectly seasoned. We literally cleaned the dish (using bread of course!). The food is what gives this place a 4, it's not spectacular write home about it - but it's definitely very good. I didn't count the service in the rating - mainly because as long as the food is hot and good, that's all I care about. See below for service... Service - yes, it's terrible....But there is a reason. You don't have one set server - all of the wait staff are your server. They are also your host, your bus boy, and your cashier. They all seemed decent enough, but very overly busy. I swear I almost volunteered to hostess for them for the night. Here's to hoping they hire a nice hostess and bus boy soon! read more

Prior to heading to the beach we were lucky to find this gem in Monterosso. We ordered 2 Aperol spritz'a that were made to perfection and much needed after our hike. We shared the "Grandma's style" ravoli stuffed with salmon and the stuffed anchovies. Both were delicious! The wait staff was great and even charged my phone during our meal. Much recommended! read more

Excellent mussels. Beautiful outdoor seating options. House white wine is very refreshing.

This was great! We had the stuffed mussels, Italian spaghetti, and Ligurian cod with potato and olives. Best meal so far in Europe!