My wife and I went to Pisa for a quick visit. After seeing nothing that looked good, we spotted…read moreLivorno nearby. Good seafood is always found by the sea. A quick yelp search and we found Osteria del Mare.
The restaurant is small and quaint. The service is friendly and relatively quick. Some English spoken. We managed between our weak Italian and their weak English and good Spanish.
It looked like every table had the mixed seafood salad as an appetizer. Check. Giant bowl of mussels, clams, langostines, and oysters. Just get it.
The Shrimp gnocchi were awesome. Homemade gnocchi that were creamy with beautiful garlicy cream sauce and super fresh shrimp.
The seafood stew was the show stopper though. I was expecting a whimsy bowl of soup. Instead I got no less than 3-4 lbs of super fresh mixed seafood in a spicy tomato based broth. I looked at the waiter and asked if he left anything in the ocean. He didn't speak English but laughed and handed me a bib. Haha!
There may be better food in Livorno, but this town was one and done for us. In the end it was one of the best meals of our vacation.