Ittico Ristorante - Cucina di Mare — Restaurant in Bologna

One of the best restaurants I've visited in my life. There are a handful of such restaurants around the world that I'd like to visit again and again while I am alive. This is definitely one of them.

I found this restaurant by serendipity. I was in Bologna the last week of June 2024 for Il Cinema Ritrovato. I went to see a film at Cinema Europa and was walking back to my hotel when I found this cozy "sea food restaurant". My restaurant sensor immediately reacted and I had to try it. I checked the reviews online and it had one of the highest marks in Bologna and went back the following day. I usually ask on a gay app for restaurant recommendations from local men, but this one was not on their radar. So it was really a pleasant surprise to find it.

The menu looked creative and a lot of thinking and work must have gone into creating each dish. In Bologna, you see a lot of tagliatelle bolognese and tortellini in brodo anywhere you go, and starting to miss something refreshing. This restaurant works like sorbetto di limone to cleanse your palate during the week of eating meat every day.

I was first served with hard bread, some nuts, and marinated octopus. They were all light and good. I started with grilled scallops with foie gras. It was a bit on the heavy side with a thick layer of foie gras for a primi, but I can see that duck lovers would love this dish. For a secondi, I had fusilli with sea urchin with a sprinkle of bottarga around it. It was probably the best pasta dish I ever had in my life. The chewiness of the noodle, the flavor of the sea urchin, and saltiness of bottarga were all perfectly mixed into one dish. For the main course, I had salted cod (baccala) in tomato sauce, which was again excellent. When I went to Spain twice in 2023 and Portugal in 2022, I tried bacallao in their respective cuisines but this one exceeded those I had in the other countries.

With a bottle of sparkling water, three or four glasses of wine, and a glass of nocino (walnut liqueur) and all this food cost me only €100. It was quite a shock as all this food with top notch ingredients would definitely cost around $300 in New York City, and at least $200~$240 in other major cities in the U.S..

I'll be coming back to Il Cinema Ritrovato for years to come, and will be going back to this restaurant...

This was a real treat! We had made reservations elsewhere for a special occasion, but that restaurant had forget to write it down, so there was no place for us. Walking down the streets of Bologna, on a very busy rainy Friday night, we were very disappointed and desperate. All restaurants were full. Luckily we we came across Ittico and they had a table for us (last one). Immediately we felt very welcome. The host treated us very pleasant and we could start our special evening. He started by asking about food allergies (first time ever for us). The food (made by his wife, the chef) was delicious! She really knows what she is doing. The best food we had in Bologna! I am not a desert lover, but even the desert was exquisite. The wine was also very very good. This restaurant saved our...

Ristorantino di alto livello per gli amanti del pesce. Sicuramente sopra la media di altri ottimi locali specializzati, anche a livello nazionale! Alessia in cucina, ha evidenti notevoli competenza tecniche, ma traspare anche la passione per questo lavoro, ingrediente fondamentale per alzare l'asticella. Cotture a vapore perfette... e quando dico perfette intendo Perfette con la P maiuscola.. degustare una catalana che nella preparazione tiene conto e rispetta, i tempi ideali di cottura dei crostacei in essa presentati (gamberi, scampi, aragosta), serviti tiepidi e uniti a freschissime verdurine di stagione, perfettamente condite (in modo sorprendente abbiamo trovato anche una "gentile" cipolla di tropea in agrodolce, davvero top come abbinamento)... dicevo, degustare un piatto cosí, con queste accortezze e servito a temperatura perfetta (in grado di sprigionare ai massimi livelli i profumi e il gusto della materia prima), garantisce un risultato al palato e alla vista, davvero eccezionale! Anche il crudo che abbiamo ordinato si è dimostrato "sopra le righe". Il locale di per sé è un pò sacrificato nelle dimensioni ma soprattutto negli spazi a disposizione dei i tavoli e questo attenua in generale la piena soddisfazione per la serata (mia opinione personale). Anche la zona centrale non aiuta nel trovare parcheggio.. ma il Sig. Lucio, in qualità di proprietario affabile e preparato, assolutamente perfetto e autentico nel suo modo di porsi e interfacciarsi con il cliente, compensa sicuramente l'impressione descritta per l'ambiente. Anche la cura dei dettagli (bicchieri, tovagliato, posate), davvero ottima e di livello, contribuisce a bilanciare questa percezione. Conto adeguato e quindi anch'esso un pò sopra le righe, ma d'altra parte non è possibile arrivare a questi livelli e offrire anche un menù sottocosto. Ristorantino consigliatissimo. Cinque stelle. Una vera chicca a Bologna che non spicca certo per l'offerta di ottimi menù a base di pesce. Grazie ancora Lucio e...