Belforte — Restaurant in Vernazza

Five of us ate here yesterday on October 2, 2025.

I made the reservation the day before on their website and I got an email identifying that a deposit of €15 per person was required before it could be confirmed. It also said that a separate email would be sent along with a bill so that I could pay the deposit. Unfortunately, I never got that billing email, but I had hoped that the reservation was still in place because the reservation was made on such short notice.

As you may have guessed already, when we got there they did not have a table reserved for us. I showed them the email I received with all of the details listed, but she told me that it was simply a request and that it was not a real confirmation until the deposit was made. I told her that I never got an email asking for the deposit and she just shrugged and told me that she would see what she could do. Thankfully, they managed to get us a table with a nice view, so I am only providing this information as a caution to others to ensure that they reach out to them if the billing email never arrives. Please know that this deposit is only required for groups larger than four people.

In order to get to the restaurant you have to climb a steep set of stairs that should not be too difficult unless you have mobility issues. The service and views are wonderful, and the food was good, but not great.

It is also a bit more expensive than other restaurants in Italy for what you get, but I think that it is inherent when dining in such a tourist area. As an example, we got a Bruschette starter and it has three fairly large pieces of bruschette and I believe the price was €18.

All of the seating is outside and has some sort of view of the water or harbor. They do have an indoor dining area, but it does not look like they seat people there as there is zero view of the sea.

Overall, it was a good experience and I would say it is...

Very disappointed by this restaurant. I was SO looking forward to having dinner here but when we arrived (without a reservation in April) we were met by a hostile waiter who pointed us to an available table as if we’d asked the world of him. We ordered the calarmari starter and baked fish main (min 2 people). The view was amazing and Aperol was good. Starter was terrible, the 4 pieces of calamari were luke-warm and smashed down to make them look bigger - they tasted wet and floury, truly awful. No taste at all. Not a great start. We had better calamari from the little fish shop in the town for 9euros. We kindly told the waiter they weren’t great but he just said thanks and we knew we’d have to just suck it up. The fish arrived and we really hoped it would change our minds having cost 50euros(25 each). The waiter de-boning the fish had no idea and begged the manager in Italian to take over, who then did. I have taken pictures to show the morsel of fish meat we had (unfortunately I can’t see how to upload these) - sadly it tasted OK but there was absolutely nothing of it and we had to buy some vegetables as it came with nothing but a bit of lemon and pile of salt. I would not recommend this, you can get more fish for 9euros in the town. I had to check every bite and eat with caution as the small bit I had was covered in large bones. We got the bill immediately after this. It is not worth saying anything to the waiters as they simply don’t care. I recommend ordering the pasta which looked ok but avoid the over priced fish or restaurant altogether if you want a true cinque terre meal. Just to let you know you can go up to the restaurant to look at the view in any event without ordering any food - lots of people were doing this...

My mom and I were visiting Vernazza for the first time and went quite late, as it was the last town we decided to explore. This was one of the only restaurants open and one that interested us. We were greeted with smiles by one server who told us there was room above on the top deck. We ventured up there and were approached by a not so happy server, who upon arrival, asked us if we had a reservation. We both figured it was a busy place, as the view was simply beautiful. However, there were four tables empty and available. We both just assured him that if there were reservations we would only get a drink and an appetizer to share so that we’d be done quick. He cut us off immediately and said “one plate each”. As in that he wanted us to order a meal each even though he was rolling his eyes when mentioning reservations. I understand the atmosphere of the restaurant, but we were honestly just looking for some hospitality and a quick sit down and drink to enjoy the beautiful town of Vernazza. Our server was acting quite snobbish to us, not sure if it was the way we were dressed (which we were in nice skirts and tops) or if he thought we weren’t able to afford the food there (we’ve been on a two week vacation from Canada….), but the service from him made us feel disheartened and unwelcome (a first on our travels in this kind country). All they had to say is they only take reservations. But instead, we were left upset and decided to leave not even 5 minutes after sitting down because of this man. If I ever do decide to go back, which I won’t, I’d consider making a reservation beforehand and asking for someone kind to take care of us. Grazie to the server with the smile though and who wanted to take care of us at...