37 Best Restaurants in Mount Etna and Eastern Sicily, Sicily

Located just off the fish market, in an alleyway covered by brightly colored parasols, Tantìkkia (which means "a little" in Sicilian dialect) serves little tastes of modern Sicily. Drawing on tradition, the updated twists show inspiration, yet steer far from precious. The lemon tagliolini is bright and fresh; the grilled octopus is softened with a potato mousse, peas, and leeks; and the saffron-scented arancini are stuffed with red mullet. This cozy little restaurant offers a great example of an updated Sicilian kitchen.

In a town where life still has a small-town village feel, locals fill the outside tables of this trattoria in the central piazza at the base of the castle. The menu is full of seafood specialties, but your best bet is to ask the server what the chef is suggesting that day. They'll guide you to the best fish brought in that morning. 

Chef Luca Casablanca is like a character out of a Sicilian storybook. Full of personality and endlessly dedicated to the showcasing the food of his native land, he adheres to the Slow Food philosophy more than anyone else in Taormina. There are very few tables at this intimate little trattoria down a narrow staircase off Corso Umberto, so it's highly recommended to reserve ahead of time.

Specializing in regional Sicilian cooking, this intimate little trattoria focuses on meat with a wide selection of certified Angus, Sicilian, and Wagyu beef, donkey steaks, sausages, and meat involtini. You can shop the meat locker to choose your cut. Start the meal with the nduppa puttusu appetizer, which includes 10 different typical dishes, including parmigiana, caponata, arancini, chickpea salad, and sweet-and-sour yellow pumpkin.

Street food meets small plates at this ode to the flavors of Sicily. Located on a foot-traffic-only street, this compact, vaulted bistro serves chef-style iterations of the island's greatest "fast food" hits. And they make arguably the best arancini in the region: full of meaty ragù and saffron rice, fried to-order, with a crunchy crust that crackles as you break into it. There is also a good line in burgers.

Warm, inviting, and unassuming, one of Taormina's best pizzerias makes use of traditional grains to produce deliciously seared crusts with fresh, well-balanced toppings, plus fresh fish in summer, all paired with Sicilian wines. If a Nutella pizza doesn't appeal, there are a host of ice creams and granitas for dessert. You cannot fault the view.

This unassuming little spot tucked on a side street between Via Umberto and Piazza Verga consistently underpromises and overdelivers. It portends to be a little neighborhood eatery, but it's a destination in its own right with chef-owner Ivan Siringo serving classics like pasta with squid ink, roulades of stuffed chicken, and salmon carpaccio with tropical fruits. Every dish has a subtle elegance and ingenuity to it that transcends the plate as pure joy in your mouth.