Rovinj Restaurants

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They do pizzas here (obviously) and the only time I've tasted one as good was in Rome itself. These pizzas come in three sizes: normale, grande and stupendo. Given the size of the 'small' one, I'd hate to attempt the stupendo.
The first night we came to Pizza Roma my husband had a steak and it was so good that he all but cried tears of gratitude. I tried the Cevapcici ( sounds something like cheropticci) after a girl I met on the bus from Trieste told me about them. These are little sausage shaped rolls of minced pork and flavouring and are very tasty. On another occasion I ordered the mixed grill and my husband had to (reluctantly ?) help me out. Portions here are huge and you will not leave hungry. The staff that we met were friendly and welcoming- the waitress who looked Irish because of her red hair and the chef who conjured up food magic in his central cooking area, right next to us. Both of these people were great fun and really chatty and between them created a pretty lively atmosphere. Though the weather was sunny and hot during the day, nights were chilly and coming in to a warm welcome and sitting close to a hot pizza oven was sheer comfort.

You will find Piazzeria Roma on a small back street called J. Rakovca. This street is about five minutes away from the main square in the direction of the Bus Staion. You can get there by going straight along the port and turning off when you see the sign, or else go along Via Carrera, the main shopping street that goes fom the centre of town to the Bus Station.

Favorite Dish: The mixed grill. If you're feeling hungry you won't do better. I ordered this when I'd been in Trieste all day and eaten nothing but a plum. Still, starving as I was, I couldn't finish this absolute mountain of delicious meat. Everything we ate here was washed down by the house wine which was as reasonably priced as the food and extremely palatable.

This is listed in the Lonely Planet as one of Rovinj's best restaurants -'expensive and packed in high season but you will eat well. ' I think high season is the important phrase here as this is an enormous restaurant with indoor and outdor seating obviously geared towards large crowds. In October with less than 10 customers it was bleak, lacking in atmosphere and definitely chilly. For these reasons I would not recommend it offseason. Offering mostly fish but other options as well, we chose two dishes each. I had a risotto atun and a pizza and my husband had a baked cheese and spaghetti carbonara. While all of these were fine, there was nothing we loved. The waiter was friendly and when I showed him the listing in Lonely Planet, came back with a card showing their new telephone number. This is a restaurant with a vast menu and obviously does a lot of fish dishes. So if you love fish and arrive when it's busy then I'm sure it would live up to its reputation. Offseason though I did not feel like going there a second time.

Favorite Dish: The risotto with tuna was tasty and a lot more filling than I thought it would be. I had to let some of it behind to leave room for the next course. We also tasted our first Istrian wine here which was good and inexpensive.

This is not really a restaurant but a nice place to have a drink and, if you want, some kind of fast food. The view on Saint Catherine Harbor is perfect. It is a good spot to watch people that stroll along the quays.

Favorite Dish: Fresh beer !

Exceptional service from an experienced waiter. Live goldfish in a min pond indoors. Fresh seafood and above average vino. Make sure to try the local after dinner drink. It's like a peach schnapps, but very good.

Favorite Dish: Salted sea bass. You get to pick which fish you want!

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We went to this place for a small family pre-new year celebration. My dad's aunt lives in the area and said it's a good place to eat. The interior is simple and traditiona, the stuff is very friendly. As for the meals; others very very satisfied, while I had mixed feelings.

Favorite Dish: I had tagliatelle with truffles. Truffles were real (not some imitation), only they could put more of them as the taste was a bit weak.
Then I had grilled squid. The problem was it was too fresh (unusual complaint :-)). Before preparing, squid has to stay for couple of days on ice to become tender. Otherwise it is more rubber-like (like mine was).
But the rest was, according to others, great. Fish soup one of the best they ever ate, fish fresh and well prepared, steak too...
And in the end the owner treated us with a glass of bisk, traditional istrian liquor, being revived after nearly a century.

Grilled Calamari (Squid) - Lignje Zar - tasted better here than anywhere else i ever had it. The Red Wine is very nice too.
Calamari was about the same price as everywhere else at £6.50 and a quarter litre of very drinkable Red Wine (House Wine) was £2.20
One thing exellent about this restaurant is it is in much quieter area and you are on a raised level and because it is on the seafront you have beautiful views accross the harbour.

One thing I noticed in Rovinj is unlike Barcelona - you do not get enourmous portions of Calamari - but the quality is very nice

Favorite Dish: Calamari - did i say already?

This is a small local friendly restaurant serving local dishes, pizza, seafood, steaks - loads of choice. Very friendly staff - they gave us free shots after every meal - honey laced grappa which went wonderfully with an espresso! As a family of 5 we sampled several different dishes over 3 visits here and the food was terrific every time.

Favorite Dish: Our favourite dishes were the veal with mushroom sauce - 78 kuna, mussels 40 kuna, fried calamari - 55 kuna and the warm pita bread - 8 kuna; all gorgeous!

Scuba is located just off the main harbour and has lovely views out over from the outside seating area. Plenty of choice here, menu in english and a very friendly waiter keen to practise his english on us! We tried the mussels in wine and also steak, both of which were very nice. Good value too: mussels 35 kuna, steak 70 kuna. Homemade bread was included and espresso's and slijvovic 'on the home!' Recommended!