Reviews - Osteria Santa Domenica
Reviews
9.2of 10
Ratings and reviews can only be left by guests who have booked with TheFork.
Shelly C. • 9 reviews
April 8, 2025
10/10The food was BY FAR the best we’ve had our entire 10 days in Sicily! The service was impeccable, and everyone was more than accommodating. I wish we had found Osteria Santa Dominica our first night in Taormina. We would have eaten there every meal!!
Maseeha B. • 1 review
November 3, 2024
10/10
+3Best meal in Taormina
Seth F. • 1 review
October 28, 2024
9.5/10Delicious food and excellent service. Order the seared Tonna (tuna). The wait staff is very friendly and attentive- dirty dishes are removed promptly!
Monique O. • 1 review
October 24, 2024
10/10
10 out of 10! The locals rate this restaurant no. 1 in the area!
Jeffrey W. • 1 review
October 16, 2024
9.5/10Food was amazing, lovely setting and hands down our best meal for our (4) night stay in Taormina!
Bill T. • 10 reviews
September 24, 2024
10/10The food, atmosphere and service were outstanding.
Victor S. • 1 review
September 19, 2024
6/10Food was good but service was subpar. We felt rushed by the waiters who would pay attention only when waived.
Zaheer D. • 1 review
August 14, 2024
6/10Owner seemed wonderful Young Italian waiter was extremely rude!!
Brian G. • 1 review
July 28, 2024
10/10Food was top class and staff very attentive and professional, excellent restaurant
Natasha C. • 21 reviews
July 26, 2024
10/10
Food was excellent. Enjoyed the experience and definitely recommend.
Marilyn K. • 8 reviews
July 30, 2024
9.5/10It's tucked away on a side street. The salad with fresh mango, avocado and pineapple was delicious. The blue lobster risotto was unique. We sat outside on the edge of the ledge and weather when the sun went down was pleasant during the hot summer season. We enjoyed the evening.
Antonella D. • 1 review
July 22, 2024
10/10
Food was delicious. Gianluca is very friendly, Animated and welcoming . the staff very polite . We loved it . Can’t wait to go back !
Sarah C. • 1 review
July 19, 2024
10/10Amazing attention to detail! We enjoyed our 2 hour lunch here and could have stayed longer if we didn't have other plans. We loved the long lunch. Each course was prepared with care. The tiramisu was amazing for dessert as well!
Rita B. • 5 reviews
July 3, 2024
10/10The food was divine
Paulo T. • 8 reviews
June 20, 2024
7/10They offer an amazing service and the place is good, the food could be better ! Tks
Nick L. • 6 reviews
May 28, 2024
10/10The food is amazing. The owner is very friendly and knows his wine very well.
Osteria Santa Domenica • Owner
Thanks , See You Soon!!!
Yolanda G. • 1 review
May 9, 2024
10/10Our driver recommended this restaurant. It did not disappoint. The service was superb - from the host to the servers to the kitchen staff. The food was an elevated take on local dishes. We would love to return while on our trip. It is also worthy of mention that the wine list is very well-curated and everything can be had by the glass as well.
Vanda A. • 3 reviews
April 19, 2024
10/10On vacation in Sicily, we returned a second time for our last night. I had reserved for 6 of us but when we arrived our table was set up outside. However is was raining and quite chilly so we didn’t want to sit there. They had a party of 17 indoors, so it was quite crowded. But Gian Luca the owner went out of his way to re/arrange the tables and made room for us. Gian Luca has a passion & love for what he does. He personally goes to every table & describes the special dishes being served with much gusto and fervour. Food is superb, service is excellent & for the second time there we all thoroughly enjoyed our dinners. To end the evening, Gian Luca took a selfie with our group. What a wonderful gentleman, excellent staff and excellent food! Sicilia we’ll be back.
Osteria Santa Domenica • Owner
Thanks, See You Soon ❤️
Ken F. • 2 reviews
October 1, 2023
7.5/10Probably we were just unlucky - it was 5 pm staff leaving and new staff arriving - took 20 mins to order wine only to be informed that I should order red wine and not white. Asked for ice for the water at the table was told that the water was cold enough - main courses eventually arrived and not what I ordered! We had a plane to catch and the replacement was quick but the mood was broken. As I said maybe we were just unlucky but it seems they do take themselves a little too seriously perhaps - give the customer what he/she wants.
Stevie H. • 1 review
September 21, 2023
10/10Wonderful restaurant food magnificent. Definitely the one to go too.
Guy M. • 1 review
September 13, 2023
7.5/10The owner was very warm and welcoming and very considerate of my pregnant wife's dietary restrictions. The rest of the wait staff looked as if they were on a rush to speed up the evening. One waiter kept taking plates off of our table without asking even though we weren't done with it. When we arrived early into dinner service everything was fine but as the restaurant got full and crowded the waiters started loosing focus. The food was good although non of the small and pricy dishes blew us away. Bottom line this place acts like a high-end restaurant but lacks the wow factor.
Michel O. • 1 review
August 25, 2023
9.5/10Our server was friendly and courteous and spoke to us in all three of our languages. That was a nice start to our dinner. The food ingredients were fresh and the presentation was beautiful. The serving sizes were not huge but for us just right especially given the quality. Most importantly, our food was delicious. So far, this was our favorite dining experience Taormina.
Kara S. • 2 reviews
July 19, 2023
10/10Absolutely fantastic meal! Everything was of the highest quality and taste!! Not to be missed!
kristy c. • 1 review
June 19, 2023
10/10Wonderful in every way!!
Don M. • 13 reviews
June 16, 2023
10/10Absolutely amazing service and the meals were fantastic! We visited Taormina for seven days and ate half our meals at Osteria Santa Domenica restaurant. They were by far the best meals for the entire week! Thank you Gianluca and the team for making it an amazing week.
Nicholas N. • 2 reviews
May 27, 2023
8.5/10Lovely restaurant with great funny oweners made of a feel very comfortable. Limited outside tables do worth booking early to secure one. Outside is b at place to eat. Good quality food and very good wine list.
Belinda W. • 11 reviews
May 5, 2023
7.5/10Food was a little hit and miss. Some dishes we liked, others were not what we expected. Had dinner here for our last night in Taormina and there are better places to go. It’s fine dining so expect €€€
Alvaro O. • 1 review
April 8, 2023
10/10Very good experience, nice food, everything very fresh and well elaborated. The owner very friendly suggested a tunna Tartar with fresh strawberrys and mayonaise which was delious, we also had the octopus carpacho and another homenaje starter with radiccio and cheese. For Main the home made ravioli were very very tasty and we also had the rissoto wirh raw prawns which also was very good. For dessert we shared the cheescake that was absolutedly delicious !!!!!! The whole experience has been perfect I do recommend the place 100%.
Arancha C. • 19 reviews
October 27, 2022
10/10
Great restaurant in Taormina. Authentic top quality food, absolutely delicious. Great service, very attentive. In a place full of touristic low quality restaurants, Osteria Santa Domenica stands out.
Osteria Santa Domenica • Owner
Thanks See You Soon!!!!
LORETTA R. • 1 review
March 20, 2022
10/10
Fantastic dining experience. Owner and staff were amazing. We wish we could have taken cooking classes there.
Osteria Santa Domenica • Owner
Grazie!!!!!
Dénes S. • 1 review
December 3, 2021
5/10Well, the food was better than in an average restaurant in Taormina and they also have some creativity so the prices are also higher which is partly understandable. BUT: despite the covid situation and the lack of tourists especially after november it should not happen that without any prenotice they charge you 72 € for 6gr(?) of white(?) truffel. So after these surprises I'd also agree with some comments before me that's what we CALL a TOURIST TRAP.
Suzanne V. • 1 review
October 7, 2021
9.5/10The food is excellent and the staff is super friendly so you don’t mind if the service is slow. Worth the wait for the delicious food and wine.
Oana C. • 5 reviews
August 8, 2021
5.5/10The food is average and expensive for what it delivers. The sitting was awful. Disregarding Covid measures the tables were literally stuck to each other and thus 0 privacy. I would say that it it not worth at all to bother and come here
Gloria D. • 2 reviews
August 5, 2021
9.5/10Lovely small restaurant with excellent food and attentive and friendly service. The owner and connoisseur is meeting and greeting customers. Its obvious he runs his restaurant with love and passion, putting customers in the first place. They have seasonal menu using fine local products and ingredients. Tuna tartar with melons was outstanding as well as the melting sea-bass rapped with purple sweets potato on carrot pure. Highly recommend this charming restaurant.
Madalyn M. • 3 reviews
October 9, 2020
10/10
Was referred here by a friend and was an amazing experience. The owner came to our table and made our dinner very personalized. The food was so fresh. The restaurant is a must! I will be back on my next trip to Taormina!
Ann Weston H. • 1 review
October 10, 2020
10/10We loved this restaurant. The setting was very pretty and not touristy, the service excellent and the food was sublime with ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers, tuna tartare with chilli and mango, herb crusted lamb and superb homemade bread, some with turmeric, some with onions and sun-dried tomatoes. All really beautifully presented. I can"t recommend it highly enough.
Nikki R. • 7 reviews
September 12, 2020
8.5/10Quite a small restaurant so we recommend you book, The food was very tasty and well presented and a little bit of a variation form the standard menu that most of the restaurants seem to serve, particularly with the starters. Weirdly they do not offer any contorni, so you cannot add any vegetables on the side, but we enjoyed it and is one of the few restaurants in Taormina that we would recommend.
Cecilia H. • 2 reviews
August 31, 2020
3.5/10This dinner was very disappointing. In fact, nearly inedible. After a beautiful speech from the owner about how everything on the menu is fresh, and an interesting menu, we ordered happily 2 dishes that sounded incredible. When we received our risotto with red shrimps, what we received was very sad. It wasn’t truly a risotto, you could tell that it was just rice with a sauce poured on top. Then for the shrimp... where were they?? There were only 2 very tiny shrimps (the kind that you only find frozen) in the whole dish. On top of this, there was not a trace of salt. It was completely bland, not even a taste of shrimp. It was tasteless. We complained to the waitress who said she would tell the cooks. Then arrived our second course, a grilled piece of tuna on zucchini with onions. The onions were still cold and were clearly the kind that come straight out of a jar. Then the tuna... horrible. Again, this dish did not even have salt. We complained and asked for some salt and pepper and oil to try to fix it ourselves. But still, the quality of tuna was bad. It was definitely a frozen tuna (not fresh like we were told by the owner) and had a rubbery feel. On top of this, it didn’t have a flavor of having been grilled... it looked like it was, but it tasted like it had been grilled, then frozen, and then microwaved and plated for us. Just really sad. We also wanted to have a glass of wine, but the cheapest glass they had available was 16€. Then the bottles of wine we usually buy at home were over 4 times the price on the wine list. A normally 8€ bottle of wine was listed for 35€. And that was one of their cheapest wines on the list. In the end, extremely disappointing. We ate what we could manage because at such a late time there wasn’t much opportunity to get a reservation at another restaurant. On top of it all, it cost a lot. Was not worth even to walk in the door.
David C. • 2 reviews
August 7, 2020
10/10Perfect! Thank you so much. Amazing food, wine and service. Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates good food. I will absolutely visit again!
Carly W. • 7 reviews
July 25, 2020
10/10Delicious locally sourced food, lovely atmosphere and friendly & informative staff. An extremely enjoyable evening!
Tripadvisor reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
Book a table
Are you a restaurant owner?
Register your Restaurant
Tell us more about you and we will contact you as soon as possible
Already a Client
Log in to TheFork Manager and contact us by Chat.