Where to Eat on Lake Como

I have eaten badly on Lake Como only when I have ordered the wrong things, and by wrong I mean the food that belongs to some other coast. The temptation is real. You arrive from a summer that has taught you to want seafood and cold white wine, and the menus are happy to oblige. But the lake has its own kitchen, quiet and Lombard and a little old-fashioned, and it rewards the traveller who leans into it. What follows is how I eat here, and where, from a candlelit terrace with a Michelin star to a stone crotto where the cooking has not changed in decades and does not need to.

What to Order: The Local Table

Start with the fish that comes out of the lake rather than the sea. The one to seek out is missoltini, the small lake fish called agone that are sun-dried and salted and then grilled or gently warmed, served with polenta and a little vinegar. They are intense and slightly stubborn in flavour, and they taste of the place in a way nothing else does. If you order one local thing on your trip, order this.

Then there is the risotto, and here the lake is generous. The classic is made with perch, the pesce persico, the fillets often fried in butter and sage and laid over the rice or served alongside it. It is delicate and buttery and quietly luxurious. You will also find risotto made with lavarello, the whitefish that lives in the deeper water, which is milder and cleaner still. Both are worth your attention. Alongside all of this comes polenta, and the version to look for is the soft one, served loose with butter and cheese folded through it, the dish some call polenta uncia or toc. It is comfort food in the truest sense, and it makes a fine companion to almost anything the lake sends up.

The wines to drink are the Nebbiolo-based reds of the nearby Valtellina, grown on the steep terraced slopes north of the lake. Look for Sassella, Grumello and Inferno on the list, all of them lighter and more alpine than their Piedmontese cousins, and for the raisined Sforzato, sometimes written Sfursat, if you want something richer to end on. A local touch worth noticing is the Lario olive oil pressed on the lake itself, grassy and gentle, which the better kitchens will use with some pride.

A Special Dinner: The Michelin Terraces

When the occasion asks for it, Lake Como can rise to something quite remarkable. My first choice for a celebration is Mistral, the restaurant at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, which holds a Michelin star and sits on a terrace that looks out over the water as the light goes gold. Its perch-fillet risotto is justly celebrated, and the whole experience is refined without ever feeling stiff. This is the top of the market, and worth it for a once-in-a-trip evening.

In Cernobbio, on the western shore, Materia carries a Michelin star under the chef Davide Caranchini, whose cooking is modern and inventive but rooted firmly in the local tradition. It is the place to go if you want to see what the lake’s ingredients can become in ambitious hands. And in Como town itself, I Tigli in Theoria holds two stars, where the chef Giancarlo Morelli builds tasting menus of real seriousness inside a frescoed palazzo. Both sit at the high end, and both reward a slow, unhurried evening with no other plans afterward.

Bellagio Tables

Bellagio is where I tend to eat most, partly because I stay there and partly because it has real range. For a proper trattoria, climb one of the stepped lanes above the waterfront to Bilacus, where the missoltini and the homemade pasta are exactly what you hope for and the mood is warm and unfussy. For something more romantic, La Tirlindana sets its tables by the water and lights the candles, and its seafood risotto and ravioli make for a lovely, lingering dinner at the upper-mid level.

Just outside the centre, in the hamlet of Loppia, Ristorante Silvio is run by a fishing family who bring in the daily lake catch themselves, and you eat it on a hillside terrace with the water below. It is honest, generous and genuinely of the place, and it remains one of my quiet favourites.

Varenna Tables

Across the water in Varenna, the dining is smaller in scale and very pretty. Vecchia Varenna puts its tables at the very edge of the water, under stone arches, with a menu built around lake fish. It sits somewhere between mid and upper-mid, and the setting alone is worth the crossing. For something lighter and more relaxed, the Nilus Bar, sometimes signed as Bar Il Molo, does casual lakeside aperitivo and easy dinners with your feet more or less in the water. I have spent many contented early evenings there with a glass in hand and no intention of moving.

Casual and Lakeside

Not every meal needs a white tablecloth, and some of my happiest ones have not had one. In Brienno, Crotto dei Platani occupies a traditional stone crotto, a cellar-cooled tavern of the old kind, and serves honest Lombard cooking at a fair price. In Lenno, Lido di Lenno is a stylish beach club where you can swim, order a cocktail and eat something simple by the shore, which makes it a fine anchor for a lazy afternoon. In Menaggio, Pizzeria Campione turns out wood-fired pizza on a lakeside terrace, which is exactly the uncomplicated dinner you sometimes want.

And if you take the funicular up from Como to Brunate, Trattoria Baita Belvedere waits at the top with polenta, brasato and local cheeses, all of it eaten with a wide panorama of the lake spread out beneath you. It is mid-priced, mountain-flavoured food, and the view does half the work.

The Isola Comacina Experience

One meal on Lake Como is less a dinner than a small ceremony, and I would not leave it out. On the little island of Isola Comacina, the Locanda dell’Isola Comacina serves a fixed multi-course menu that has barely changed since the 1940s, ending with a theatrical fire ritual meant to lift an old curse from the island. You give over a whole afternoon to it, boat out, boat back and all, and you surrender to the sequence rather than choosing. It is not the finest food on the lake, but it is one of its true experiences, and I think everyone should do it once.

For where all of this fits into a longer trip, see Victoria’s complete guide to Lake Como. You may also want where to stay on Lake Como, a look at the best towns on the lake, and my closer guides to Bellagio and Varenna.

Frequently Asked Questions

What food is Lake Como known for?

The lake’s kitchen is Lombard and lake-born. The dishes to seek out are missoltini, the sun-dried and salted agone, risotto made with perch or with the whitefish called lavarello, and soft polenta served with butter and cheese. The wines to drink are the Nebbiolo-based reds of the nearby Valtellina, such as Sassella, Grumello, Inferno and the raisined Sforzato.

What is the best restaurant on Lake Como?

For a special dinner it is hard to beat Mistral at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, a one-star kitchen with a celebrated perch risotto and a terrace over the water. For modern cooking, Materia in Cernobbio and I Tigli in Theoria in Como town both aim higher still.

Is eating on Lake Como expensive?

It can be, but it need not be. The Michelin terraces sit firmly at the top of the market, but there are honest, well-priced trattorias like Bilacus in Bellagio and Crotto dei Platani in Brienno, and casual lakeside spots for pizza and aperitivo where you can eat well for very little.

Where should I eat in Bellagio?

For a proper trattoria, go to Bilacus on the lanes above the front. For a romantic dinner by the water, La Tirlindana. For fisherman-run cooking with the daily catch, Ristorante Silvio in nearby Loppia. And for a Michelin evening, Mistral at the Villa Serbelloni.

Do you need to book restaurants on Lake Como?

For the Michelin kitchens and for popular waterside tables in high season, yes, book ahead, ideally a few days out. The Locanda dell’Isola Comacina also runs on a set schedule, so plan that one in advance. Casual bars and pizzerias are usually fine to walk into.