Siena has much to see, touch, smell, and taste which makes it a great destination for anyone! For that last part, we’ve put together a list of our favorite restaurants in Siena. You’ll have everything you need to find the best food in the city. Let’s go!
Pro Tip: Heading to Siena? Check out our article on where to stay in Siena so you can find the perfect hotel in the right area!
The Top 10 Places To Eat in Siena
L’oro Di Siena
Photo courtesy of L’oro Di Siena
€€ – €€€ | Intimate | Tuscan
The rustic and candlelit dining room of this secluded Tuscan restaurant is one of our favorite spots in town. It has the lowkey, intimate feel of a family restaurant, but with the service and attention to detail expected of the best. We definitely recommend this spot for anyone looking for a small corner of peaceful tranquility.
Beginning our meal with the award-winning Pecorino cheese, served with freshly baked sourdough bread, was one of the best decisions we made on our visit. Smokey and melted, while still keeping the crumbly texture of an aged Pecorino, it’s best enjoyed with a bottle of red. For your first course, we recommend the homemade Pappardelle with Rabbit, before moving on to the second course of Tuscan Pork. They make these dishes with fresh, locally-sourced vegetables and represent some of the best natural flavors of the region. Perfetto!
Some of the most creative cuisine in Siena is born beneath Ristorante Campo Cedro’s vaulted brick ceilings. The restaurant is invitingly lit with tasteful fluorescent accents and plenty of natural light. Smaller than other restaurants in Siena, it makes up for it with the passion and detail brought to every dish.
The dishes here are a sight to behold, with ingredients that are treated with the upmost care and respect before they are plated beautifully on your dish. If you don’t believe us, order the prawns with tartar sauce and saffron puffed rice. The prawns circled around a pool of rich tartar sauce, served over a bed of soft rice is so pretty we had to hesitate a moment before digging in. For your entrée, the Taglioni with Squid and Taggiasca olives is an excellent sampling of some of the best local flavors. We recommend it!
Set inside of an original Etruscan house dug into the Tuscan earth nearly 1000 years ago, La Taverna di San Giuseppe is an absolute treasure in the heart of Siena. Everything here has a personality, including the tables, which are individually carved by local artisans and grooved from the thousands of meals served upon them. If you’re a fan of history, it’s one of the must-visit restaurants in Siena.
Tuscan home cooking forms the basis of every dish on offer here. We recommend the Malfatti Casalinghi, Ricotta, and Spinach dumpling in cheese fondue and decorated with fresh truffle. There’s something about spinach and truffle that really speaks to the freshness of the ingredients here. We also recommend the Tagliata, a grilled sirloin served with fresh truffle that’s as tender as it is full of flavor.
The food’s so good which is why this restaurant is in the Michelin Guide since 2007!
If some of the restaurants in Siena seem a bit stuffy to you, then this low-key eatery might be the spot for you. It’s a great place to pull up a chair at one of the long communal tables, pick out a glass of the very reasonably-priced wines and strike up a conversation with a local.
The pasta is the main event here, and there are options ranging from the traditional to the creative. We loved the Artichoke Rigatoni, topped with sharp gorgonzola that pairs beautifully with the earthy notes of the artichoke. It’s a great light lunch, but if you’d like something a bit more filling, then the Rib and Chickpeas Pasta is sure to leave you satisfied.
How a restaurant this good still hasn’t earned a Michelin star is quite baffling. The traditional brick-dome architecture, tastefully fused with the modern aesthetic of framed photography and incandescent bulbs, is the perfect setting for the innovative (yet deeply rooted) cuisine.
According to our server, it was the meeting of two family traditions that created the unique Tuscan cuisine on offer here. Options like the Red Mullet with Monaco cheese and black garlic, or the Rabbit with Oyster and Caviar have clear roots in the Tuscan tradition. Yet the spirit of fusion and experimentation makes this food really stand out. We recommend the Up and Down Senesi Hills Tasting Menu. It features fantastic dishes of Roe Deer with Finger Lime and Venison with Black Sesame, a culinary tour of the best of Tuscany.
The sheer amount of restaurants in Siena to grab authentic Tuscan food can make your head spin. That’s why we’ve included this lively Cuban restaurant on our list. Inviting scores of hungry diners every night to enjoy the warm, open-air patio and live music, it’s a welcome diversion from the traditional experience you’ll find elsewhere. It’s definitely worth a visit!
Every menu option here includes at least three select meats, sliced at the table, along with access to the expansive hot and cold buffet. From tender sirloin to flavorful veal, these slow-cooked meats are served with the kind of tableside panache you would otherwise find in the finest restaurants. Grab some rice and beans from the buffet and enjoy!
Located down a cobblestone alley just off the Piazza Del Campo, Zest’s tucked-away atmosphere is perfect for a glass of wine enjoyed beneath the stars. Whether you sit inside the dark, moody interior or at one of the outdoor seats looking out at the city, you’ll enjoy some of the best wine-food pairings of any place in town.
Centered around a number of small dishes, the options here are limited but very unique. From the Homemade Ravioli Caprese filled with Ricotta & Majoram to the lightly fried Squid with Lemon Aioli, you’ll want to bring friends and share as much as you can. For wine, we chose the Roman Primitivo for our red and the local Ghiaiolo for our white. These were our servers recommendations and we could not have been happier, but there’s plenty to choose from!
Perhaps none of the other restaurants in Siena takes seafood quite as seriously as Tre Cristi Enoteca. With its ancient hand-carved communal tables, silver candle holders, and dark wood paneling, the atmosphere speaks to the deep roots and perennial dedication needed to make such great food.
If you’d like to make it to a second course, we recommend steering clear of the Spaghettoni with chopped razor clams and sea urchin pulp. It’s absolutely fantastic, but left this reviewer so stuffed that we had trouble making it through. Instead, we recommend the Clamari with Monkfish, served with Cherry Tomatoes and Tuna Bottarga. It’s an incredibly fresh-tasting dish, that never gets too heavy.
Since its establishment in 1939, three generations of family have run one of the finest restaurants in Siena at 6 Piazza Mercato. In that time, Trattoria Papei has become as much a historical landmark as a culinary one. With views of 11th century architecture from its cozy, garden seating, it’s easy to imagine the generations of diners who have sat and enjoyed the view.
This isn’t the place for avant-garde reinterpretation. Instead, Antica Trattoria Papei makes simple dishes made in the traditional way. They achieve this while bringing the best natural flavors to the fore. To start off with, we recommend the simple but satisfying Tagliolini in savory Rabbit Sauce. The second course of Pheasant with Raisins is a dish that really feels like it was passed down for generations. We highly recommend it.
That idea of taking pizza to new heights is a passion here. Classic pizzas like Margherita and Marinara with thick cuts of mozzarella, basil, oregano, and marinara. It’s the kind of dish that resets what you think a pizza can be, and we’re all in for it. There are tons more options, however, and you should certainly take your time perusing the menu. We recommend the Volcano with raw buffalo mozzarella and Tuscan ham, as well as the mushroom-topped Montagnola.
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