Find places to eat in Trieste, from historic buffets and seafood trattorias in Cavana and the Città Vecchia to Karst inns and a two-Michelin-star tasting menu. Check contacts and plan your next meal.
Trieste cooks at a crossroads of Italian, Austrian and Slovenian traditions. The buffet, a Habsburg-era institution, serves boiled pork with mustard and grated horseradish, jota (a bean and sauerkraut soup) and goulash at the table. Seafood trattorias gather in Cavana, the Città Vecchia and along the Sacchetta waterfront, where Adriatic fish, sardines and shellfish lead the menu. The Borgo Teresiano mixes historic buffets with contemporary kitchens, including the city’s two-Michelin-star table. Up on the Karst, at Opicina and Santa Croce, trattorias cook grilled meats, homemade pasta and local produce. Holiplanet built this list on 25 October 2026, checking each restaurant on its official website or, where none could be opened, on tourism portals and restaurant guides, and keeping only places with table service and a full menu: no bars, wine shops or takeaway counters. It is an independent selection, never paid. For what to see between meals, open the Trieste City Guide below.
30 restaurants · Alphabetical order
Seafood trattoria on Riva Nazario Sauro serving Triestine fish dishes, raw seafood, grilled meat and pizza, open every day non-stop.
Pizzeria and restaurant on Piazza Sant’Antonio Nuovo serving Neapolitan pizza, pasta, grilled meat and fish, open every day until midnight.
Pizzeria on Via del Toro, off Viale XX Settembre, baking wood-fired pizza and serving starters, pasta, meat and fish mains.
MICHELIN-selected restaurant in Città Vecchia since 2012, reinterpreting Triestine dishes with local produce, plus a summer terrace among old-town houses.
Historic family trattoria in San Giovanni, open since the nineteenth century, serving Triestine and Karst dishes in rustic beamed rooms.
Historic café-restaurant on Piazza Tommaseo, Trieste’s oldest café, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in listed nineteenth-century rooms facing the Rive.
Restaurant on Piazza Sant’Antonio Nuovo in the Borgo Teresiano, known for seafood dishes and a large selection of sparkling wines.
Historic Triestine buffet founded in 1897 near Piazza della Borsa, serving pork cooked in the caldaia with mustard and horseradish.
Triestine buffet founded in 1921 on Piazza Hortis, serving boiled pork, cooked ham, jota and plum gnocchi at the table.
MICHELIN-selected restaurant on Via del Pane, near Piazza della Borsa, serving refined seafood and Italian dishes at lunch and dinner.
Contemporary Karst locanda in Santa Croce serving traditional seasonal dishes, founded by Pilar Franco and family, with chef Davide Tonetti.
Two-Michelin-star restaurant by Matteo Metullio and Davide De Pra, serving contemporary tasting menus beside an open kitchen near Piazza Unità.
Seafood hostaria in the hills above Trieste, run by owner-chef Daniele Valmarin, with homemade pasta and a strong wine list.
Casual seafood hostaria in Città Vecchia, near Piazza Unità, serving Triestine fish dishes based on the daily catch, closed Wednesdays.
Seafood restaurant open since 1997 on Via del Lazzaretto Vecchio, mixing traditional and innovative recipes with fish, shellfish and crustaceans.
Waterfront restaurant on Riva Nazario Sauro serving pop-style seafood and Neapolitan pizza, open every day from noon to 11 pm.
Historic osteria on Via del Ponte serving Triestine and Central European dishes such as jota, goulash and caldaia boiled pork.
Seafront restaurant on Molo Venezia with a sea-view terrace, serving seafood, raw fish and pasta daily from lunch to dinner.
Evening-only restaurant on lively Via Torino serving contemporary Italian cuisine, with steaks, beef tartare, handmade pasta and about fifteen gins.
Long-established seafood restaurant overlooking the Piazza Hortis gardens, pairing fish with creative ingredients and offering meat and vegetarian alternatives too.
Restaurant specialising in meat grilled over embers since 1988, alongside local Triestine dishes, in a warm, familiar atmosphere in Giarizzole.
Seafood restaurant run by brothers Ami and Giorgio Scabar since 1967, cooking seasonal Gulf fish with Mitteleuropean and Karst influences.
Seafood restaurant on the Barcola waterfront since 1996, with a terrace set directly on the sea and seasonal regional wines.
Seafood trattoria on the small harbour of Grignano, near Miramare Castle, with a terrace looking across the Gulf of Trieste.
Seafood trattoria on Riva Grumula near the Sacchetta marina, cooking Triestine and Istrian fish dishes, closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Trattoria founded in 1961 on Via San Lazzaro, known for hand-carved ham and simple daily Triestine dishes, closed on Sundays.
Family seafood trattoria opened in 1980 in the old fishing village of Santa Croce, with a garden for dining outdoors.
Small seafood trattoria on Via Cadorna serving Adriatic fish and Triestine classics, open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner.
Family trattoria and hotel in Opicina, where chef Tom Oberdan reinterprets seasonal Karst recipes with homemade pasta, bread and desserts.
Historic Trieste buffet on Via Cesare Battisti serving home cooking: jota, gnocchi with goulash, bollito misto and pork with horseradish.
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