Belforte

Traveled to Cinque Terra on my honeymoon with my wife. Amazing food with incredible view.

This place has an amazing view. Definitely worth having a meal here. Our meal was good. Our group had the lobster and pasta and the curry scampi. They were both okay, but next time, I would order something else. I do not recommend the house red wine. I found out later on that the Cinque Terre area is known for their whites and their reds are not that good. Take a table away from the stairway as this is very busy with waiters, diners and tourist.

Overrated and overpriced for the water view :(

Well, I’m disappointed after being amped up for an awesome dining experience on our trip to Vernazza. It started out with the reservations. I called two days in advance and asked for the premium seating outside and the guy on the phone laughed at me but «took» my reservation. Upon arrival, my name was nowhere to be found on the list and they made it seem like they were doing my wife and I a favor by seating us. It only went downhill from there. The calamari was tasty, but ended up waiting 1.5 hours after completion of the antipasti for our pasta. The squid ink pasta with prawns and pesto pasta were great. However, they outright forgot about our secondi (mixed seafood, pretty decent but skimpy portions), and didn’t even apologize for the mix-​up when bringing it out. It was extremely upsetting after being at the restaurant for over two hours and having all the groups around us arrive and leave before us. We wanted to stay for dessert, but we were so upset that we cut our losses and got gelato down the street. Overall, I think Belforte needs to get their act together and treat customers with a bit more respect.

Best restaurant view in Vernazza! I would recommend bringing a jacket as it gets quite chilly once the sun goes down.
Staff is friendly and allowed us to reserve the exact table we wanted — which has the best view of course :) Service is a bit slow as is typical of Italy.
As for the food, we had the seafood platter and grilled veggies which was very fresh but did not have much flavor. As most places in Italy the seafood was just seasoned with some olive oil.

Magnifique vue sur Vernazza depuis la terrasse d’une tour fortifiée. Poissons et fruits de mer à tomber, service impeccable. Réservation recommandée. Tarifs raisonnables compte-​tenu de l’environnement.

If you hang around Vernazza until dinner time, you’ll probably notice diners climbing and lining up the stairs to Ristorante Belforte. Our first night in Vernazza, we wanted to go to dinner here, but they were booked up for the evening, so we made a reservation for the following night.
We sat in the tower, during sunset. That alone is super amazing experience. But there was food to be had too! We enjoyed the trophie pasta as well as the squid ink pasta with seafood. This region is known for both pesto, trophie pasta, and seafood, and the dishes did not disappoint! Afterwards, we had the chocolate gelato for dessert with some coffee. The gelato was, of course, delicious, and the serving size was quite generous.
This is a great restaurant, so make a reservation, and enjoy!

Stunning view great food and great service! andrea, our waiter, make us fall in love with vernazza! We have a wonderful night at belforte!
ice cream with pan-​frying strawberry is perfect!! love it!
完美景觀（無敵大海景）&美食！服務超級熱情！（在巴黎感受不到的熱情）我哋嘅服務生態度超級好仲會唱歌俾你聽會推薦俾身邊所有人！

While I definitely didn’t have a single bad meal while visiting Cinque Terre, my favorite meal was easily the lunch I had at Ristorante Belforte. Ristorante Belforte is located in Vernazza, Italy on a cliff overlooking the sea. As you can imagine the view alone is a reason enough to head there, but in my opinion the food is even better than the view!
Our first attempt at going to Belforte was for dinner. Not so surprisingly, since this is the most recommended restaurant in Cinque Terre, we weren’t able to get a table when we showed up at 7:30pm. We were, however, able to make a reservation for the next day at lunch. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and in this case I was proved correct. While I’m sure the sunset would have been gorgeous, after the sun went down our view would have disappeared. I definitely recommend going for lunch or getting an early seating for dinner so you can enjoy the view for most of the meal. Also be sure to stop by early in your visit to make a reservation or call ahead to book one.
Now that we’ve covered the view, it’s time to talk food. Cinque Terre is known for it’s great seafood so it’s definitely a must try while dining at Belforte. We started off our meal with an appetizer of 5 hot and cold fish dishes. The mix of dishes varies from day to day, but in our case we got 5 amazing dishes: salted cod mousse, lemon cured anchovies on tomatoes (shown above), grilled octopus, tuna with red onions on tomatoes, and salt cured anchovies with caperberries. My favorites were definitely the cod mousse and lemon anchovies, but I would order any one of the five again in a heart beat! The only catch to ordering this appetizer is that you need at least 2 people at your table to order it. It comes out family style and so if you have a group of 4 you might want to consider having two people order this and the other two try out another appetizer.
When I read reviews for Belforte, there was one dish mentioned more than any other, the squid ink pasta with shrimp. I knew that anything that highly reviewed had to be pretty amazing so I knew I had to try it. It was hands down the best pasta dish I’ve ever had. The pasta and shrimp were both cooked perfectly and the sauce was delicious. Since my aunt and I both ordered the same thing, we paired our meal with a half bottle of the house white which was a local wine and paired great with all our seafood.
Unfortunately, we were running a bit short on time by the time we finished our pasta and so we didn’t have time to try dessert. On my next trip, however, I am either going to have to visit Belforte more than once or go for a big meal because I’m dying to try some of the other items on their menu! The only watch out with eating at Belforte for my fellow American travelers is plan on spending about two hours enjoying your meal. We left about an hour and fifteen minutes to enjoy our lunch before catching our train and cut it pretty close!

Our lunch at Belforte was absolutely perfect!
We arrived in Vernazza famished after making the two hour hike from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza. Most of the lunch crowd was leaving so my husband, sisters, and I managed to snag a great table outside overlooking Vernazza and the water.
We started off the meal with a bottle of Prosecco. (We had to celebrate completing our hike!) For our first course our table split two pasta dishes: The handmade Trofie with Pesto and Squid Ink Pasta with Seafood. The trofie was one of the best pasta dishes I have ever tasted. The pesto was out of this world good!!! The squid ink pasta with seafood was also very good and contained a nice selection of fresh seafood. For our entrees my sister and I ordered the grilled octopus. I was a little surprised the dish didn’t come with any lemon wedges, but our waiter quickly brought us lemon wedges when we asked. The octopus was so fresh and unlike anything I have had in Florida! My husband ordered the mussels and my youngest sister ordered the mixed grilled seafood platter. She attempted to eat about half of the dish, but this massive platter contained a little too much food for a girl that weighs less than a hundred pounds!
The fresh seafood, breathtaking views, and friendly service makes Belforte so special. If I have the chance to visit Vernazza again we will definitely be dining at Belforte!

Absolutely excellent food, only made better because of the unmatched view. While this is definitely a popular tourist spot, I would not miss it.

Overrated. We dined here last night and were very underwhelmed. First, we were promised a table outside when we made a reservation. Yet when we showed up, albeit 25 minutes early, they told us they couldn’t seat is outside. Mind you the restaurant just opened at 7 and there was only 1 other couple sitting outside– so clearly if we had a reservation for one of those tables they could not have turned a table in 30 minutes so they were just ending difficult. Second, the food was just so so and was quite salty. Last and probably most important the service was terrible! We waited almost an hour for our entrees! Would not recommend this place at all.

Would have given this place 5 stars but almost didn’t get to eat here because we didn’t have reservations. It seems like reservations are just or else you can’t eat here which is unfortunate since you’re not always sure which of the 5 towns you will be in when you’re in cinque terre. Nonetheless we met some incredible people from Minnesota who let us join their table so we got the opportunity to eat here.
Now on to the food. We order the grilled mixed seafood which was super fresh and made me regret not order another one. The dish had grilled sword fish (be careful there may be bones and scales), octopus, prawns and crab. We are everything on the plate. We also ordered spaghetti pomodoro which was good as well but the grilled mixed seafood was the highlight of the night. We ended the night with their famous grilled strawberry with gelato which was interesting since we’ve never had warm strawberries before. Nonetheless still delicious. Oh yea and we had the red house wine which was pretty good and easy to drink.
Recommendations:
MAKE reservations if you can
Any seafood dish — they all looked delicious
House red wine

If this place just had a hammock I would give this place 5.5 stars!!!
After the hike here from Corniglia we built an enormous appetite but I don’t think the food here needed any of that hunger seasoning because every dish we had was simply amazing! We’ve been trying all the squid ink pasta (€ 14) across Italy and so far this was the best we’ve had. It was served over a bed of some kind of delicious shrimp and there was plenty of it throughout the dish.
I had the frutte di mare (€ 15) and for the price and portions it was most excellent. All the pastas were perfectly al dente just as it should be in Italy! I think the dish may have been slightly salty but since we’re hiking to Monterosso we could use the extra sodium.
The first course came out rather quickly but there was about a 40 minute wait for the second course to come out. That’s when the hammock would’ve been perfect! We had a pretty rocking view of the water from this ancient castle perch. The best view was a little book with a table for 2 but that one was reserved… so another tip if you want to really impress, call ahead and ask for the table with the ocean view… it might also help to ask in Italian since it seemed like only the locals had the tables with reservations.
Our second course was the grilled octopus and it was pretty much just that… over a bed of arugula and some sliced grape tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. I would’ve just got another plate of the squid ink pasta.
There were other delicious looking dishes that others got that would be great to get next time: the salted fish seemed to elicit some umami responses. The crudo also looked amazing!!! They only serve that for a party of 2. There was also a salad with a crap ton of seafood on top that everyone seemed to get. Next time we shall order these!!!
To finish it all off we got the tiramisu (€ 6) and the panna cotta (€ 6). The tiramisu was different than I’ve ever had. It was more creamy and less formed but had great flavor. The panna cotta had perfect texture and was smooooth. Topped with a drizzle of chocolate, I think it was the winner.
Overall the view, the food, the location, the relatively affordable prices were big winners here!

my husband and i are the definition of food-​crazed and have serious travel fomo when it comes to amazing restaurants. we’re always trying to hunt town new restaurants to try, so it’s saying a lot that this was the first ever restaurant that we visited twice on the same trip. during our 3 days in cinque terre, we ate some delicious stuff. like hands down ‘best thing i ever ate’ status. some restaurants were homey, others were fancy, and this was all those things combined with a serious wow factor of a view. nestled on a legitimate cliff, belforte will take your breath away as you summit the countless steps to reach the restaurant’s entrance. on our first night, we dined late after the sun had gone down, and were seated at the so-​called lover’s table– a solitary table for 2 at the highest vantage point the restaurant had to offer. the pitch black of the ocean and the crashing waves made for a strangely peaceful backdrop. the standouts of the night were an unforgettable squid ink pasta and a vat of decadent seafood stew. it was quite a feast and we could barely fit in dessert. the next day, we visited for lunch– our last meal at cinque terre. we ordered a couple delicious pastas (almost getting the squid ink again, but ultimately deciding to try something new) and enjoyed the bluest waters i have laid my eyes upon. photos couldn’t do justice of the beauty. we will definitely be back! one day!!!
protip: make a reservation at least 1 – 2 weeks in advance and ask for the terrace seating!

This is one of those slightly imperfect places I’m tempted to give 5 stars too — so let’s say 4.5!
Absolutely beautiful location, really just a cool (er), breezy and shaded gem on a VERY hot and crowded day.
We snagged table at about 1:30 for 2. Service was friendly and relatively fast.
Ordered a bottle of prosecco and a whole fish for 2 cooked under a dome of salt. To die for! It was so so good. Ordered it with some potatoes and grilled veggies on side. The whole lunch was just so perfect on a hot day.
We shared a salad for a first plate, it was good, but … it’s salad, so — yeah.
Service could have been a bit better, and the sides just a tad better to match the stupendous fish, but highly recommend this gem location and wonderful food.

Amazing! Service was the best and the food was phenomenal! Views to die for and atmosphere incredible! Worth going!

Michelle at the cashier was sooo welcoming & also served few of us customers prosecco while we were waiting for seats. my waiter was not as friendly as he made me wait longer here and there as he was serving larger tables more. it was super busy during lunch hour so understandable… the view was amazing! ordered black squid ink pasta (the award winning dish) and i enjoyed it. a must try at Cinque Terre! :)

Food and view and seating and service were all amazing. We had Andrea for a server, and he was great. Loves his job and you could tell. We paid € 30 more for a meal the night before, and this was better all around. Highly recommend.

Literally one of the best meals I’ve had in Italy. The atmosphere of the restaurant is great, located on a cliff in Vernazza, cinque terre you can sit down with a direct view of the ocean! So beautiful.
If you like seafood you should get the squid ink pasta dish, it is the best one I’ve had in Italy and it won some aware (listed on the menu). My friend got the traditional pesto pasta dish and she loved it as well. the house red wine is great.
This place can get busy so try to make a reservation !

I travel alone frequently for food, art, and culture. I heard the restaurant was good, therefore, I waited in line for 30 minutes before they opened. I did not make reservations as I like to show up and hopefully be surprised.
When they finally opened, they refused to provide me with a one person seating. The place had seats available to accommodate everyone waiting in line who also did not make reservations.
After repeatedly asking the reason why they cannot accommodate one person, and knowing that other tourist were watching, the hostess finally agreed to give me a seat at the corner. Some tourist did show pity on me and said sorry and it is unfortunate that they do business that way.
My bill was 60+ euro for one person while another table had a couple that ate for 60 euro too. Food is meant to be shared and enjoyed, no matter if it’s a mom-​n-​pop shop to michelin star restaurants (which I also dined frequently in). I thought that was the Italian way as well — shared and enjoyed. However, this place left me an unpleasant experience.
That being said, the view was stunning, but the food, I can’t judge due to the bias of the experience itself. It was too salty for my californian palate. I would love to support local business, however, not one that discriminates single travelers. I refuse to go back nor give them a good review.