Restaurant recommendations in Taormina

It was a few years ago but we discovered Ristorante il Giardino and ate there several times because we liked it so much. It seemed to be a family run place, and the friendly owner, who spoke 5 languages, was very engaging and charming. Food was excellent and we did order the whole fish one night but it cost the earth. Take heed.

And by the way, directly across from the restaurant is an English-style garden, open to the public, which is very beautiful and a pleasant place to visit after lunch. The garden was designed by and a gift from a young woman from Queen Victoria's court, who was sent into exile due to an inconvenient pregnancy. You can google the whole story which did have a happy ending for her.

I wish I could help, but I only eat fish and I tried to stick almost exclusively to Sicilian dishes that were distinct from Italian. In Taormina, I had a pasta con le sarde, which was good but not mind-blowing. I was literally there only for one very long day. However, I would highly recommend trying a caponata while you're still in Sicily, at least as a side dish. The combination of sweet and sour is so tasty! Never had anything so good anywhere else. My only regret was not making it to the Bam Bar for dessert (because I love dessert and the place looked so atmospheric). I don't think there's much in Taormina that's not touristy, I think you have to get to the side streets and off the main drag to find a perhaps "more local" place.

i avoid ordering beef in Europe, much tougher than we're used to in US. I would eat as much as seafood as possible while in Sicily.

I had really good food in Taormina; I found that even if places didn't cater to "locals," they did cater to a discriminating clientele. Prices weren't higher than in the rest of Sicily, but standards were.

Here are my notes from my visit with a friend in May 2014:

Osteria Rosso di Vino - the single best restaurant of our Sicily trip. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember what I had, except that it was exceptionally delicious.

Casa Gioli - again, I don't remember what I had, but it was really good. Another keeper.

Osteria Nero d'Avola: this was memorable even before we ate. As we were looking at the menu outside, the owner told us to ignore the menu and come into the kitchen, as he described and showed us the fresh produce and sea creatures (some still alive) he had gotten from the markets that day. My fish (alalaguna, apparently related to tuna) was delicious. They debone all the fish tableside, which makes for quite a show if several orders come out at once. And dessert was made with citrons, which are like large lemons but with a sweet skin - wonderful.

Villa Zuccaro Pizzeria: very good pizza (I know it's hardly a Sicilian speciality, but we wanted a faster meal for our last night).

Trattoria Antonio for excellent swordfish prepared with mint, Sicilian style.

Pizzeria Villa Zuccaro was quite good. We had a group pizza making demo and dinner there on RS Sicily tour. Da Cristina just downhill from there is a nice place to get food for a picnic lunch. The arancini were really good. They do have a few tables outside.. We must have stopped by Bam Bar for brioche and grantias 2 or 3 times in the day and a half we were there.

My family and I were just in Taormina and ate twice at Santa Lucia, out of the main tourist drag. Both food and service were excellent. The Parmigiana was perfect (Eggplant -I think you call Aubegine) and the Gnocchi was judged by my grand daughter the best she has so far on this trip-and she has ordered it a lot!