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Restaurant and wine bar recommendations for Siena

Posted by (Seattle, WA, US) on

We (Wife, friend, and I) leave in a few weeks and are spending 4 nights in Siena. Anyone have some great recommendations of dining options and wine bars or places for an apertivo (like an Aperol spritz...mmmmm!)? Thinking mostly trattorias or osterias, but open to ristorantes as well.

Cost-wise I'd say 40-50 Euro p/p tops but happy to spend less (lol!). We appreciate really good food, but I know you can get that without paying a huge premium that some places charge for their name or reputation. I didn't see any recent threads when I searched, so thanks in advance for any suggestions. Can't wait to go! :-)

Posted by
225 posts

My two favorite:

La Torre - Right off the Compo on the street that runs beside the clock tower - typical local Italian food. Eat what they recommend.
Il Trombiche - on Via delle Terme - A more modern take on traditional dishes.
La Marginella - for an apretivo -on the compo. Reasonably priced (for the compo) and they serve a nice plate of appetizers with your wine.

Posted by
126 posts

We are in an agriturismo near Siena right now. Ostetia Babazuf and Trattoria Papei were recommended to us. We will probably try one of them tonight. On a side note, it is unbearably hot right now

Posted by
504 posts

Thank you Charlym and Pjmun! Will definitely check these out and let me know if you go how it was.

I’ve been following the heat wave and it’s making me a bit nervous! Hopefully it breaks soon but looking at the forecast looks to be in the 90’s for the next week or so. Time to get hungry looking at restaurants and menus! 😜

Posted by
126 posts

We ate at Babazuf last night and it was terrible. Don’t go there. We passed by trattoria Pappei and looked at the food. It didn’t look very appealing—just big blobs of pasta—so I wouldn’t go there either. I started a new thread asking for recommendations too. I’m going to do a little research today. If we find anything good i will let you know.

Do have to say that just walking around in the early evening is wonderful. There was a sort of parade around Il Campo last night in anticipation of the Palio. Very fun!

Posted by
126 posts

So grab a spritz or whatever at any of the cafes around Il Campo and people watch in the early evening. Rick recommends that and I can attest to how fun it is just to soak up the atmosphere and relax there.

Posted by
284 posts

I had two of my most memorable meals at Trattoria Papei. It is a local’s place and behind the gate beside the municipal hall.

The first meal was 20 years ago. I had a duck ragu, roasted rabbit and a bottle of outstanding house wine. All for $20! I felt like I was robbing them.

The second time was 6-7 years ago when I took my family. The food was still wonderful but the service was something else. Our waiter actually stopped and started to feed our 2 year old daughter. That photo remains one of my favorite travel pics of all time.

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