Alghero - A Rough Guide

San Perbacco Cafe - on waterfront overlooking the harbor - pasta mainly €25 euro for 2 with a glass of wine and water.

Cafe Constantino - on Piazza Civica I think - very elegant, does piato completo eg. calmari or pork/fries/salad for 10 euro. Good for lunch or a light supper.

El Putal - catalan style - good pizza and veal, 32 for two with wine and water.

Ristorante Cassablanca - In the old town € 25 for 2 courses, wine and water. In old olive store, very interesting with vaulted cielings.

Trattoria Appena Prima - has an inside and outside with different menus and prices (neither cheap) excellent food - seafood salad, steak, veg, dessert, wine and water €70 for 2.

Miques di Mirall - right on the sea wall looking over towards the grotto. Excellent seafood Fritto misto and seafood Fantasia with wine and water €57.50 for 2 at lunch.

There are plenty of restaurants overlooking the bay in Alghero - all with outdoor tables. The restaurants with the good views tend to be busier and a bit pricier - but we found one which was reasonable - and it had chicken on the menu. The Osteria Macchiavello is on Bastion Marco Polo - the name is not obvious as you pass by - but it was only the second menu I saw in Alghero with chicken on it.
The menu has a range of pastas, meats and fish. I chose the beef fillet with rocket and parmesan - a dish I have not had before - and was impressed. A side salad was better than other I had in Alghero and the chips were proper fresh wedges - not frozen. The others had pork chops and pasta - all were good and reasonably priced. The waiter was efficient and child friendly. Service charge was 15% - because of the outdoor seating. Most restaurants we went to added on a cover charge of at least €1.50 a head - but we didn’t give tips because of this. One place was charging 20% for outdoor seats.

We stumbled on the Al Refettorio after walking around the narrow streets one hot evening. Trying to find a menu that suits all members of a family of 6 can be difficult . We also wanted somewhere with air conditioning too. This was a smart looking restaurant - but the whole atmosphere was ruined by two (yes 2) large televisions - 1 showing a beauty contest and the other football. The menu had some expensive dishes steak and seafood - but we stuck with the basic cheaper Italian pasta dishes. The portions were not very large - probably because they were meant to be part of a 3 or 4 course meal - but we were just having the one course.
The pasta dishes were really nice - if a bit small. The waiting staff could have been a bit nicer and - there was a long delay for one of the orders - we had all finished eating before it finally appeared. (I don’t think it was charged for anyway)
There was another problem here with the credit card reader (second time in Alghero) - so we had to pay cash and since we only had €65 euro in cash we got about €12 euro off the bill.
Nice - but not great was the overall verdict. Trying to be upmarket - but the TVs ruined any atmmosphere. Would not go back again.
Located on Carrerò del Porxo (Vicolo Adami) : Tel. +39 079 9731126

Located just off Piazza Civica in the old town - the Il Ghiotto doesn’t look very inviting from the outside - but we were glad we looked in. This is a self service cafe/bar/restaurant which seems to be open all day. You can get snacks, wraps, pizza slices, foccacia, salads, hot pasta dishes, fish, chips, roast potatoes. The dishes change each day - the big surprise for us was to see chicken breast in breadcrumbs being served. Chicken doesn’t seem to be a popular dish in the restaurants of Alghero - we only saw it on one other menu. The food is really good and fresh. The self service style means you can eat quickly and you can mix and match as many dishes as you want. Seating inside or outside. Not for a special dinner maybe - but with fussy kids to feed in a hurry - it’s ideal.
My only little problem in Il Ghiotto was the attitude of one of the bar staff when I went to help myself to ice cubes from an ice bucket. She grabbed the bucket off me and indicated that only she could serve the ice - then said something in Italian which I think means “Stupid”. Apart from that one incident I would recoomend Il Ghotto - but don’t help yourself to ice !

We eat at the Ramblas Pizzeria and Restaurant on our first night - it was fairly late on a busy Saturday night. This was the nearest restaurant to our hotel and the menu looked good - so in we went. All the outside tables were full - so we had to sit inside which was fine.
The large menu had enough choices for everyone - from Pizza, Pasta, Fish, Steak. The restuarant was very popular which was a good sign. We couldn’t believe how cheap the pizzas were - €5 euro for a Margherita compared to €12 euro in Milanos back home. I ordered the Spagghetti Bolognese and all the children had Pizzas whilst my wife ordered the Spaggheti Carbonara. We ordered a small Margherita for our 5 year old which arrived first and was big enough for an adult. There were some delays with the Pizzas because of the large crowd - but the waitress kept apologising and the chef sent over some free starters to keep the kids going. When they arrived - the pizzas were met with approval by all. The pasta dishes were fine - nothing brilliant - but good. With wine only €2.50 for 250ml and bottled water just €2 a litre - the final bill was just €67 euro for six of us. They had a problem with the credit card reader and the cashpoint over the road was empty - so we left with the owner agreeing that we could pay tomorrow! During the holoday we returned to the Ramblas 3 more times and were happy every time. The Tiramisu is good - but they don’t do Ice Cream for dessert.
If you want good, reasonably priced pizza or pasta I can recommend the Ramblas Restaurant
Located at the junction of Via Lido and Via Don Minzoni. Not a very scenic part of town - but you can see the sea. Tel 079 9893073

Yes - it seems to get everywhere - McDonalds the fast food giant has a restaurant in Alghero. It must be strange for the locals having to order Mcnuggets and Happy Meals - but there are a couple of redeeming factors. You can buy beer in this Mcdonalds - italian draught beer! There is a small indoor play area (not for dads) and you can get proper coffee from a proper coffee maker. They also have a special caprese salad - with tomatoes and mozarella. The Mcdonalds - if you want to go - is situated about 500 metres from the marina towards the Lido - on the right (there are signs for it).