Ristorante Vela Bianca

My wife and I are starting the third week of an epic tour of Italy here in Sorrento that began in Venice. We worked our way south thru Cinque Terra, Pisa, Tuscany and every lunch, every dinner we threw a dart choosing a new place. Enoteccas, ristorante, trattoria. No research, limited recommendations. All experiences were stellar. Not ONE bad nor underwhelming meal. Until Sorrento. Our first night we chose the venue based upon location and atmosphere, on the water Our first hmmm meal in two weeks.
Tonight, we researched and chose Ristorante Vela Bianca based upon reviews and again had a disappointing meal. Prices are higher than all other parts of Italy we toured but we expected that. We ordered a starter, prawns with a citrus sauce… shrimp cocktail. 8 minuscule shrimp in a not citrusy mayonnaise. Table side we were shown all the lovely fresh fish to choose from. My wife chose a chunky sea bass to be prepared in a citrus walnut sauce. She got a tiny portion of bland fish, without citrus nor walnuts. I had a pretty solid tagliatelle with bolognese which I enjoyed. We waited forever for wine service, got less than the liter of good wine we ordered. Staff sensed our dissatisfaction and attempted redemption, delivering a rubbery fried calamari and margherita pizza as consolation. We had amazing Frito misto of anchovy, calamari and shrimp from a food truck in Montorosso for $ 6 that was fresh, crisp and superb.
All our experiences prior to Sorrento were so wonderful and inexpensive. I don’t want to leave Italy on a downswing! Five more nights to get back on track!

Our hotel, Il Faro, owns and operates the restaurant and gave us 10% off when we checked in. We ate around 7:30 and had a seafood themes meal. Seafood & Shellfish salad, linguini with shellfish, & the seafood risotto.
Inside you can pick your own fish with a rolling cart on ice that goes around the restaurant. Since we ate outside we never saw it.
They also offer car service to and from many hotels to get people to come down the piccolo marina area. It’s hard to find of you were just walking around aimlessly.
While I’ve had better meals in Italy I would still recommend this restaurant if you’re looking for seafood.

Ordered 5 meals and every forkful was amazing. The dessert was absolutely unbelievable. We ordered a little of everything they offered. Simply spectacular!

Wonderful restaurant. Free shuttle from Hilton, made this an easy decision on the first night after traveling from USA. Service was friendly and very helpful. The wine recommendation was excellent and inexpensive. Table-​side filet of sea bass was a delicious meal. All the seafood we ordered was well prepared and delicious. We returned another night, which is not something we usually do. Easy recommendation.

Stopped in here for a quick lunch after it was recommended by a nearby vendor at the point. We had the best pizza I have tasted since touching down in Italy over a week ago.
The servers were extremely helpful and friendly. There were several tables of locals dining at the same time (always a good sign) so we seemed to be the only tourists. The manager and servers stopped by several times to check on us and ask questions. They seemed genuinely interested in our visit to Sorrento and their restaurant, which shows their love for their business and customers. Happy to recommend this restaurant — you won’t regret eating here!

Ristorante Vela Bianca was one our our favorite places we ate at during our trip to Europe!
(prior to visiting Sorrento, we were in Paris, Lucerne, Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome!)
We stayed at the Hilton Sorrento Palace and the restaurant has a free shuttle service from the hotel to the restaurant. The restaurant is located in the ancient seafaring village of the port of Sorrento, facing the gulf of Naples. The structure stands on various levels: L’antica taverna offers a more intimate dinner inside with a view of the port. Just behind the main entrance is a stair case which leads you down into the alley where there is an outdoor seating area and you can look into the kitchen. Also down the stairs and to the right are the restrooms.
We ate here 3 times!
They gave us complimentary appetizers each time we dined here. (different every day). They have a lovely cart with fresh fish on ice. You can pick out the fish you want for dinner and they prepare it for you. The fish comes out beautifully only seasoned with olive oil and some herbs. No need to heavy sauces or anything. I tried the sea-​bass and my husband picked out a nice red snapper.
They also have a vegetable buffet and most are marinated in olive oil (eggplant, squash, zucchini etc). OMG, best I’ve ever had! There is no where in California where I can get the same quality!
The seafood risotto, spaghetti with clams, grilled octopus, mussels, fried King prawns, gnocchi are also to die for! Our wedding anniversary was on May 20^th and we came here for dinner again. Since we became friends with the manager Michael, he knew about it. So during our dinner, they dimmed the lights to the entire restaurant and sang to us in Italian. They also have us a complimentary dessert (it was a cross between a pie, chocolate cake and custard). I really have no way of describing it, but it was delicious!
The last dinner here I ordered a Margherita pizza and my husband for a calzone.
Coming here was definitely a highlight of our trip!