Romolo Mare

Verdict

If you visited Romolo Mare once for the raw dishes and left satisfied, a return visit reveals more: the daily fish specials change with what's landed, the local wine list rewards exploration beyond a single bottle, and the setting on Lungomare Argentina earns its keep across multiple meals rather than just one. At €€ pricing with a 2025 Michelin Plate and a Google rating of 4.4 across 1,242 reviews, this is one of the more reliable seafood addresses on the Western Ligurian coast. Book it, and plan to come back.

Portrait

Romolo Mare sits inside a private beach club on Bordighera's seafront, which tells you something important about the atmosphere before you've seen a menu. The room carries the ambient ease of somewhere that functions as a beach club by day and a proper restaurant by evening: the energy is unhurried, the noise level stays conversational, and the mood sits between relaxed and polished without tipping fully into either. For food and travel enthusiasts who want depth without formality, that calibration is a feature, not a compromise.

The kitchen focuses on fish and seafood, with a particular emphasis on raw preparations. That focus matters when you're thinking about how to spread visits. A first meal here is naturally dominated by the raw section of the menu: the kitchen has earned its Michelin Plate acknowledgement in part because of the precision it brings to dishes where there is nowhere to hide. Sourcing quality and handling are visible immediately in raw work, and the 2025 recognition signals that the standard is current, not historical. If raw seafood is your primary interest, this is the right address in Bordighera at this price point.

The daily fish specials are where a second visit pays off. These change with what's available, which means the menu on a Tuesday in summer will look different from a Friday in early autumn. For anyone following the seasonal calendar of the Ligurian coast, that variability is the point. The specials tend to reflect what's genuinely in season and what the kitchen is confident handling well, rather than a fixed list of year-round offerings dressed up as seasonal. Coming back in a different month, or even a different week, gives you a meaningfully different meal. The current season is worth factoring into timing: late spring through early autumn is when the range of available fish on the Ligurian coast is at its widest, and the beach club setting makes most sense in warmer months when the seafront promenade is at its liveliest.

Wine list concentrates on local Ligurian producers, which is the right call for this kitchen. Ligurian whites, particularly from Pigato and Vermentino grapes grown in the hills above the coast, have the acidity and salinity to work against raw fish without overwhelming it. A single bottle chosen quickly on a first visit rarely does this list justice. On a return visit, asking about producers from the Riviera Ligure di Ponente DOC or the Rossese di Dolceacqua for anyone who wants a local red gives you more to work with. The list is described as interesting rather than exhaustive, which at €€ pricing means it is curated rather than comprehensive, and that the staff guidance matters.

Ownership brings years of professional restaurant experience to a setting that could easily have been allowed to coast on its beach club location. The combination of a genuinely relaxed atmosphere and consistent kitchen execution is harder to achieve than it sounds, and the review volume of 1,242 Google ratings at 4.4 suggests this is not a venue running on tourist foot traffic alone. Regulars and returning visitors make up a meaningful share of that number.

Practically, Romolo Mare sits at Lungomare Argentina, 1 in Bordighera, directly on the seafront. The €€ price range puts it in accessible mid-range territory for the area, and booking is rated easy, which means you are unlikely to be shut out on short notice outside of peak summer weekends. For solo diners, the beach club layout and relaxed energy make this a comfortable single-cover experience. For groups, the setting accommodates small parties without the rigidity of a formal dining room. For a special occasion, the combination of Michelin recognition, seafront location, and focused cooking gives you more substance to point to than a pretty view alone. For those building a broader picture of where to eat in the area, our full Bordighera restaurants guide covers the wider field, and Magiargè Osteria Contemporanea offers a Ligurian alternative if you want a contrasting style on a second night. For planning beyond the table, our Bordighera hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide cover the rest of the town.

Multi-Visit Strategy

Visit one: arrive for the raw dishes and a glass of local Pigato. This is the clearest expression of what the kitchen does well and the fastest way to assess whether the standard matches its reputation. Visit two: order around the daily specials and ask the staff about the wine list in more depth. The specials change often enough to make this a different meal. Visit three, if you have the nights: try the local red wines alongside anything the kitchen is running as a fish-forward cooked preparation. Three visits at €€ pricing remains a reasonable outlay compared to a single dinner at a comparable coastal venue charging twice the price for similar sourcing.

Ratings at a Glance

• Google: 4.4 / 5 (1,242 reviews)
• Michelin Plate: 2025
• Price range: €€

How to Book

Booking is easy. Romolo Mare does not require weeks of advance planning except during peak summer weekends on the Ligurian Riviera. Walk-ins may be possible outside high season, but a reservation secures your preferred timing and ensures a table on the seafront side of the room. No phone number or direct booking link is listed in Pearl's current data; checking recent listings or visiting in person for an on-the-day booking are both workable options at this difficulty level.

Peer Comparisons

For other Italian seafood venues worth benchmarking against, Uliassi in Senigallia and Alici on the Amalfi Coast operate at a different price tier but show what Italian coastal seafood cooking looks like at higher ambition levels. Gambero Rosso in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica offers a useful south-Italian counterpoint for anyone travelling the Italian coast. Further afield, the creative Italian cooking at Osteria Francescana in Modena, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Piazza Duomo in Alba, Le Calandre in Rubano, and Enrico Bartolini in Milan represent the country's higher end, which contextualises what Romolo Mare is doing at €€ on the Riviera.

FAQs

• Is Romolo Mare worth the price? At €€, yes. The Michelin Plate recognition and 4.4 rating across more than 1,200 reviews point to consistent quality at a price that does not require justification. For comparable coastal seafood with similar sourcing standards, you would typically pay significantly more elsewhere on the Italian Riviera.
• What should a first-timer know about Romolo Mare? The kitchen leads with raw fish and seafood, and that is where the most precise cooking is. Order from the raw section first. The daily specials change with what's available, so ask the staff what came in that day. The local wine list is worth taking a moment with rather than defaulting to the most familiar option.
• Is the tasting menu worth it at Romolo Mare? Pearl's current data does not confirm whether a formal tasting menu is offered. Given the kitchen's focus on raw dishes and daily specials, the à la carte route allows you to build a meal around what's freshest that day, which may be the better approach in any case.
• Is Romolo Mare good for a special occasion? Yes, with realistic expectations. The Michelin Plate, seafront location, and focused cooking give the meal substance, but the atmosphere is relaxed rather than ceremonial. If you want white-glove formality, look elsewhere. If you want a genuinely good seafood dinner in a setting that earns the occasion without being stiff, this works well.
• Is Romolo Mare good for solo dining? Yes. The beach club setting and unhurried energy make it a comfortable single-cover experience. The raw fish section of the menu is also well-suited to solo ordering, where you can move through several smaller preparations without needing to negotiate with a table.
• Can Romolo Mare accommodate groups? The beach club layout suggests flexibility for small groups. For larger parties, contact the venue directly to confirm availability and any specific arrangements, as Pearl's current data does not include group booking details.
• Does Romolo Mare handle dietary restrictions? A kitchen focused on fish and seafood with raw preparations as a core part of the offer is naturally less suited to guests who cannot eat seafood. For other dietary requirements, the advice is to contact the venue directly before booking, as specific information is not available in Pearl's current data.
• What are alternatives to Romolo Mare in Bordighera? Magiargè Osteria Contemporanea is the most useful local comparison for a different Ligurian approach at a similar price point. For the full picture of where to eat in town, see our Bordighera restaurants guide.