Restaurant in Como, Italy
Lacustrine Terroir Cooking
Cetino is an inventive restaurant in Como focused on lake, sea, and land produce — a serious kitchen operating in a relaxed register. It fills a practical gap in Como's dining scene between tourist-facing trattorias and formal tasting-menu restaurants. Book if you want creative Italian cooking without the ceremony; look elsewhere if you need a verified awards trail before committing.
Cetino is an inventive Italian restaurant in Como built around a lake, sea, and land cooking philosophy — the kind of place where the ambition on the plate outpaces what the price tag suggests. With no published pricing, awards trail, or Michelin recognition in the public record, it sits in the casual-to-mid range of Como's dining scene rather than the formal upper tier occupied by destination restaurants elsewhere in the region. If you want creative Italian cooking in a lakeside setting without the ceremony of a full tasting-menu experience, Cetino is worth considering. If you need a guaranteed benchmark of critical recognition before booking, look elsewhere.
The kitchen's stated identity — inventive cooking drawing on lake produce, seafood, and land-sourced ingredients , positions Cetino in a category that Como does well: honest regional material treated with more care than the tourist-facing trattorias along the waterfront. The visual appeal here is in the setting itself. Como's lake views carry a lot of weight, and a restaurant framing its cooking around what the water and surrounding land provide has a natural coherence to it. Expect plates that read as thoughtful rather than showy, with the kind of ingredient-led composition common to northern Italian creative dining.
This is not a white-tablecloth occasion restaurant. The framing is casual enough that you won't feel underdressed in smart-casual clothes, but the kitchen's intent is serious enough that the food holds up as a reason to visit rather than just a backdrop to the scenery. For Como, that middle register , relaxed room, genuine cooking , is actually harder to find than it sounds. Most options at this level default to pasta-and-pizza comfort, or climb immediately into formal tasting-menu territory. Cetino occupies a practical gap between those two.
For food and travel enthusiasts visiting Como with an interest in regional Italian cooking beyond the obvious, it reads as a considered choice rather than a safe one. Compare it to Renzo, which takes a broader all-day contemporary Italian approach, or The Lido, which leans into the lakeside leisure experience more overtly. Cetino's tighter focus on inventive lake-and-land sourcing gives it a clearer culinary identity than either.
Reservations: Easy to book , no significant advance window required based on available data. Dress: Smart casual is appropriate; no formal dress code confirmed. Group size: Suitable for two or a small group; no private dining data available. Budget: No published price range , budget for a mid-range Como dinner and confirm on booking. Getting there: Como is well connected by train from Milan (roughly 40 minutes on the regional service); confirm the restaurant's exact address before arrival as location data is limited.
See the comparison section below for how Cetino sits against northern Italy's broader creative Italian scene.
For the wider picture of where to eat, stay, and drink in Como, see our full Como restaurants guide, our full Como hotels guide, our full Como bars guide, our full Como wineries guide, and our full Como experiences guide.
The kitchen's identity is built around lake, sea, and land produce, so dishes drawing on local Lake Como fish and regional land ingredients are your leading starting point. Beyond that, no specific menu items are confirmed in the available record , ask the team on arrival what's freshest, which at an ingredient-led restaurant like this is always the right move.
Smart casual covers it. Cetino sits in Como's casual-creative register rather than its formal dining tier, so you don't need to dress up, but you won't feel out of place making an effort either. Como as a destination tends to attract well-dressed visitors regardless of venue formality.
Probably yes. A restaurant with a relaxed format and a creative, ingredient-led menu is generally a good solo dining environment , you can focus on the food without feeling conspicuous. No counter seating is confirmed, but a casual Italian creative restaurant in this category is typically solo-friendly. Worth calling ahead to confirm a good table.
Renzo is the most direct Como alternative for contemporary Italian in a relaxed setting. The Lido works better if the lakeside atmosphere is the primary draw. For a significant step up in ambition and price within northern Italy, Enrico Bartolini in Milan is 40 minutes away and operates at a different level of recognition entirely.
It depends on what the occasion calls for. If you want a meaningful meal with creative cooking in a relaxed environment, Cetino can work well. If the occasion demands formal service, a grand room, and a recognised awards trail , think anniversary dinner at a Michelin-level restaurant , then look at Piazza Duomo in Alba or Le Calandre in Rubano for northern Italy's top tier. Cetino earns its place for occasions where good food matters more than ceremony.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cetino | — | ||
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Dal Pescatore | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Quattro Passi | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Reale | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Uliassi | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
Comparing your options in Como for this tier.
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