Restaurant in Ferrara, Italy
Ferrara's serious dinner, easy to book.
Makorè is Ferrara's most considered option at the €€€ price point, holding a Michelin Plate (2025) and a 4.6 Google rating across 358 reviews. The kitchen centres vegetables, locally sourced fish, and Ferrara truffles across three tasting menus built around a Japanese-Italian historical concept. For a special occasion dinner in the city, it is the clear first booking to consider.
Yes — if you are planning a celebration dinner or a serious meal in Ferrara, Makorè is the most considered option in the city at the €€€ price point. It holds a Michelin Plate (2025), its Google rating sits at 4.6 across 358 reviews, and the concept is coherent enough to justify the spend: a vegetable-forward Italian Contemporary menu with a clearly articulated Japanese influence, built around local produce including fish sourced directly from the adjacent fishmongers and Ferrara's underrated truffle supply. The question is not whether it is good — it is , but whether the service philosophy matches what you are paying for. On that measure, it earns the price.
The room at Via Palestro, 12 is the first signal that this is not a casual neighbourhood trattoria. The visual register is composed and deliberate , you will notice the care in how the space is presented before you open the menu. That matters for a special occasion, because the setting does a portion of the work before the kitchen even starts.
The menu structure is organised around three tasting menus operating under the name Missione Tensho, a concept drawn from the 1582 Jesuit expedition that travelled from Nagasaki to Italy, with a documented stop in Ferrara. The culinary reference point is the historic relationship between the Este and Gonzaga court traditions and Japanese influences , a pairing that sounds conceptual on paper but is expressed practically in the way vegetables, fish, and local truffles are handled. Ferrara sits on alluvial land with genuine biodiversity, and the truffles here, while less commercially famous than those from Alba or Norcia, come from a terroir suited to multiple species. The kitchen treats these ingredients as the focus, not as garnish.
Cheese trolley rounds out the experience with a selection spanning fresh and mature Italian cheeses alongside international options. For a special occasion, this is the kind of detail that signals the kitchen is not cutting corners on the back half of the meal.
At €€€ in Ferrara , a city where most serious restaurants sit at €€ or below , the service at Makorè needs to justify the premium. The Google rating of 4.6 across 358 reviews is a reasonable proxy for consistency: that score, maintained over a meaningful volume of feedback, suggests the front-of-house is doing its job. For a date dinner or a milestone celebration, the service model here is attentive without being performative, which is the right register for the concept. You are not paying for theatre; you are paying for a team that understands the menu well enough to guide you through it.
That matters specifically because the Missione Tensho menus carry some intellectual weight , the Japanese-Italian historical framing is not decorative, and a good server will explain it in a way that adds to the meal rather than making it feel like a lecture. If you are booking for a business dinner where the conversation is the point, the room and the service style support that. If you are booking for a romantic occasion, the same qualities hold. Makorè does not skew casual, which means walk-in expectations should be managed accordingly.
Booking at Makorè is rated easy. Ferrara does not draw the same reservation pressure as Bologna or Modena, which means you are not fighting for a table six weeks out. That said, for a Friday or Saturday dinner , particularly if you have a fixed date for a celebration , booking at least one to two weeks in advance is sensible. The tasting menu format also means that arriving without a reservation and expecting to sit and eat promptly is not a realistic plan; the kitchen is pacing multi-course meals, not turning tables quickly.
There are no published hours in the current data, so confirming opening days before you travel is worth doing directly. Ferrara restaurants of this type typically close one or two days per week.
Quick reference: Michelin Plate (2025) | €€€ | Via Palestro, 12, Ferrara | Google 4.6 (358 reviews) | Booking: easy, 1–2 weeks ahead recommended for weekend dates.
Makorè sits at the leading of Ferrara's current restaurant options by concept ambition and price. Cucina Bacilieri is the closest peer at €€€ , also modern in approach, and worth comparing directly if you want an alternative at the same price tier. The decision between the two comes down to whether you want the Japanese-Italian historical framing of Makorè or a more straightforwardly contemporary Italian menu. Both are credible for a special occasion.
If the budget is flexible downward, Quel Fantastico Giovedì at €€ delivers modern cuisine at a lower price point and is easier to justify for a casual dinner that still has some ambition. Ca' d'Frara at €€ is the better call if you want traditional Emilian cooking rather than contemporary technique , a different category entirely but worth knowing if your guest prefers regional comfort over innovation. For the most affordable option in the city's Emilian repertoire, Da Noemi at € is reliable and unpretentious.
If you are benchmarking Makorè against the wider Italian Contemporary category, the relevant comparators are in a different league by price and reputation: Osteria Francescana in Modena, Le Calandre in Rubano, and Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence are all multi-starred operations requiring advance planning and substantially higher spend. Makorè does not compete with those venues on accolade weight, but for a special dinner in Ferrara specifically, it does not need to. It is the right choice in this city at this price point.
Ferrara is a well-preserved Renaissance city with a compact centre , the kind of place where a serious dinner fits naturally into a broader overnight trip. If you are building a full itinerary, see our full Ferrara restaurants guide, our full Ferrara hotels guide, and our full Ferrara bars guide. For wine and regional producers, our full Ferrara wineries guide covers the Emilia-Romagna options worth knowing. Our full Ferrara experiences guide rounds out the practical planning.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Makorè | €€€ | — |
| Ca' d'Frara | €€ | — |
| Cucina Bacilieri | €€€ | — |
| Da Noemi | € | — |
| Quel Fantastico Giovedì | €€ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Makorè and alternatives.
Bar seating is not documented for Makorè. At a Michelin Plate €€€ venue operating tasting menus, the format is typically table-based and reservation-led. check the venue's official channels via Via Palestro, 12 to confirm counter or bar options before assuming walk-in availability.
The tasting menus are the point here — specifically the 'Missione Tensho' format, which draws on the 1582 Jesuit expedition linking Japan and Italy and comes in three menu variations. Vegetable dishes and fish sourced from the adjacent fishmonger are the kitchen's stated focus, with local Ferrara truffles appearing as a less-publicised regional highlight. The cheese trolley is worth finishing on: a mixed Italian and international selection served tableside.
Makorè runs at €€€ with a composed, deliberate room register — this is not a casual trattoria. Dress tidily: no formal black-tie requirement is indicated, but jeans and trainers would be out of place. Think the kind of outfit you would wear to a serious dinner in Bologna or Modena.
Yes, if the Italian-Japanese conceptual framework appeals to you. The Missione Tensho menus have a specific historical logic behind them — rooted in Este and Gonzaga culinary traditions meeting Japanese influence — rather than being fusion for its own sake. At €€€ in Ferrara, where most serious restaurants sit at €€, you are paying a premium, but the Michelin Plate recognition (2025) confirms the kitchen is operating at a level that justifies it.
Yes — it is the most considered €€€ option in Ferrara for a celebration dinner. Booking is rated easy compared to the pressure you would face at comparable restaurants in Bologna or Modena, so you can secure a date without months of lead time. The tasting menu format, cheese trolley, and the room's deliberate aesthetic make it work for anniversaries, birthdays, or a serious meal anchoring an overnight stay in the city.
Ca' d'Frara and Quel Fantastico Giovedì are the most relevant local comparisons. Ca' d'Frara sits at a lower price point and suits diners who want traditional Ferrarese cooking without the tasting menu commitment. Quel Fantastico Giovedì is a longer-established name in the city with a more conventional Italian format. If you want the Italian-Japanese conceptual angle and the Missione Tensho menus specifically, neither alternative replicates what Makorè is doing.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
