Restaurant in Rome, Italy
Special-occasion seafood worth the detour.
Ai Torchi earns a 2025 Michelin Plate and a 4.5 Google rating for seafood dishes built around daily local catch, served inside a 17th-century olive oil press with the original stone mill still in place. At €€€, it is the most occasion-worthy table in Finale Ligure. Book at least a week ahead in summer; the adjacent I Torchietti bistro is the lighter, lower-cost alternative on the same street.
At the €€€ price point, Ai Torchi earns its place as one of the more considered seafood restaurants along this stretch of the Ligurian coast. A 2025 Michelin Plate — recognition that the food meets Michelin's quality threshold without yet reaching star level , combined with a 4.5 Google rating across 299 reviews gives you reasonable confidence before you book. This is not a destination restaurant that demands a detour from Rome, but if you are in the area and want a formal, occasion-appropriate dinner in a room with genuine character, Ai Torchi is the most credible option on the street.
The visual case for booking Ai Torchi is immediate: the dining room occupies a 17th-century olive oil press, and the original stone mill and wooden press remain in place inside the vaulted space. This is not a restored-to-anonymity heritage conversion , the industrial remnants of the old mill are load-bearing to the atmosphere. For a special occasion or a dinner where the room needs to do work alongside the food, few settings in this part of Liguria offer this kind of physical drama. If you are planning a celebration or a date night and the setting matters as much as the plate, this is the right call over a more generic coastal restaurant.
The kitchen works with local seafood and keeps the sourcing close: the Italian-style ceviche is built around the catch of the day, which means the dish changes with availability rather than following a fixed recipe. The Mare Mare, a mixed fish dish baked in a casserole with cherry tomatoes, courgettes, and bay leaves, represents the more composed end of the menu. The approach is imaginative without being experimental , the cooking respects the ingredient quality rather than working against it. For diners who want direct grilled fish over structured plating, the I Torchietti bistro operates from the corner of the same street and provides a lighter, less formal alternative at a lower price point.
This restaurant works leading for couples or small groups marking a specific occasion: a birthday dinner, an anniversary, a meal that needs a setting and a level of cooking that justify the €€€ spend. Solo diners who want a quieter, less performative experience will find Ai Torchi accommodating , seafood-focused menus at this price tier tend to work well at a table for one, and the room's character means you are not sitting in silence staring at a blank wall. For larger groups or parties looking for a more casual evening, the adjacent I Torchietti bistro is the practical choice.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, which means you are unlikely to face the multi-week wait common at more heavily awarded restaurants. That said, a 17th-century press building in a medieval village has finite capacity, and summer evenings along the Ligurian coast fill quickly. Book at least a week ahead for summer visits; shoulder season (May, early June, September, October) gives you more flexibility. There is no published information on late-night sittings or extended hours, so if your plan involves dining after 9:30 PM, confirm availability directly with the restaurant before committing. For late-night flexibility in the broader Italian seafood category, venues in larger cities , including Il Sanlorenzo and Acciuga in Rome , tend to offer more scheduling options.
Ai Torchi sits in a category that Italy does better than almost anywhere: coastal seafood restaurants with serious kitchens and rooms that justify the price. For context on where the category ceiling sits, Gambero Rosso in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and Alici on the Amalfi Coast represent what Michelin-starred seafood cooking looks like at a higher level. If your trip takes you closer to Rome and you want seafood at a similar or higher price tier, Trattoria del Pesce, Dogma, and Livello 1 are worth considering alongside the broader options in our full Rome restaurants guide. For Italian fine dining beyond the coast, Osteria Francescana in Modena, Dal Pescatore in Runate, and Le Calandre in Rubano define what the category looks like at its most awarded. Also worth noting for design-led dining rooms with serious cooking: Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, and Enrico Bartolini in Milan all offer heritage settings paired with high-level kitchens. Plan your wider trip with our Rome hotels guide, Rome bars guide, Rome wineries guide, and Rome experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ai Torchi | Seafood | €€€ | Occupying a 17C olive oil press in the heart of a charming medieval village, this restaurant has retained its old stone mill and wooden press in its vaulted dining room, which provides the backdrop for imaginative fish and seafood dishes prepared using top-quality local ingredients. The delicious Italian-style ceviche is made from the catch of the day, while the Mare Mare mixed fish dish is baked in a casserole with cherry tomatoes, courgettes and bay leaves. If you’re looking for a simpler option, try the I Torchiettibistro on the corner of the same street.; Michelin Plate (2025) | Easy | — |
| Enoteca La Torre | Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Il Pagliaccio | Contemporary Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Aroma | Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Idylio by Apreda | Modern Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| La Palta | Country cooking | €€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
The kitchen builds its menus around catch-of-the-day sourcing, which means the menu changes with availability rather than running on a fixed script. At the €€€ price point, that approach rewards diners who want the best of what the Ligurian coast is offering that day. If you prefer knowing exactly what you are ordering before you sit down, the à la carte format may suit you better. The nearby I Torchietti bistro on the same street is worth considering if you want a lighter commitment.
The dining room is the most immediate differentiator: a 17th-century olive oil press with the original stone mill and wooden press still in place, which shapes the atmosphere before the food arrives. The kitchen focuses on local seafood, so expect fish-forward plates rather than a broad Italian menu. Booking difficulty is rated easy, but reservations are still advisable given the intimate setting. The Italian-style ceviche, built from the daily catch, is the dish most referenced in the restaurant's Michelin Plate recognition.
Bar seating details are not documented in the available venue record. For a more casual option on the same street, the venue's own I Torchietti bistro is the recommended lower-commitment alternative at the same address.
At €€€ on the Ligurian coast, Ai Torchi holds its value for what you get: a Michelin Plate 2025 recognition, a historically distinctive room, and a kitchen working with quality local seafood. It is not the cheapest meal in Finale Ligure, but it is one of the few in the area where the setting and the sourcing justify the spend simultaneously. If the €€€ price point feels steep for a casual dinner, consider the I Torchietti bistro next door as a lower-cost entry point to the same kitchen's sensibility.
The intimate vaulted room and occasion-focused format lean toward couples and small groups rather than solo diners, though nothing in the venue record precludes solo visits. Booking difficulty is rated easy, which means you are unlikely to face the pressure of a packed counter as at higher-demand venues. Solo diners who want a more counter-centric or bar-friendly experience would be better served by a different format.
Yes, this is one of the stronger cases for booking Ai Torchi. The 17th-century olive oil press dining room, the Michelin Plate 2025 credential, and the seafood-led menu that shifts with the daily catch make it a considered choice for a birthday dinner or anniversary in the Finale Ligure area. Booking is relatively easy compared to more heavily awarded restaurants, so you are not committing months in advance to secure a table.
Ai Torchi is located in Finale Ligure on the Ligurian coast, not in Rome. If you are specifically in Rome and looking for comparable fine-dining seafood or creative Italian cooking, Il Pagliaccio and Idylio by Apreda both offer serious tasting-menu formats at a higher award tier. Aroma is the option if a setting with architectural drama matters as much as the food. Enoteca La Torre and La Palta are worth considering if you want a more ingredient-driven, regionally rooted approach rather than a metropolitan fine-dining format.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
