Restaurant in Saint Moritz, Switzerland
Honest Italian in a resort that needs it.
La Scarpetta is one of the few places in Saint Moritz where you can eat well without a resort-sized bill. The room is warm and unpretentious — rustic floors, wooden tables, genuine service — and the food is seasonal Italian done with care: daily pasta, red prawn carpaccio, vitello tonnato. The wine list is moderately priced, which is rare for this town. Book when you want a proper dinner, not an occasion.
La Scarpetta is the kind of restaurant Saint Moritz needs more of: a low-key, well-run Italian-inflected spot where the food is honest, the wines are moderately priced, and the room feels like it belongs to the people eating in it rather than the resort surrounding it. Pricing sits well below the white-tablecloth tier that dominates this town, making it a sensible call any time you want a proper meal without a four-figure bill. If you are in Saint Moritz for skiing, celebrations, or a longer stay, this is the place you will return to most often — not because it is attempting anything radical, but because it delivers with consistency.
The dining room at La Scarpetta earns its atmosphere honestly. Rustic floorboards, bare wooden tables, and a mix of chandeliers, paintings, wine bottles, and wall clocks give it the feel of somewhere that has been lived in rather than designed for effect. The scale is intimate: the room does not overwhelm, and the layout keeps things personal. For a resort town where grandeur is often the default register, the unpretentious physicality of this space is one of its clearest strengths. Sit at a wooden table here and the contrast with Saint Moritz's typical dining register is immediate. It reads relaxed without being careless.
The menu is rooted in Italian fundamentals with a focus on select, fresh ingredients. The pasta of the day is the anchor: it changes and it is worth ordering. The red prawn carpaccio and vitello tonnato are consistently cited as reliable choices. These are not elaborate constructions — the kitchen's approach is to let quality ingredients do the work, which suits the room perfectly.
Seasonality matters here more than it might at a fixed tasting-menu restaurant. Saint Moritz has two distinct visitor peaks: ski season (roughly December through March) and summer (July through August). The menu's emphasis on fresh, daily-changing pasta and seasonal antipasti means the kitchen is responsive to what is available. Winter visits will lean toward heartier preparations; summer is when lighter options like carpaccio come into their own. If you are visiting during shoulder season , October or May , availability is easier, but confirm the restaurant is open before making plans, as Alpine resort venues frequently close between peaks.
The wine list is a particular asset. A range of moderately priced bottles is unusual for Saint Moritz, where markups on wine routinely match the altitude. This alone makes La Scarpetta worth flagging for anyone planning a multi-night stay who does not want to spend aggressively on every dinner.
The team here treats diners as friends rather than guests to be managed. That tone , laid back, genuine, unperformative , is consistent with the room and the food. It is not fine-dining service with its orchestrated precision, but it is warm and attentive in a way that is harder to manufacture than it looks. For a resort town where service can feel either stiff or transactional, La Scarpetta's approach is a differentiator.
La Scarpetta works well for couples, small groups, and solo diners who want a proper meal rather than an event. It is a strong choice on any night when you want good pasta, a fairly priced bottle of wine, and a room that does not demand anything from you. It is less suitable if you are looking for a tasting menu, a big celebratory occasion with a formal arc, or the kind of room that photographs well for its design pedigree. For those needs, [Da Vittorio - St. Moritz](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/da-vittorio-st-moritz-st-moritz-restaurant) or [Talvo](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/talvo-saint-moritz-restaurant) will serve you better.
Across Switzerland, the fine-dining tier is well represented by the likes of [Hotel de Ville Crissier in Crissier](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/hotel-de-ville-crissier-crissier-restaurant), [Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/schloss-schauenstein-frstenau-restaurant), [Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl in Basel](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/cheval-blanc-by-peter-knogl-basel-restaurant), [Memories in Bad Ragaz](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/memories-bad-ragaz-restaurant), [Maison Wenger in Le Noirmont](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/maison-wenger-le-noirmont-restaurant), [The Restaurant in Zurich](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/the-restaurant-zurich-restaurant), [Einstein Gourmet in Sankt Gallen](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/einstein-gourmet-sankt-gallen-restaurant), [Colonnade in Lucerne](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/colonnade-lucerne-restaurant), and [Mammertsberg in Freidorf](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/mammertsberg-freidorf-restaurant). La Scarpetta is not competing in that tier , it is operating in a different register entirely, and that is precisely the point. Internationally, restaurants like [Le Bernardin in New York City](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/le-bernardin) and [Lazy Bear in San Francisco](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/lazy-bear) define what serious fine dining looks like; La Scarpetta's value is in being the opposite of that: unfussy, seasonal, and honest.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Scarpetta | With rustic floorboards, bare wooden tables and charming decorative touches including stylish chandeliers, paintings, wine bottles and wall clocks, the setting could not be more inviting. The atmosphere is pleasingly laid back; it's clear that the team enjoys what they do, and that strikes a chord with diners, who are basically treated as friends. The down-to-earth cuisine suits the vibe perfectly. Whether you plump for the pasta of the day, the red prawn carpaccio or the vitello tonnato, you are guaranteed a flavoursome dish made with select, fresh ingredients. The range of moderately priced wines is outstanding! | Easy | — | ||
| Schloss Schauenstein | Modern European, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Memories | Modern Swiss | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star | Unknown | — |
| roots | Flemish, Vegetarian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada | Sharing | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| focus ATELIER | Modern Swiss, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how La Scarpetta measures up.
La Scarpetta is the laid-back, wallet-friendlier option in a town dominated by formal hotel restaurants. For a full fine-dining step up, Memories (two Michelin stars) and roots are the serious tasting-menu choices in the region. IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada offers a sharing-format alternative for those willing to travel. If La Scarpetta appeals because of its honest, ingredient-led cooking and relaxed room, there is little else in Saint Moritz that occupies the same register.
The room — rustic floorboards, bare wooden tables — reads as a mid-sized trattoria-style space rather than a venue built for large parties. Small groups of four to six should be fine; the laid-back, friends-not-guests service style suits that format well. For larger bookings, check the venue's official channels, as no confirmed private-dining information is available.
No bar seating is documented for La Scarpetta. The dining room is the focus, and the atmosphere is relaxed enough that a solo diner eating at a table won't feel out of place — the team treats everyone as a friend rather than a reservation to be managed.
The setting — bare wooden tables, rustic floorboards, a genuinely laid-back team — signals that this is not a dress-up room. Clean, comfortable clothes are appropriate; Saint Moritz après-ski gear or a casual dinner look both fit without any awkwardness.
It depends on what the occasion calls for. La Scarpetta is a strong choice for a birthday or anniversary dinner where the priority is good food, honest wine, and a warm room rather than ceremony and theatre. For a milestone that needs formal service or a tasting menu format, Memories or Schloss Schauenstein are better fits. La Scarpetta's value is in the atmosphere: the team's evident enjoyment of what they do makes any dinner feel like a good evening.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
