Paolo e Barbara

Verdict: Worth the effort to book, but plan well ahead

Getting a table at Paolo e Barbara takes real commitment. With dinner service running just four nights a week (Wednesday through Sunday, 7:30 PM to 10 PM only), no lunch service at all, a Michelin star drawing diners from across the Italian Riviera, availability is tight. Book at minimum four to six weeks out, particularly for Friday and Saturday evenings. If you are travelling to San Remo specifically for this meal, treat securing the reservation as the first task, not an afterthought. The effort is justified: this is the most serious Ligurian cooking in the city, the kitchen garden-to-table model gives the food a coherence that is genuinely difficult to find at this price tier.

About Paolo e Barbara

Paolo e Barbara has been running from the same address on Via Roma since 1987, which in the context of Italian fine dining says something meaningful about consistency. Chef Paolo Masieri has spent nearly four decades refining his interpretation of western Ligurian cooking, a cuisine built around the region's exceptional vegetables and coastal fish rather than the meat-heavy traditions you find further inland. What has changed more recently is the degree of self-sufficiency: the restaurant now operates kitchen gardens that supply the majority of its produce, including eggs, olive oil, a small quantity of wine. That shift from sourcing to growing your own is not a marketing detail here; it directly shapes what arrives on the plate and creates a seasonal specificity that menus at comparable price points often only gesture toward.

The cooking sits at the intersection of tradition and restrained reinterpretation. Masieri takes regional recipes as a starting point and refines them without dismantling what makes them recognisable. The cappelletti filled with San Remo crayfish and served in a vegetable and Abruzzo saffron broth is a useful illustration: the format is classically Ligurian, the sourcing is hyper-local, the execution is controlled enough to have held a Michelin star since at least 2024. For the food-focused traveller who wants to understand what western Liguria actually tastes like rather than a generic Italian tasting menu, Paolo e Barbara is the right booking.

Front of house is managed by Barbara, who handles both service and wine recommendations. At the €€€€ tier in a mid-sized Riviera city, the quality of the wine guidance matters: you are unlikely to arrive with deep knowledge of Ligurian producers, a well-briefed sommelier effectively doubles the value of the meal. The pairing here is functional rather than theatrical, which suits the register of the cooking.

The Room and Atmosphere

Paolo e Barbara operates at the quieter, more considered end of the fine dining spectrum. The evening service across four nights a week suggests a deliberate pace rather than volume-driven turnover, that intention shows in the ambient feel of the room. This is a conversation-friendly dining environment, the kind of setting where you can hear the table next to you without being distracted by it. If you are looking for the buzzy, high-energy atmosphere of a coastal Italian restaurant on a summer Saturday, this is not the right venue. The mood is composed. For a special occasion dinner or a long meal with a serious food and wine companion, that composure is a feature, not a limitation.

Who Should Book

Paolo e Barbara makes most sense for three types of visitors: food-focused travellers who want a specific Ligurian fine dining experience rather than a generic Italian one; couples or small groups marking a meaningful occasion; and diners who appreciate the farm-to-table model operating at a level of seriousness that goes beyond the phrase itself. It is not the right call if you want flexibility on timing, if you need to accommodate a large group, or if your primary interest is the San Remo social scene rather than the food. For context on the broader dining options in the city, see our full San Remo restaurants guide.

Practical Details

Dinner only. Wednesday through Sunday, 7:30 PM to 10 PM. Closed Monday and Tuesday. No lunch service is listed. Address: Via Roma, 47, Sanremo. Price range is €€€€, placing it at the top of the San Remo market. Michelin 1 Star (2024). There is no published booking method in our data; contact directly via the restaurant address or check current booking platforms. Smart casual to formal dress is appropriate for a Michelin-starred room at this price tier.

For further exploration of the San Remo area, see our San Remo bars guide, our San Remo wineries guide, and our San Remo experiences guide.