Where to Have the Best Lunch in Como: A Local Guide

The lakefront: for the views (and when it’s worth it)

The first area is the one you already picture: the lakefront, with tables facing the water, the Duomo a few steps away, and boats sliding in and out of the harbour. Here you are mostly paying for the view, and it’s worth knowing that: the most central, most photogenic spots tend to be pricier and more touristy. That isn’t a bad thing in itself — a pause with a glass of wine and a light plate looking out over the lake is one of Como’s simple pleasures — but choose with your eyes open.

At lunch on the lakefront, go for something fresh and not too heavy: a well-made salad, a risotto, a lake-fish dish if the kitchen is serious, or a simple pasta of the day. Always read recent reviews before you sit, and glance at the menu posted outside: if the prices and dishes convince you, take a seat. If you only want the setting, sometimes it’s smarter to order a drink and save the real meal for the lanes.

The old-town lanes: trattorie and osterie

Step two or three streets back from the water, into the grid of lanes inside the old walled town, and everything changes. This is where you find the trattorie and osterie: regional cooking, honest portions, an unpretentious feel. It’s the Como where locals actually have lunch. Often an osteria will chalk its menu of the day on a board outside — a good sign of seasonal, fresh cooking.

What to look for and order at lunch:

• Hand-made fresh pasta — tagliatelle, ravioli, tortelli: the heart of the Emilian-Lombard cooking we love.
• Risotto — with lake fish, with squash in autumn, or with wine: a Northern classic not to miss.
• Polenta — in its richer form, with braised meat or cheese, perfect on cooler days.
• A simple main — a braise, rabbit, or lake fish when it’s fresh.
• The house dessert — tiramisù or cake of the day, often made in-house.

For the full picture of regional dishes, see our guide on what to eat in Como. One golden rule: if an osteria is full of locals at lunchtime, you’re in the right place.

The market area: good bites that are easy on the wallet

If you want to eat well while spending little, shift towards the market area and the everyday service streets, where the people who live in Como get their lunch. This is Italian-style street food territory: filled panini with cured meats and cheese, pizza al taglio (by the slice), focaccia, a portion of pasta from the counter, a rosticceria. It’s the grab-and-go lunch you eat on a sunny bench or carry down towards the lake.

It’s also the right call if you’re short on time, travelling with kids, or want to keep lunch light so you arrive hungry for sunset aperitivo. Here too: a quick scan of recent reviews tells you where quality is high and the queue keeps moving.

Timing, coperto and small Italian rules

A few practical notes so nothing trips you up. In Como, lunch kitchens generally open around noon and close by about 2–2:30 pm: turn up too late and you’ll find the kitchen already shut. Many places then take an afternoon break and reopen for dinner. The coperto is a small fixed charge per person (for bread and the cover) that you’ll see on the bill: it is normal and perfectly legal in Italy, usually just a few euros a head — and it is not the tip.

• Book ahead for the most popular spots, especially on weekends and in high season.
• Always check the venue’s official opening hours and closing days before you set off.
• The coperto is normal; tipping in Italy is optional, not expected.
• The menu of the day at lunch is often the best value on the table.
• For boats to the lakeside villages, always check the current official timetable.

The alternative: cook your own lunch (or dinner)

There’s a way to eat in Como that no trattoria can give you: cooking the meal yourself, hands in the dough. At our cooking class in Como, a short walk from the historic centre, you learn to roll the sfoglia by hand with the resident chef — trained at Rina Poletti’s Accademia della Sfoglia — and then you sit down and eat what you made, with wine.

The experience runs about 3 hours, in small groups of up to 12, in English and French, and includes a spritz lesson — you build your own Aperol or Campari spritz and enjoy it as your aperitivo — and, to finish, gelato topped with a few drops of Traditional Balsamic of Modena DOP. It’s a lunch (or dinner) that doubles as a memory and a technique you take home. See how it works or browse our pasta masterclasses.

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Turn a lunch into an experience

If you’re already in food-lover mode in Como, a cooking class is the most memorable lunch (or dinner) you can book. Choose the pasta you want to learn: the Tagliatelle Masterclass – Fresh Tomato, the Tagliatelle Masterclass – Ragù Bolognese, the Ravioloni Verdi Masterclass – Ricotta or the Farfalle e Garganelli Masterclass – Ragù. For more ideas, read our things to do in Como for food lovers.