Da Lia - Torino

From Lia it was a pleasant surprise: fresh fish of excellent quality, menu full of traditional recipes that do not disappoint expectations. Try! From Lia has been a pleasant surprise: fresh high quality seafood, a menu rich of traditional fish dishes that never disappoint. You have to try it!

My husband and i went to da Lia after finding it on TripAdvisor. I was looking for sea food in Turin. I live here but grew up on the Atlantic coast of USA. My standards are extremely high for sea food... and this is one of the BEST sea food I've had, ever. There is choice of hot or cold antipasti (or both . We took both. Hot is served in small dishes one after another, cold as one large plate on ice. The variety is extensive on the dishes; something to please all. We skipped primi piatti (pasta and the such and went straight for secondi of a very fresh fish. There is no menu but the waiter will tell you the offerings. The wine was reasonble priced, the staff quite friendly and talkative. Note that few speak English and translating all the fish can be tricky to English language. We got reservation on a whim on a Tuesday at 8PM. By 9, the whole place was full. Make sure to make reservation otherwise, good luck ; We paid 110 euros all-together. Not so bad for this quality, service, and ambiance.

I am a fish lover and I was aware that Torino (splendid city) is far from the sea so I was a bit skeptical about trying an all fish restaurant in this town. I was wrong, da Lia is very high class. Actually their saefood dish is better than what I ate at the Cafe Torino in Nice. I had the antipasto of fish, very fresh and various, I would say perfect. They even served sea urchins. The antipasto could have been enough but I tried some tagliolini di mare, memorable and that was it, I couldn't eat more. Good sicilian wine but their wine carta is quite extensive. Warm ambiance, good service, fresh food, I couldn't ask for more. A bit pricey but worth.Need to book in advance.

The venue is a well kept secret among Torinese fish lovers and it's a bit isolated although quite close to the centre so if you don't know the city you better take a taxi to get there. There is no menu but you are told what they have today on menu. If you like fresh raw fish and sea food that's an excellent choice to start and you may continue with hot antipasti which are also delicious. If you are not particularly hungry you feel already fine with those two starters. You may wish to taste their pastas which are also very good and tasty but it might be difficult to arrive in the main course such as fish or lobster which they cook for you as you like. All that fresh and tasty fish and seafood are accompanied with a good selection of wines and you may finish your meal with sorbetto or freshly baked little doughnuts made of ricotta (if I remember well). A nice surprise is the bill which is very reasonable for the quality of food and service you get. The restaurant is very busy particularly on Fridays and Saturdays so you better book a table there in advance (even a day or two before you go there). You may consult their opening hours on their website [hidden link]

The interiors are nice and somewhat a surprise given the sorroundings, no problem in parking. We have eaten pasta with fish sauce, which was good. and again fish for the main course and again no complain about the quality. But....our table was close to the bar and was very noisy, the the service was somewhat bad and unprofessional (waiters shouting all the time and not aware of the menu), the dessert choice amazingly limited, only full bottles of wine available (no glass). By the way, not cheap.