Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants - Vesuvio

Italian cuisine seen through the lens of the Pepe Family, who emigrated from Napoli, stopped in Hoboken, and settled in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

 Best Italian Restaurant – 2024 Golden Pine Cones
 Best Pizza – 2024 Golden Pine Cones
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The Vesuvio menu tells the Pèpe family's story through food with fantastic wood-burning Neapolitan pizza, classics like Eggplant Parm, and a rotating carte that highlights in-season produce from California farms, homemade ravioli production, and delicious experiments from the new gelato machine.

On weekends, Vesuvio erupts. Youths line up beside red velvet ropes, waiting for space at the rooftop Star Bar. You'll find something rare in Carmel at the downstairs bar—folks who live here. Locals keep coming back for inventive cocktails like the Momma's Boy, made with Maker's Mark, Cardamaro, peach preserves, and their Pèpe wines by the glass; or maybe it's the award-winning McSuvio burger that's drawing them in. It's hard to pinpoint one thing because it's everything — but the townies are here and they are loving it.

The dining room is more laid-back. Couples chat with neighboring tables and compare notes on what to order from the extensive, ever-evolving menu. If you haven't tried the Truffled Gnocchi, you must. Fried Artichoke Crochette are an insider favorite, as is the grilled heirloom artichoke, from Scattini Farms in Castroville.

Vesuvio is named for the volcano that gates the Amalfi Coast, so it seems fitting you should end the night with Limoncello — whether it's in the form of Limoncello Mousse Cake Pèpe makes himself at his nearby Carmel Bakery, or their creative Play That Funky Cello Mousse Boy cocktail. Or maybe you should keep it simple with a $5 shot of the house "Pèpecello," pristine enough to earn an I.G.P. designation from the Italian government.

Add it all up and you've got one of the finest Italian restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Cin cin!