Ristorante Olivia in Rosa

"Olivia in rosa" is a small, cozy bistro in Ferrara, tastefully decorated, offering delicious and refined dishes. If you're looking to eat fish in an elegant atmosphere, this is the place to choose. I was pleasantly surprised... I often passed this street during work trips but had never noticed this delightful restaurant. I have to thank my colleagues for choosing this spot to properly celebrate the retirement of a brilliant colleague. I can't wait for a new opportunity to return.

We are on holiday in the region and would like to share our experience and thoughts on this restaurant in detail, as a reference for other visitors who are doing research on where to eat in this beautiful town of Ferrara. I appreciate that everyone has a different taste and what worked for us may not work for you, vice versa. Both of us enjoyed our meal in general. We had three courses each plus a bottle of wine and water, and our bill was 140 euro. Antipasto is around 15 euro, primo 16 euro, secondo 22 euro (August 2025). The floor manager was very professional and pleasant, and the kitchen staff looked efficient and enjoy cooking. The ambience was very nice, it's a small restaurant, arrangements were elegant and casual at the same time. We would love to come back for the ambience and service! When it comes to food, we were impressed with some, while disappointed by others. What we liked: *Sauteed fish (secondi) - both turbot and sea bream were nicely cooked and tasty. Very happy with the fish. *Fresh calamarata pasta (primo) - I found the texture amazing. The cacio e pepe sauce was flavoursome. *Roast beef (antipasto) - very nice, straightforward dish. * Complimentary chocolates - it was a nice gesture. What I didn't like so much: *Bread and small nibbles served at the beginning (pastry) were a bit stale and not enjoyable. Grissini were nice…But I ended up eating a lot of bread because the portion size of each course was rather small. *Scallop gratin antipasto - the breadcrumbs absorbed some liquid (oil) and they were not nice, felt like eating greasy sands. I would have liked this dish without the breadcrumbs much better and I felt sorry for the otherwise nice scallop dish. Having said that I am aware that breadcrumb is a popular ingredient in many traditional Italian recipes. *Carrot and ginger puree served with the seabream was too sweet and didn't go well with the fish. It was better consumed separately, we both thought. *Tomato bread sauce served with turbot - heavy and starchy, we were already given enough bread !! Certainly this recipe should help using up the leftover bread... There was a set menu to sample classic dishes, offered at 60 euro. it appeared to be a great value. But we didn't go for it because we wanted to eat fillets of fish (set menu offer was squid), and I do not take dessert/coffee. But having eaten three courses and still not so full, we could have chosen the set menu, which included a few more courses.

Innovative dishes, excellent atmosphere, and high end service. The dishes were a bit too salty.

We have been in this restaurant several times the last years and each time the chef suprises us with a fantastic menu. Small restaurant with good service and nice wines as well. We took the degustazione menu.

Great service, very good food. Really enjoyed the rose beef and fresh calmar antipasti.

We are on holiday in the region and would like to share our experience and thoughts on this restaurant in detail, as a reference for other visitors who are doing research on where to eat in this beautiful town of Ferrara. I appreciate that everyone has a different taste and what worked for us may not work for you, vice versa. Both of us enjoyed our meal in general. We had three courses each plus a bottle of wine and water, and our bill was 140 euro. Antipasto is around 15 euro, primo 16 euro, secondo 22 euro (August 2025). The floor manager was very professional and pleasant, and the kitchen staff looked efficient and enjoy cooking. The ambience was very nice, it's a small restaurant, arrangements were elegant and casual at the same time. We would love to come back for the ambience and service! When it comes to food, we were impressed with some, while disappointed by others. What we liked: *Sauteed fish (secondi) - both turbot and sea bream were nicely cooked and tasty. Very happy with the fish. *Fresh calamarata pasta (primo) - I found the texture amazing. The cacio e pepe sauce was flavoursome. *Roast beef (antipasto) - very nice, straightforward dish. * Complimentary chocolates - it was a nice gesture. What I didn't like so much: *Bread and small nibbles served at the beginning (pastry) were a bit stale and not enjoyable. Grissini were nice…But I ended up eating a lot of bread because the portion size of each course was rather small. *Scallop gratin antipasto - the breadcrumbs absorbed some liquid (oil) and they were not nice, felt like eating greasy sands. I would have liked this dish without the breadcrumbs much better and I felt sorry for the otherwise nice scallop dish. Having said that I am aware that breadcrumb is a popular ingredient in many traditional Italian recipes. *Carrot and ginger puree served with the seabream was too sweet and didn't go well with the fish. It was better consumed separately, we both thought. *Tomato bread sauce served with turbot - heavy and starchy, we were already given enough bread !! Certainly this recipe should help using up the leftover bread... There was a set menu to sample classic dishes, offered at 60 euro. it appeared to be a great value. But we didn't go for it because we wanted to eat fillets of fish (set menu offer was squid), and I do not take dessert/coffee. But having eaten three courses and still not so full, we could have chosen the set menu, which included a few more courses.