The quayside around Olbia's old port has a cluster of fish restaurants that source their catch directly from the local fishing boats. The menus follow the season and the day's catch — in spring and early summer this means sea urchin (ricci di mare) eaten raw with bread and white wine, which is the local delicacy par excellence; in autumn the focus shifts to bream, bass, and clams.
Most of these restaurants are unpretentious in decor but serious about the fish. The standard opening is antipasti di mare — a spread of raw shellfish, marinated anchovies, and bottarga (mullet roe) — followed by pasta with clams or sea urchin, then a grilled or baked whole fish. Prices are noticeably more reasonable here than at similar quality restaurants in the Costa Smeralda resorts.