Most of the best restaurants in Montenegro are in luxury resorts. One&Only Portonovi’s Sabia (for Italian) and Tapasake (for Nobu-inspired seafood) are both outstanding, as is the grill-focused Muse at Villa Geba, which has one of country’s most splendid vistas. Outside hotels, even upscale independent restaurants can be a touch rough around the edges, but the cuisine is unfailingly delicious.

Along the Adriatic, impeccably fresh seafood that’s simply prepared is a consistent pleasure, as are the many Italian-style dishes. Ingredients and flavors from the mountainous interior, often with Ottoman and Serbian influences, also filter onto coastal menus. All the options below have memorable views.

Casa Mia
» Housemade pastas and fresh seafood in a panoramic hillside setting

This hillside Italian restaurant is worth the 10-minute taxi ride from Villa Geba for its panoramic terrace alone. Lights around the shoreline below outlined the sea like so much glitter. Our obliging waiter offered to make us a custom mixed carpaccio platter, since the one on the menu was intended for four people. The thinly sliced sea bass, shrimp crudo, octopus and whitefish pâté that arrived were all incredibly fresh. I also loved my bowl of al dente housemade fettuccine with sweet shrimp and rich shrimp-bisque sauce, drizzled with local olive oil. The wine-by-the-glass selection is limited, but the bottle list has as broad a spread as I’ve ever seen, ranging from an undistinguished $30 Plantaže Chardonnay to a 2016 Château Petrus priced at $13,500 (the focused Grgić Pošip is an ideal middle ground, at about $100).