My spouse and I enjoyed refreshments at Klarisa Restoran on
a Saturday afternoon in late August 2016. We noticed the sidewalk cafe at
Klarisa after we descended the City Walls of Old Town on a hot and sunny day.
Klarisa Restoran is located near the Pile Gate and Great Onofrio Fountain (Velika i mala Onofrijeva fontana), steps
from the Stradun (main street). The restaurant occupies the former monastery of
St Claire, which dates back to the thirteenth century.
Klarisa offers several places to dine, including
umbrella-shaded tables on the exterior snack bar terrace with a view of
neighboring shops and the bustling pedestrian-only streets. Indoors, the dining
space is elegant and modern, with an onyx-topped bar and large windows that enclose
the old cloister walkway/gallery/arcade so that booths and tables have a view
of the interior al fresco courtyard (where you can dine outside in a quieter,
more protected environment versus out on the sidewalk terrace). The restaurant
can accommodate large groups because of its expansive size. Staff man the
bathrooms, and non-restaurant guests must pay a fee to access them. (Klarisa’s
location near a city gate with wall access, and adjacent to a souvenir/tour
shop, generates a lot of non-patron traffic through its bathrooms, hence the
usage fee for non-guests.)
In its indoor and interior courtyard dining areas, Klarisa
offers fish, meat, and vegetarian dishes. Its sidewalk café offers more casual
menu options. Klarisa also offers takeout gelato from a small area on its
sidewalk café. We visited only to drink some beverages, so we cannot comment on
the food, but our two rounds of drinks (two beers and two sodas) totalled 158
Kuna ($22 USD).
Klarisa Restoran’s prime location is not inexpensive, but it
is an good spot to watch the bustling pedestrian traffic.
