The story
ZOI occupies a singular setting in Split: a terrace and dining room built directly into the southern wall of Diocletian's Palace, just above the Riva promenade. The name, from the Greek for "life," signals the restaurant's approach—treating dinner as a layered evening of flavor, light, and conversation within a site that has hosted life for over 1,700 years. The ancient stone is not a backdrop to be admired from a distance; it is the literal architecture of the space, framing a modern restaurant that feels both intimate and open to the harbor below.
The kitchen is led by chef Alberto García Pérez, a native of Cádiz, Spain, who refined his craft in some of Europe's most demanding kitchens, including three-Michelin-starred Aponiente and Martín Berasategui. At ZOI, he treats Mediterranean cuisine as a living language—one rooted in the Adriatic but informed by the culinary traditions that have washed across these coasts for centuries.
Diners choose from two distinct seven-course tasting menus. ECHO is the more celebratory journey, featuring dishes like seawater-cured meagre with sea urchin and Osetra caviar, blue lobster agnolotti, and confit Slavonian suckling pig. TERRA is a vegetarian counterpart that lets vegetables take the lead, with courses such as salt-baked beet with rose infusion and a plankton risotto seasoned with oyster leaf. A la carte and late-night options offer shorter, more flexible ways to experience the kitchen's philosophy. The menus change seasonally, and the wine list emphasizes both sought-after Croatian native varieties and international classics.
ZOI's approach has been noted by the Michelin Guide, which includes it in its selection for creative, contemporary tasting menus served against a backdrop of extraordinary history. The restaurant's commitment to a genuinely personal, unobtrusive service style means the team is trained to read the room—whether for a honeymoon or a business dinner—and calibrate the evening's pacing and tone accordingly. The result is a dining experience that feels less like a performance and more like a generous, unhurried conversation between guest, chef, and this ancient place.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
A true representative of haute cuisine ZOI is definitely one of the best restaurants in Split. It is located in the city centre, within the walls of Diocletian’s Palace, which is under UNESCO protection, with a beautiful terrace and a view of the Riva - the most popular city promenade and the Split port. There is also a parking in the immediate vicinity of the restaurant. The interior is designed in accordance with the criteria set by the restaurant. The service is at a very high level, because they nurtured a professional approach from the very beginning, including an excellent sommelier very active in pairing wine with dishes. Cocktail lovers will come into their own, because the restaurant offers a wide range of varied drinks, especially bitter ones. All the dishes are perfectly balanced, excellently prepared from first-class ingredients and beautifully presented. After the amuse-bouche with four extraordinary bites, the dinner continues with carefully composed, complex dishes that will satisfy everyone’s taste. Beside the tasting menu it is possible to order à la carte. The scampi and prawn risotto certainly reflects the restaurant’s fine-dining credentials. Rich in flavour, creamy with the addition of zucchini and sun-dried tomatoes, sprinkled with parmesan shavings, in short it was flawless. The meat selection includes duck breast in demi-glace. The lamb chops of the local young lamb hint at the direction this restaurant is taking: top-notch local ingredients and a return to the roots, but in haute gastronomy style, with great knowledge of cooking techniques. The excellent flavours of the Mediterranean remain with the message “we think globally, we act locally”.
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