The full ranking
New York's Italian table runs from Roman canon to Emilia-Romagna pasta tastings, red-sauce theater to wood-fired osterias. The MICHELIN Guide stars Rezdora and Torrisi, while Via Carota, Lilia, Don Angie and Carbone draw some of the hardest reservations in the city. From the West Village to Williamsburg, Nolita to Central Park South, these are the rooms defining New York Italian right now.
Torrisi (Nolita)
Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone's maximalist Italian-American production inside the landmark Puck Building riffs inventively on the canon, from Jamaican-patty-inspired cavatelli to rotisserie lamb. One MICHELIN star and one of the hardest reservations in the city.
Rezdora (Flatiron)
Chef Stefano Secchi, trained under Massimo Bottura at Osteria Francescana, turns out meticulous handmade pasta rooted in Emilia-Romagna at this MICHELIN one-starred Flatiron room. The regional pasta tasting is a two-hour immersion in anolini, tortellini in brodo and tagliatelle al ragu.
Via Carota (West Village)
James Beard winners Rita Sodi and Jody Williams run this West Village institution, home to the city's best cacio e pepe, a legendary insalata verde and a hand-chopped svizzerina. The rustic room is almost always packed and the walk-in wait runs two-plus hours.
Lilia (Williamsburg)
Missy Robbins' breakthrough solo restaurant occupies a glamorous whitewashed warehouse, where a devoted pasta program produces irreplaceable agnolotti, a cacio e pepe mafaldini and wood-fired lamb. Years in, Lilia is still the benchmark for NYC pasta.
Roscioli NYC (SoHo)
The first outpost of Rome's legendary salumeria-restaurant brings Roman canon to SoHo, with an alimentari counter of cured meats and rare cheeses. The al dente carbonara and the maccheroni burro e Parmigiano are the must-orders.
Don Angie (West Village)
Chef-partners Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli run this intimate West Village room where the pinwheel lasagna for two became a social-media totem and the stuffed garlic flatbread is equally serious cooking. One of the hardest reservations in the country.
Carbone (Greenwich Village)
Major Food Group's definitive red-sauce revival, all burgundy booths and tuxedo servers, where the spicy rigatoni vodka and veal parm became genuinely iconic New York dishes. Reservations are notoriously hard and the room delivers on every theatrical promise.
Ci Siamo (Hudson Yards)
Danny Meyer's live-fire Italian restaurant, led by chef Hillary Sterling, centers a vast dining room on wood-fired breads and pasta, including a crab cavatelli and a caramelized-onion torta. MICHELIN-recommended and a recent No. 1 on Yelp's Top 100 US Restaurants.
Marea (Central Park South)
Michael White's coastal Italian landmark pairs iconic crudo and handmade pasta with a polished room steps from the park. The fusilli with red-wine-braised octopus and bone marrow established the restaurant's identity when it opened.
Emilio's Ballato (Nolita)
Open since 1956, the platonic ideal of a downtown red-sauce institution, distressed walls hung tight with framed prints and a menu of baked clams, veal parm and sausage with broccoli rabe. A celebrity-magnet room that has somehow stayed unspoiled.
Ranked across 7 sources: The Infatuation · Best Italian Restaurants in NYC (2026); Time Out New York · Best Italian Restaurants in NYC (2025); Eater NY · Best Italian Restaurants (unordered); MICHELIN Guide New York 2025, One Star; MICHELIN Guide New York 2025, Recommended (unordered); Yelp · Ranked by Rating (June 2026); Google Reviews · Ranked by Rating (June 2026). Full scoring is on the Methodology tab above.
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