13 Great Italian Spots From Our 100 Very Best Restaurants List

It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten excited over a simple salad with creamy Italian dressing, but that’s Caruso’s—a pair of Italian-American restaurants that take dishes you’ve probably had a million times and make them their best selves. Think great garlic bread, a standard-setting chicken parm, and extra-lemony scampi. Even the dirty martini is a standout: The housemade tomato gin is garnished with an antipasti skewer of mozzarella and olives.

Fiola

Fabio Trabocchi’s Italian dining room exudes luxury, even when it comes to the humblest ingredients. Chef Antonio Mermolia turns Yukon potatoes into a silky olive-oil-whipped custard with crispy lentils, while pasta mista (traditionally, a mix of pasta scraps) is elevated with caviar, sea urchin, and other prized seafood. Five different tasting menus—including those devoted specifically to meat, seafood, or vegetables—let you choose how splurgy to get. (À la carte is available some weekdays or at the bar.) Whatever you choose, the kitchen’s pastas always wow, including cube-shaped ravioli filled with 15-day-dry-aged duck.

Gemini

Johnny Monis and Anne Marler—longtime masters of hospitality—are behind this pizza-and-pasta counter and wine shop, a standing-room-only spot where we nonetheless want to linger over orecchiette and skin-contact Pinot Gris. Monis’s meticulous cooking has echoes of Komi, the couple’s Mediterranean tasting room, which shuttered during the pandemic. The best olives in town and fluffy griddled pita are a given, and surprises abound—an umami-rich Japanese sweet potato with koji butter and feta, or eggplant “meatballs” that somehow taste meaty. Ice-cream flavors such as Nola coffee and vanilla swirled with polenta and cassis seal the deal.

Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana

Some of Washington’s best pizza can be found at this strip-mall destination. It would look unassuming if not for the line that forms long before doors open, when foodies from across the area descend for former fine-dining chef Tony Conte’s blistered neo-Neapolitan pies. We dream of the rosemary-scented potato-and-onion version, and his Margherita gets two thumbs up from kids and adults alike. Start with a perfect green salad with truffle vinaigrette, and don’t leave without a swirl of soft-serve with coffee caramel.

L’Ardente

Forty-layer lasagna is this chic Italian spot’s Instagram darling, but on our last visit, branzino was the dish of the night. Deboned, stuffed with fennel and kalamata olives, and drizzled with a bright salmoriglio sauce, it sets the city’s standard for the ubiquitous whole fish. Pasta is still a must-get, whether cacio e pepe, strozzapreti with Bolognese, or pappardelle with serrano-chili-flecked white ragu. Like that lasagna, tiramisu flambé is another showpiece that delivers in flavor.

Martha Dear

A lively bar scene gives this sliver of an eatery the feel of a neighborhood hangout. But this is no pub-grub joint. Greek-inspired small plates and wood-oven pizzas are all about herbs, crunch, spice, and tang. (The owners are Tail Up Goat alums.) Classic cheese pizza is everything it should be, with a gutsy red sauce and hits of mozzarella and Parmesan, while variations such as a halloumi-spinach-squash pie also wow. And don’t forget bookends like lemony gigante beans with crispy breadcrumbs or caramel-drizzled walnut-apple cake.

The Red Hen

Reclaimed wood and moody lighting give this Bloomingdale dining room a Tuscan-farmhouse feel, the perfect setting for robust Italian plates. We could make a meal of snacks like mushroom arancini, whipped-ricotta crostini, and chicken-liver mousse on toast. But pastas beckon, whether the much-loved rigatoni with sausage or a newer gnochetti tossed with bacon, miso, and creamy squash. And then there’s the perfectly crispy pork Milanese. Sweet tooth raging? Apple cake with cider “caramel” and mascarpone gelato is just the thing.

Reveler’s Hour

This date-night pasta house and wine bar has a new chef: Mariane Kolchraiber, an alum of Pineapple & Pearls. She brings experience working in Italian kitchens—from her hometown of São Paulo to Qatar and beyond—to a rotating slate of seasonal plates, but the menu hasn’t strayed too far from the six-year-old spot’s original vision. You can still get insanely good garlic knots and plenty of housemade pastas. Trust us and order the blood-orange-and-hot-honey-glazed fried half chicken, too. Also, no trip would be complete without somm/owner Bill Jensen turning you on to some of the best wines you’ve never heard of.