Boston's 10 Best Italian Restaurants

For fine-dining Italian style, dinner at Da Vinci is the order of the day. Featuring both cozy, sophisticated indoor seating and a delightful outdoor dining area, Da Vinci is an idyllic venue. The Chef takes great pride in making all of his pastas, breads and desserts from scratch daily, ensuring that guests are only ever given the highest quality plates to enjoy. The menu changes throughout the year and diners are always given ample choices for antipasti, first and second courses. A Chef’s tasting menu is also available for those looking to really indulge in these magnificently rich flavors. Vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan dishes are available too.

An award-winning Italian eatery, Erbaluce features two private dining rooms alongside the communal eating area, making it a great venue for celebratory dinners and business events as well as more casual family meals. A truly distinctive restaurant, the menu here changes nightly, but is always made up of the freshest, subtlest of flavors. An all-Italian wine menu complements the food and the wait staff are always on hand to make a suggestion to diners unsure of which red or white tipple will best suit their dinner choice. A series of dinners hosted by Italian winemakers takes place at the restaurant throughout the year and there are special Italian wine courses too.

Giacamo’s is a hugely popular and wonderfully ambient Italian restaurant with two locations across Boston – one in Northend and one in Southend. The menu is full of the usual dishes expected of an Italian restaurant (ravioli, parmigiana, calamari) but with a few fancier plates such as swordfish in a pesto cream sauce, seafood soup and veal with prosciutto and mushrooms.

Serving deliciously dressed handmade pastas, beautiful antipasti plates and gorgeous Italian wines, Giulia is rustic yet sophisticated, welcoming and stylish. The staff here are true patrons of excellent service as well as top quality dishes and the most tempting flavor combinations. For a four course meal that certainly won’t disappoint, start with a plate of oysters on the half shell with pickled gooseberry mignonette before tucking into a tasty homemade pasta course of roasted veal breast and sweetbread ravioli. For main course opt for the grilled bone-in beef rib eye with lemon, sea salt and salsa verde then for dessert, choose the almond and cherry biscotti.

With a four diamond AA rating, Mamma Maria is one of the best loved Italian eateries in the area. The restaurant is located in a 19th century house oozing character and boasts five private dining rooms ideal for hosting celebratory dinners in style. Serving authentic Italian cuisine, the menu at Mamma Maria’s changes daily so there is always a new dish to try. Expect to dine on exquisitely presented and tasting dishes such as terrine of braised suckling pig, pan-seared black bass and truffle-scented veal porterhouse.

Blending French cooking techniques with gorgeous Italian flavors, the chefs at Menton have created the perfect fusion of two of the world’s most favorite cuisines. An award-winning restaurant, Menton not only offers its diners the chance to indulge in beautiful foods, but it also features an unparalleled fine wine list as an added bonus.

A fine-dining venue in Boston’s coolest corner, Prezza is a local favorite. Having taken inspiration from the cooking methods of his Grandmother’s birth village, the chef here takes great pride in creating exciting twists on tried and tested classic dishes using only the freshest seasonal produce available. There are over 8000 bottles of wine to choose from and the choice of dishes – although much more concise – is just as impressive. Think wood grilled quail with bacon and red wine lentils, crispy shrimp with Italian slaw, chestnut raviolini with pulled duck and halibut with parsnip puree. Top this with a Prezza dessert sampler board and a glass of dessert wine followed by a tipple of amaro and you’re sure to leave feeling completely satisfied.

A restaurant that is sure to please the whole family, Quattro is not only a pizzeria but it is both a contemporary grill and a rotisserie as well. Enjoy homemade soup, a roast lamb panini, an artichoke pizza or a plate of stuffed grilled calamari. At dinner diners can feast on tasty homemade pasta dishes such as spitroast chicken ravioli with a wild mushroom ragu, seafood tagliatelle with saffron and taglioni with beef meatballs.

A modern-day diner like no other, the only thing Sportello seems to have in common with a stereotypical American diner is the at-counter stools. The staff at Sportello have really captured the Italians’ passion for food; enjoy entrees such as polenta with a lamb ragu, pan seared hake with kale, lamb shank with risotto and gnocchi with a mushroom ragu.