The 17 Best Italian Restaurants in London (2026)

Fresh-pasta bars. Very good Italian food for the price of a pub lunch, and where I'd start. Padella has been rolling pasta by hand next to Borough Market since 2016, and two dishes have never left the menu: pici cacio e pepe and pappardelle with beef shin ragù cooked for eight hours. Michelin gives it a Bib Gourmand.

Order: those two, at £13.50 and £16.50; tagliarini with chilli, garlic and pangrattato is £9.50. Spend: £22 to £25 for a pasta and tiramisu (£8.50), about £30 if you want two pastas. Book: there are no reservations. Join the virtual queue from the QR code outside (it opens at 11am for lunch and 4.30pm for dinner) and browse Borough Market while you wait. Tube: London Bridge, 3 minutes. The catch: no tables for more than six, and the lunchtime wait can run long.

Bancone is the Covent Garden answer to Padella: a pasta bar by Charing Cross with a Bib Gourmand every year since 2020. The dish everyone orders is the silk handkerchiefs, thin sheets of pasta folded in walnut butter with a confit egg yolk.

Order: silk handkerchiefs (£14.50), bucatini cacio e pepe (£14) and the spicy pork and 'nduja ragù (£18). Spend: a pasta, a starter and the 13.5% gratuity comes to about £30 to £35; the Feasting Menu is £49. Book: online only, up to four people, with a £25 a head charge if you cancel within 3 hours; walk-ins usually sit at the counter. Tube: Charing Cross, 3 minutes. The catch: reviewers find portions modest for the price, and mention fixed high stools and shared tables.

Lina Stores has sold fresh pasta from its deli on Brewer Street since 1944, and the Greek Street restaurant was its first. Pasta starts at £10 for the pici with Calabrian 'nduja and sausage ragù is £10, and the weekday set lunch is £17 for two courses.

Order: the pici alla Calabrese (£10), the burrata ravioli (£13) and, if you want to splash out, the 30-yolk tagliolini with black truffle (£17). Spend: £25 to £35 with a starter and a drink. Book: online for up to six; the kitchen counter is walk-in only. Gluten-intolerant diners can ask for the homemade buckwheat pasta. Tube: Tottenham Court Road, 4 minutes. The catch: it's a tight room, no prams or high chairs, and tables for two or three may be asked back after 90 minutes.

Emilia's Crafted Pasta sits on the marina at St Katharine Docks, five minutes' walk from the Tower of London, which makes it the obvious lunch after the Crown Jewels. The room is modelled on a Modena trattoria, with pasta and sauces made fresh each morning and tables on the dockside.

Order: the Béchamel Bolognese with a 4-hour ragù (£18) and the truffled cacio e pepe (£15.50); the vegan tomato and basil radiatori (£12.50) can be topped with burrata for £17. Spend: about £25 to £30 with 12.5% service. Book: OpenTable, and a few tables are held back for walk-ins; cancel with 48 hours' notice. Tube: Tower Hill, 7 minutes. The catch: it's tiny, about 25 seats inside, and there's no gluten-free pasta at this branch.

Trattorias and neighbourhood rooms. A step up in price, with starters, secondi and wine lists to match. Trullo opened at Highbury Corner in 2010, and its pasta is what inspired Padella. It's the grown-up version: pasta rolled minutes before service, meat and fish off a charcoal grill, and a menu that changes twice a day. It's listed in the Michelin Guide.

Order: the pappardelle with beef shin ragù (£18), tagliarini cacio e pepe (£14.50) and the pici with fennel sausage (£17). Spend: £35 to £45 a head for a starter and a pasta; add a secondo from the grill and it's £65 to £75. Book: SevenRooms or phone. Tube: Highbury & Islington, 2 minutes. The catch: it's four stops north of Oxford Circus on the Victoria line, so it's a dinner you plan, not one you stumble into.

Legare is a pasta-led neighbourhood restaurant in the Cardamom Building on Shad Thames, a few minutes' walk from Tower Bridge, and it holds a Bib Gourmand. The menu changes weekly around British produce: think tajarin with butter and sage, or ox cheek ravioli with roasting juices.

Order: the tajarin (£19), the ox cheek ravioli (£24) and the spaghetti alle vongole (£24). Spend: £50 to £70 with a secondo; mains like the veal cotoletta reach £48. Book: OpenTable or phone; dinner is over-16s only. Tube: London Bridge, about 10 minutes, or walk over Tower Bridge from Tower Hill. The catch: the secondi are pricey next to the pasta, and reviewers mention the room running hot in summer.

Brutto is a Florentine trattoria in Farringdon with very low lighting, music you can hear and a Bib Gourmand. Like many trattorias in Florence, it has no fish dishes (though anchovies and tuna sauce turn up). The bistecca alla Fiorentina is 30-day dry-aged beef from Smithfield Market next door, and the bar pours £5 Negronis, a bargain for London.

Order: tagliatelle with pork and sage ragù (£18.50) or penne alla vodka (£16.50), and the bistecca if there are two of you (£12.50 per 100g, so a 1kg steak is £125); prices are from the sample menu. Spend: £40 to £50 a head without the steak. Book: OpenTable only, released at 9am each day for 14 days ahead; tables of six maximum, £25 a head for no-shows or late cancellations. Tube: Farringdon, 3 minutes. The catch: those tables go fast, and reviewers note there's no air conditioning.

Il Portico has been run by the same family on Kensington High Street since 1967, and calls itself London's oldest family-run Italian restaurant. The cooking is from the family's home region of Emilia-Romagna, all the pasta is made in-house, and reviewers often mention the owner stopping by the table.

Order: a pasta as a starter and another as a main; every pasta on the published menu is £29 as a main, from tagliatelle with venison and pork belly ragù to spaghettini alle vongole. Spend: £50 to £65 a head with 12.5% service. Book: OpenTable or phone; it keeps tables for walk-ins. Tube: High Street Kensington, about 8 minutes, handy after the Design Museum or Holland Park. The catch: closed Sundays, and £29 is a lot for a plate of pasta.

Gloria is the Big Mamma group's Shoreditch trattoria, done up with 1970s Capri glamour, and it's a night out as much as a dinner. The truffle mafaldine is served in a pecorino wheel, the lasagna has ten layers, and the lemon pie comes under a tower of meringue. It calls itself a restaurant and Neapolitan pizzeria, but the menu is a full one of antipasti, fresh pasta and secondi.

Order: the mafaldine al tartufo (£23 per person, for two), the 10-level lasagna (£17) and the lemon pie (£8). Spend: £40 to £50 a head in the evening; the weekday Pranzetto lunch is £17 to £26. Book: SevenRooms, released 30 days ahead at 9am; tables for two get 1 hour 45 minutes, and late cancellations cost £20 a head. Tube: Old Street, 6 minutes. The catch: you're paying for the show as much as the cooking, and there's no gluten-free pasta.

Regional specialists. Where you go to eat something you won't find on a standard trattoria menu. Bocca di Lupo, off Shaftesbury Avenue, has been cooking Italy region by region since 2008: every dish on the menu is labelled with where it comes from, from Roman supplì to Tuscan pappardelle to Sicilian calamarata. Most come as a small or large plate, so you can graze across the country. It's my pick if you only eat Italian once in London.

Order: a supplì (£5) to start, the pappardelle with venison stracotto (£16 small, £32 large) and the mezze maniche with spicy sausage ragù (£13 / £26). Spend: £50 to £70 a head with 12.5% service, or £18 for the weekday lunch and pre-theatre starter and main. Book: SevenRooms, with seats kept free for walk-ins; tables are two hours, and no-shows cost £15 a head. Ask for the counter. Tube: Piccadilly Circus, 3 minutes. The catch: small plates add up fast.

Norma on Charlotte Street is Sicilian, with the island's Moorish influences running through the menu, in a pretty room of booths and alcoves. The namesake rigatoni alla Norma, with aubergine and salted ricotta, is the one to try.

Order: rigatoni alla Norma (£22), the black tagliolini with Devon crab (£26) and the paccheri with beef shin and bone marrow (£26). Spend: £55 to £70 a head with 13.5% service; lunch and pre-theatre is £28 for two courses, and the Sicilian set menu £50. Book: OpenTable or phone, card required, £25 a head for late cancellations. Tube: Goodge Street, 3 minutes. The catch: there's no step-free entry and no accessible toilet, and it's closed on Sundays.

Manteca in Shoreditch is a big, buzzy, nose-to-tail Italian with a Bib Gourmand and its own curing room downstairs, where native-breed pigs become the salumi on your board. The pasta is rich and the menu is reprinted daily.

Order: the house salumi for two (£25), tonnarelli with brown crab cacio e pepe (£24) and the malloreddus with hogget ragù (£25). Spend: £55 to £70 a head with 13.5% service and a £1 charity donation (both removable on request); the Rapid Rigatoni lunch is £24 for two courses, Sunday's menu £35. Book: SevenRooms, up to seven; £50 a head for no-shows or late cancellations, a steep fee. Tube: Shoreditch High Street, 5 minutes. The catch: pasta portions are sharing-sized, so the bill climbs quickly.

TOZI near Victoria station does Venetian-style cicchetti, small plates in the style of Venice's wine bars, in a big, bright room. Most dishes come in two sizes, which makes it the easiest place to share a spread of Italian food without a big bill, and it's close to the theatres around Victoria.

Order: the buffalo ricotta ravioli with black truffle (£14.50 / £23.50), the malloreddus with pork and fennel ragù (£13.50 / £20.50) and the aubergine parmigiana (£13.75 / £19.75). Spend: £40 to £55 a head with 12.5% service; the set lunch and pre-theatre menu is £23.95. Book: online for up to six. Tube: Victoria, 5 minutes. The catch: it's closed Sundays and Mondays, and the kitchen stops at 9.30pm.

Special occasions. The four I'd book for a birthday, an anniversary or the last night of the trip. Luca on St John Street in Clerkenwell has spent a decade cooking seasonal Italian food and holds a Michelin star. The Parmesan fries (£9) are the dish it's known for; order them whatever else you have.

Order: the Parmesan fries, rigatoni with pork sausage ragù (£28) and tagliatelle with rabbit, green olives and lardo (£34). Spend: £80 to £120 a head with 15% service; the Chef's Menu is £95 or £120. The cheaper way in is the bar lunch, £34 for two courses. Book: SevenRooms for up to six. Tube: Farringdon, 4 minutes. The catch: a 15% service charge, above the usual 12.5%.

Murano is Angela Hartnett's Mayfair restaurant, an ode to her family's Italian roots, with a Michelin star and a calm, quiet dining room where you can hear each other. The menu is priced by the number of courses rather than by dish, and you choose each course freely from the menu.

Order: a pasta course such as the agnolotti of chicken and mortadella with sage cream, or the tagliatelle with wild mushrooms and Marsala. Spend: £95 for three courses, up to £155 for six, before wine and service; the set lunch is £55 for two courses. Book: SevenRooms, card required, and cancelling inside 48 hours costs £65 a head. Tube: Green Park, 5 minutes. The catch: the cancellation terms, and it's closed on Sundays.

The River Café opened on the Hammersmith riverbank in 1987 in a Richard Rogers building, and Theo Randall (below) ran its kitchen for 15 years. It holds a Michelin star, cooks in a wood oven, and has a riverside garden, which is the reason to book lunch in summer.

Order: a pasta, such as linguine with Devon crab, chilli and lemon (£38 to £40 on the sample menus), and the Chocolate Nemesis (£15) to finish. Spend: about £55 for a pasta and dessert; add a secondo (£64 to £69) and you pass £120 before wine. Dishes change every day. Book: SevenRooms for up to eight; Sunday lunch is phone-only. Tube: Hammersmith, about a 15-minute walk. The catch: pasta at close to £40 a plate, and a trip out west: the Piccadilly line from Piccadilly Circus, then that walk.

Theo Randall spent 15 years as head chef at the River Café before opening his own restaurant inside the InterContinental on Park Lane in 2006. The cooking is the same rustic, produce-first Italian, at lower prices, and most pastas come in a starter or main size.

Order: pappardelle with Chianti-braised beef (£18 / £28) and the veal and porcini cappelletti (£18 / £28), or the Regional Tasting Menu (£85), which covers a different Italian region each month with prosecco and matched wines. Spend: £55 to £75 a la carte with 13.5% service; the set lunch is £28 and the early or late evening menu £35. Book: SevenRooms. Tube: Hyde Park Corner, 3 minutes. The catch: it's inside a hotel, which suits a quiet lunch more than a buzzy night out, and weekday lunch is Tuesday to Friday only.