Where to find Melbourne’s best 12 Italian restaurants
Hankering for a slice of cheesy pizza or in the mood for a saucy pasta? We’ve put together our top 12 picks on where to get your Italian fix in the city and surrounds.
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If you’re hankering for a slice of cheesy pizza or in the mood for a saucy pasta, you’ll be spoilt for choice in Melbourne.
Here’s our top picks on where you can satisfy your craving, with our top 12 Italian restaurants from our Delicious 100 list.
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Becco
When you’ve had it up to your ears with smears, groan at another foam and yearn for plate that you don’t have to share, make tracks to Becco.
This stylish Italian CBD stalwart remains impervious to culinary fads and stands out from the crowd by remaining true to its vision of classics delivered with class.
There’s a reason the city’s suits return time and again for the simple pleasures of chilli-dusted calamari, beef carpaccio, veal saltimbocca and tiramisu. It’s comfort writ large.
Pastas remain a highlight and Becco’s spaghetti vongole is hard to beat.
BECCO
11-25 Crossley St, Melbourne
9663 3000
Must eat dish: Spaghetti vongole
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Carmine Mari
Wine list: Simon Hartley
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri; dinner Mon-Sat
Licensed: Yes
BYO: No
Separate bar: No
Park Street Pasta & Wine
It might be a bambino compared to Melbourne’s Italian dining institutions with decades on the board, but this neighbourhood gem is already a mighty force.
Opened in late 2017, Park St Pasta and Wine is a little pocket of warmth and welcome, teaming family-style dining with restaurant finesse.
House-made pasta is a pure joy, perhaps perfectly al dente pappardelle swaddled in one of the most deeply delicious and satisfying ragus you may ever have, or campanelle pasta, all ruffle-edged and rustic, jostling with nubs of pork and fennel sausage.
There’s easy drinking from mostly Italian wines, with service that’s upbeat and no-fuss in a handsome old corner Victorian building. It’s a must visit.
PARK STREET PASTA & WINE
268 Park St, South Melbourne
9042 8871
Must eat dish: Pappardelle with ragu alla Bolognese
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Nicola Akritidis
Price: $
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner Tue-Sun
Instagram: @parkstreet268
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: Y
Owners: Alex Ghaddab and David Pedulla
Wine list by Cale Marangon
Osteria Ilaria
As you’re bound to ask, yes, there is pasta at Osteria Ilaria. The night we dined at this pumping Italian bistro, owner-chef Andreas Papadakis was sending out surpassingly good plates of caramelised milk gnocchi with chestnut and leek.
But Osteria’s standout combo could well be roasted corn-fed duck unpretentiously lolling on leaves of radicchio. Simply presented, certainly, but the product of scrupulous cooking.
Service keeps things purring — no waterglass goes unfilled, no dish sits idly under a heat lamp — and a drinks list big on Italian wines and beers is hugely appealing. Osteria’s name may be faintly etched on the front door and easy to miss, but this humming diner makes a strong impression once you step inside.
OSTERIA ILARIA
367 Little Bourke St, City
9642 2287
Must eat dish: Octopus, anchovy, n’duja
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Andreas Papadakis
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner Mon-Sat
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: N (drinks only yes)
Drinks list by Raúl Yagüe
Tipo 00
Pasta is almost everything at Tipo 00.
Not only is this bustling 40-seater named after the flour they use.
Tipo’s brightly lit plating station is home to a pasta machine.
So while you’re twirling spaghetti on your fork, the chefs here are churning out more of Italy’s favourite carb.
Tipo delivers on the food front but be warned: with wobbly bentwood chairs and a rowdy decibel level, the comfort level is not high.
TIPO 00
361 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
03 9942 3946
Must-eat dish: Casarecce with pork sausage
Cuisine: Italian
Chefs: Andreas Papadakis and Alberto Fava
Price: $
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch & dinner Mon-Sat 11:30am-10pm
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
Lello
Tiny pillows of the lightest gnocchi served with a saffron-tinged lamb ragu disappear in a dream.
Pizzas, on-theme entrees such as ricotta-filled zucchini flowers and grilled calamari, and a few changing mains round out a menu joined by a tight wine list that holds local interest and Italian traditions in equal esteem.
Add a newly renovated dining room that’s quietly handsome, service that comes with owner-operator care and that lasagne, and Lello is the essential destination for every Italiophile.
LELLO
150 Flinders Lane, city
Ph: 9654 6699
Must eat dish: Vincisgrassi lasagne
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Leo Gelsomino
Wine menu: Paul Mitchell (manager)
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Breakfast Mon-Fri; lunch and dinner Mon-Sat
BYO: No Separate bar: Yes
Massi
With 25 years in Melbourne hospitality, Joseph Vargetto knows a thing or two about pleasing people.
At Massi, an Italian bistro in the heart of legal land, you feel his warm Sicilian embrace the moment you step inside. A water pitcher is on the table in seconds, crusty bread not far behind. Then, before you can say ‘prego’, Vargetto’s deft floor staff are ferrying out irresistible starters, including fried zucchini flowers filled with lemon ricotta, scallops on the half shell with bone marrow, and classic baked meatballs with chilli sugo.
“Modern yet fiercely traditional” is the Massi motto and Vargetto, often in the kitchen here when he’s not minding sibling Mister Bianco in Kew, delivers every time.
MASSI
445 Little Collins St, Melbourne
03 9670 5347
Must eat dish: Truffled cavatelli
Cuisine: Italian
Price: $$
Chef: Joseph Vargetto
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri, dinner Tues-Sat
Instagram: @massirestaurant
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: Y
Rosa’s Canteen
Ascend the stairs up the legal eagle end of town and wigs and wags alike are welcomed into Rosa’s Canteen, where the Supreme Court dome casts its majestic shadow over proceedings while Rosa’s is cast over the kitchen.
You’ll find a simple, pan-regional menu filled with home-style classics cooked with class, as equally accommodating to a quick bowl of pasta (excellent saffron-tinged tagliatelle tossed through pan-browned fish with an enlivening chilli kick) as it is to a two-bottles-of-Barolo long lunch.
ROSA’S CANTEEN
Cnr Lt Bourke St and Thomson St, Melbourne
9602 5491
Must eat dish: House-made saffron tagliatelle with fish and chilli
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Rosa Mitchell and Clare Bartell
Price: $$
Takes bookings: Yes
Opening hours: lunch Mon-Fri; dinner Mon-Sat
Instagram: @rosascanteen
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: N
Wine list by David Razmoski
Owners Rosa Mitchell and Peter Bartholomew
Grossi Grill
Authentic? Yes. Tricksy? No. The pleasure of this Grossi empire street-level diner is in its simplicity, giving top ingredients and classic flavours star billing across power lunching or date-night wooing.
The Tuscan fare off the grill is a thrill, be it swordfish, Milawa chook, veal rib or Hopkins River porterhouse that’s expertly salted, rested and charred, and served with just a burnished cheek of lemon.
Pasta? Twirl the silky, yolk-yellow pappardelle with a ragu rich with roasted duck leg and porcini, before choosing from arty creations like the Jaffa-esque chocolate ganache tart topped with orange sorbet for dessert.
GROSSI GRILL
80 Bourke St, Melbourne
9662 181
Must-eat dish: Pappardelle, duck, porcini
Cuisine: Italian
Chef: Guy Grossi and Joel Baylon
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner Mon-Sat
BYO: No
Wine list by Carlo Grossi
Separate bar: No
Ilona Staller
For versatility and va-va-voom, there’s Ilona Staller.
The sister bistro to St Kilda stayer Cicciolina teams a fun fit-out of zebra print and curvy booths in art deco surrounds with familiar yet well-designed food and great drinking.
Keenly priced across the board with fab daily specials, Ilona Staller attracts after-dark catch-ups with mates and dates, but is just as at home for family dining with a top little kid’s menu treating junior diners well.
ILONA STALLER
282 Carlisle St, Balaclava
9534 0488
Must-eat dish: Duck pappardelle
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Virginia Redmond and Jess Van Nooten
Price: $
Bookings: Yes
Open: Daily lunch and dinner
Instagram: @ilonastallerbalaclava
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes
Owners: Virginia Redmond, Barbara Dight and Lisa Carrodus
Capitano
It’s Italy via New York that’s landed with Melbourne brio in the city’s long-time heart of pizza and pasta, but Capitano from the Bar Liberty team, is doing “pie” differently.
Pizza and beer go hand-in-hand and a smashable Italian golden lager is one of three on tap, while a list of about 100 wines keeps things on a classy red-white-and-green theme.
To finish, a traditional tiramisu walks the boozy/creamy walk with style, but its cousin, served in cocktail form, is the proper showstopper.
Capitano is a fast, fun Italian with swagger from a crew who know how to deliver good times in the glass and on the plate. It’s nice as pie.
CAPITANO
421 Rathdowne Street, Carlton
03 9134 8555
Must-eat dish: Bone-in veal parmigiana
Cuisine: Italian
Chefs: Casey Wall & Blake Giblett
Price: $
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner nightly, lunch Sat-Sun
Mon-Fri 5:30-11:30pm, Sat 12pm-12am, Sun 12pm-11pm
Instagram: @capitano.carlton
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
Bar Carolina
Opening gambits don’t get much better than Bar Carolina’s tiramisu. A showstopping update on the classic with a smoking, smashable white-chocolate orb hiding coffee jelly and mascarpone, it’s very good.
Owner Joe Mammone knows his stuff, with this, his first south-side foray, evoking the good bones and lived-in charm of his two CBD restaurants, Il Bacaro and Sarti.
Long and narrow, the room is clubby and cosy, (with a neighbouring cafe and rooftop cocktail and wine bar in the works), although perhaps the best service is saved for the regulars.
Pity, because the house-made pasta (especially the thick spaghetti lavished with crayfish and chilli) and wine from an easy-to-navigate list could be worth crossing town for.
BAR CAROLINA
44 Toorak Rd, South Yarra
9820 9774
Must-eat dish: Tiramisu
Cuisine: Italian
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Chef: Paolo Masciopinto
Open: Lunch Wed-Sat, dinner Mon-Sat
Instagram: @barcarolina_sthyarra
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes
Rosetta
Plush, posh and pricey, Rosetta is still the place for a big Italian night out.
But the Gina Lollobrigida glam — all velvet banquettes and Venetian candleabra — is softened these days by engaging floor staff and approachable dishes that err on the side of informal. Rosetta’s hearty osso buco with braised veal shin and cipollini onions speaks of hearth and home, while a wood-fired pork chop with confit garlic and sage jus is Tuscan rustic.
Rosetta’s mostly Italian wine list is hefty in every sense, but if a single glass is all you require, smartly attired staffers are ready to help.
ROSETTA
Crown Complex, Southbank
8648 1999
Must eat dish: Fregola sarda with pipis, chilli and garlic
Cuisine: Italian
Chefs: Neil Perry and Angel Fernandez
Price: $$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Tues-Sun, dinner daily
Instagram: @rosettaristorante
Owners: Rockpool Dining Group
BYO: No
Separate bar/drink only: Yes
Wine list by Lisa Cardelli and Jonathan Ross MS
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