Best Restaurants in the USA 2022 & Italian Restaurants for Pasta & Pizza

– Best Restaurants in the USA 2022 –

Do you like some homemade pasta, a glass of Barolo, and perhaps a little tiramisu to top it all off? Fortunately, you don’t have to travel all the way to Italy to experience some of this excellent cuisine. There are some great restaurants in the USA in 2022. 

The United States is home to some fantastic Italian restaurants where one mouthful may take you from Bologna to Sicily.

Also, the great American Italian restaurant has probably altered in style more than any other restaurant category during the last several decades.

Even only 50 years ago, the phrase “Italian restaurant” conjured up thoughts of red-and-white checkered tablecloths.

Carafes of mediocre Chianti, and a red sauce-heavy menu featuring staples like chicken Parmigiana that were more Italian-American than truly Italian.

Then something strange happened: customers became bored, and a new kind of Italian restaurant sprang on the market, capable of competing with even the most opulent French dining rooms.

Garlic, garlic, garlic! Rich tomato sauce, melting cheese, al dente pasta, and garlic, garlic, garlic!

What began in Italy has evolved into a go-to comfort dish for Americans and happy eaters all across the world.

However, whether it’s hearty lasagna, primavera vegetables, fettuccine alfredo, or eggplant parmesan, Italian food always strikes the spot – and it tastes even better the next day.

We collected together the 20 finest Italian restaurants in America, from a small trattoria in Brooklyn to a high-end restaurant in San Francisco with a tasting menu focusing on Northern California’s richness.

Classifications of Italian Restaurant

To begin, we determined that restaurants that specialized in pizza would not be included.

Which eliminated iconic institutions such as Frank Pepe’s, Pizzeria Bianco, and Di Fara off the list. We were also fine with Italian-inspired eateries, such as San Francisco’s Quince.

However, there’s no doubting that Italian cuisine has a big and persistent influence, with a Caprese salad and gnudi on the menu. A great Italian restaurant meets many of the same criteria as a great restaurant.

Impeccable, unpretentious service; high-quality food sourced from the finest purveyors; creative-yet-classic preparation and craftsmanship. And an overall experience that leaves you happy and content knowing that you just ate a world-class meal.

To compile our rating, we first looked at restaurants that appeared on our list of the 20 Best Restaurants in America.

Which we publish early each year. We took the most extensive and exhaustive methods imaginable to create that ranking: we assembled an elite panel of judges comprised of some of the country’s greatest culinary journalists, reviewers, and chefs.

25 Best Italian Restaurants in America

Below are some of the best Restaurants in the USA:

1. Babbo, New York City

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

3. Casa Don Alfonso, St. Louis, Missouri

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

5. Al di Là, Brooklyn, New York

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

6. Del Posto, New York City

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali’s temple of contemporary Italian fine dining has achieved a coveted four-star rating in The New York Times (the first Italian restaurant to do so since 1974).

Executive chef Mark Ladner, with the help of pastry chef Brooks Headley, delivers meals that expand on the classics with a truly inventive spirit in a location that is both elegant and wonderfully comfortable. And get this — they’ve established a library of videos teaching how to cook dishes at home.

“Yesterday’s 100-layer lasagna,” local swordfish involtini with smoky cabbage and Arborio rice salad in Barolo sauce, and Sardinian lamb with Roman artichokes and saffron potatoes are among the specialties.

While the rest of the menu is pricey, their $39 prix fixe lunch plate is a value.

This Tuscan fine-dining jewel is one of Salt Lake City’s most beloved restaurants.

Valter Nassi, a restaurateur, was born in Monte San Savino, a tiny village in Tuscany.

He was born with hospitality in his blood, and his love for feeding and caring for his visitors is his raison d’être.

The instant you walk through the doors at Valter’s Osteria, you feel like an old friend, and the walls are plastered with images of Nassi with well-fed celebs.

Pasta connoisseurs can try the sampler of daily house-made gnocchi and ravioli or lasagna served with Valter’s mother’s secret meat sauce.

However, for dessert, try the fennel-crusted duck breast in cognac and grape sauce, followed by a deliciously jiggly panna cotta—simple but sublime.

Also, throughout the epidemic, the 74-year-old entrepreneur visited his guests through Facetime each evening, his love and concern visible on the video.

8. Carbone, New York, New York

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

The pasta is the star of this Major Food Group initiative.

Consider the linguine vongole, tortellini al ragu, and a delicious spicy rigatoni vodka.

The lobster fra diavolo, pork chop with peppers, and cherry pepper ribs are all done to perfection.

However Carbone takes the mission of enlarging Italian-American classics like chicken scarpariello and veal parmigiana seriously.

Also, Carbone is one of America’s greatest old-school restaurants, due to its large menus, tile floors, and servers in burgundy tuxedos.

9. Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Nancy Silverton, whose La Brea Bakery changed the game for artisanal bread in America.

Collaborates in this lively urban restaurant with New York-based Italian-food moguls Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, complete with a mozzarella bar.

Unusual pasta (calf’s brain ravioli, spaghetti with marinated white anchovies), and main dishes ranging from sea trout with lentils to sweetbreads piccata.

Executive chef Matt Molina received the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific in 2012.

Acquerello, named for the watercolors that adorn the walls of this tiny old chapel in San Francisco, serves modern interpretations of Italian food.

Signature delicacies including ridged spaghetti with foie gras, black truffle, and Marsala sauce are available.

Instead, come here for contemporary interpretations of Italian cuisine from chef and co-owner (with Italian wine expert Giancarlo Paterlini) Suzette Gresham-Tognetti.

Also, guests may choose a prix-fixe menu or splurge (wisely) on the seasonal tasting menu.

Following amuse-bouches and a Parmesan budino with truffle perlage, the meal might continue with cuttlefish that’s been turned into “fregula” to complement Ora King salmon with roe and Sicilian olio verde.

However, the cheese cart, which is loaded with exclusively Italian cheeses and house-made accompaniments, is sure to tempt.

For dessert, you may encounter coconut panna cotta with passion fruit “yolk,” slow-cooked pineapple and chocolate.

A meal at L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele in Hollywood transports you to Naples.

This Los Angeles offshoot of the famed Neapolitan pizzeria employs the same recipe.

Oven, and ingredients (including imported tomatoes) as the original establishment featured in Eat Pray Love, which debuted in 1870.

Owner Francesco Zimone created the restaurant patio after those in Italy, with a hint of Californian insouciance.

Blue and white tiles surround the showcase oven, where bubbling Margherita, diavola, and truffle pizzas are beautifully created and delivered on long wooden paddles.

With Osteria Langhe, Aldo Zaninotto and Chef Cameron Grant offer a rustic taste of Piemonte to Logan Square.

Grant has years of expertise preparing Piedmontese food for Italian customers in Trieso, while Zaninotto grew raised between Belgium and Italy.

Rabbit is a mainstay in Piemonte and is regarded as the region’s “chicken” because genuine chicken is not widely available.

Grant serves prosciutto-wrapped rabbit loins over creamy polenta with mixed mushrooms and black truffle sauce at Osteria Langhe.

Also, it’s the greatest rabbit in Chicago, with a subtle taste that’s juicy and delectable. Favorites include the vitello tonnato and hand-pinched plin, a buttery egg yolk pasta packed with La Tur cheese.

13. Apizza Scholls, Portland, Oregon

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Apizza Scholls is known for serving some of the greatest pizza in the Pacific Northwest.

However, if you wish to make your own pie, keep in mind that just three components and no more than two meats are authorized per pie.

Also, with toppings like anchovies, red onions, garlic, pepperoni, house-made sausage, house-cured Canadian bacon, cotto salami, arugula, pepperoncini, and truffle oil available at Apizza Scholls, that guideline may be more difficult to follow than it looks.

You may also choose from a range of specialty pizzas.

Altura, one of Seattle’s few tasting-menu-only restaurants. Invites visitors to trust the chef and go on a gastronomic journey filled with premium ingredients blended with Northwest and Italian concepts.

What happens behind the marble counter in the open kitchen is hidden behind the corridor of a facility on busy Broadway.

Chef Nathan Lockwood serves multiple dishes as well as innovative stuzzichini (little snacks) such as sea urchin cannoli with parsley root and pine.

However, the tasting meal is $137 per person, plus wine pairings if desired. Expect to spend about three hours on the adventure.

Dinner may begin with bone marrow roasted beets, risotto, and asparagus tortelloni before progressing to Columbia River king salmon with crispy artichokes and diavolicchio peppers.

Desserts like mascarpone cheesecake with strawberry, olive oil, and woodruff are also delicious.

Menus can be paired with wine pairings that will not disappoint, or choose from the outstanding and reasonably priced wine list showcasing Italian selections.

There are also a few artisan beers and even grappa flights.

 15. Vetri, Philadelphia

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Chef Marc Vetri’s refined, hand-crafted Italian and Italianate dishes (saffron malloreddus with bone marrow and fennel, almond tortellini with white truffle, roasted baby goat with stone-milled polenta) are presented with precision and elegance in this small jewel box of a restaurant.

Mario Batali, among others, has praised the restaurant as “perhaps the greatest Italian restaurant on the East Coast.”

Tony Mantuano and his wife and business partner Cathy Mantuano relocated to Nashville to launch Yolan.

The Pizzuti family inside the city’s trendiest new hotel, The Joseph, after decades as the most renowned Italian chef in Chicago.

Also, the ground-floor fine dining restaurant embodies the same elegance and sophisticated service that the Mantuanos championed at Michelin-starred Spiaggia.

With diners peering past hulking 80-pound wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano in the translucent cheese cave to the kitchen, where piping hot plates of tortellini in brodo and pork shank with saffron polenta and Swiss chard emerge.

Yolan provides private regional Italian wine tasting sessions every Saturday, and there are five- and eight-course tasting menus available for insatiable appetites.

Noelle Marchetti, the pastry chef, is killing it with house-made gelati, toasted pine nut tarts, and a stunning roasted cherry dessert with vanilla olive oil and juniper meringue.

When Frasca Food & Wine first opened its doors in 2004.

Dedicated foodies, jet-setting tourists, and serious wine lovers celebrated it for the Northern Italian delicacies.

Prepared by chef/co-owner Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and master sommelier/co-owner Bobby Stuckey’s show-stopping wine selection.

The dining area is stylish and cozy, but refreshingly free of snobbery, with starched white linens, Zalto stemware, vases of fresh flowers, and a magnificent wine wall.

You may even arrange a table for two in the kitchen if you want to get up and personal with the cooks.

More on Frasca Food & Wine

Effortlessly polished and amiable servers assist customers in navigating Mackinnon.

Continuously Patterson’s changing menu, an homage to Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia area that likewise relies on a rich harvest of ingredients from local farmers, ranchers, and purveyors.

Also, you can know that the salumi platter —- an elegantly organized feast of cured meats cut in-house —- will be at the top of their must-order list.

From there, go on a culinary journey of innovative cuisine with a four-course meal ($95) or a six-course tasting ($130, with $98 for optional wine flight), or order à la carte.

18. Trattoria Lucca, Charleston, South Carolina

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Chef-owner Ken Vedrinski, a James Beard Award contender in 2011, frequently changes his menu based on what he finds at the farmers market and what local fisherman bring to his kitchen.

Pasta is cooked from scratch, while cheese and salumi are imported from Italy.

19. Giovanni’s, Detroit, Michigan

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Giovanni’s, which has been in business since 1968, exudes old-school, red-sauce-infused charm.

Many of the dishes here trace back to when owner Frances Cannarsa Truant (her father’s name was Giovanni) collaborated with the original chef to recreate the flavors of her family’s hometown San Marino.

Fried calamari, minestrone, linguine with clams, fettuccine Bolognese, meat lasagna, chicken piccata or Marsala, beef braciole, eggplant parmigiana — all loaves of bread, plates of pasta, and sauces are cooked in-house.

Read Also:

• Things to do in Nashville
• Things to do in California
• Best Solo Travel Destinations

20. Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria, New York City

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA in 2022.

Il Buco has been one of New York City’s most attractive Italian restaurants for almost 20 years.

Delivering uncomplicated, delicious food based on first-rate American and Italian ingredients.

Also, almost two years ago, the proprietors created a more informal sibling restaurant — the name translates as “food store and wine bar”.

Additionally, it’s so busy, with such vivid, hearty cuisine, that it’s almost completely overtaken the original.

More on Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria

Chef Justin Smillie, who honed his skills at Barbuto and other establishments, fried baby artichokes and cooks birds like no other.

Additionally, it is to add to a great pasta (lasagnette with ragù Bolognese, plump Neapolitan-style schialatelli with octopus and spicy tomato sauce).

The restaurant serves everything from a short rib and gorgonzola panini for lunch to razor clam ceviche with hearts of palm and spit-roasted rabbit with endive and Taggiasca olives for dinner.

It’s just a matter of time until Michael Pirolo, the former chef de cuisine of Scarpetta, goes nova and makes the tables at his neighborhood establishment even more valuable than they currently are.

Even so, you may see him cooking pasta and gnocchi by hand through the little window that looks into his kitchen on any given night.

The chef’s tasting menu is the way to go: five dishes for the table for $55 per person.

Everyone must agree, but if they don’t, don’t miss the creamy polenta with sausage ragù, Mediterranean octopus with intense tomato and potato crème, and beet mezzaluna with hazelnuts, brown butter, and ricotta salata.

More on Macchialina

You’ll want to try a range of pasta shapes, forms, and sauces, so order any type presently available (they vary frequently). As well as the house lasagna that rivals Nonna’s.

The veal Milanese is an acceptable and delightful option if you’re watching your carb consumption.

Desserts include typical Italian favorites such as tiramisu and panna cotta, which, while conventional, surpass expectations.

Will Rivas’ handcrafted cocktails provide an alternative to wine, while managing partner Jen Chaefsky has designed a 99-percent-Italian wine selection with tiny boutique producers from select vineyards whose grapes you have likely never tasted.

Sinatra, located at Encore close to the Encore Tower Suites, serves a modern spin on classic Italian cuisine. It is the only restaurant with the Sinatra name that the Sinatra family has sanctioned.

Near the restaurant’s entrance, look for the honors picked by Steve Wynn and the Sinatra family.

Which highlights the entertainer’s long career and triumphs, including his Grammy awards and an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “From Here to Eternity.”

The atmosphere is light and airy, and visitors may dine alfresco on a pleasant outside terrace.

Also, the kitchen pays homage to the Las Vegas legend by making foods that are presented in an antique-style setting.

More on Sinatra

The carpaccio di tonno —- big-eye tuna carpaccio, pickled vegetables, hard-boiled quail egg, and lemon vinaigrette —- is a delicious appetizer.

Frank’s spaghetti and clams, cooked with Manila clams, tomato garlic broth, and imported pasta; and gnocchi with leek emulsion, Osetra caviar, and chive crème fraîche are among the pasta dishes.

Grilled Mediterranean sea bass with haricots verts, fingerling potatoes, tomato, yellow pepper emulsion, and salsa verde will please seafood lovers.

A 16-ounce dry-aged New York strip with red wine sauce and osso buco “My Way” will delight carnivores.

Also, a vegetarian and vegan menu is available, as is the case with all of Steve Wynn’s restaurants, and features a Valrhona chocolate mousse bar.

A wide range of wines from Wynn’s extensive wine library will complement your meal. It would also be appropriate to have a martini and salute Ol’ Blue Eyes with it.

Inspired by co-owner Daniela Vitale’s summers in Sicily with her family.

Sfera Sicilian Street Food combines traditional Sicilian recipes and techniques with the greatest Midwest ingredients.

The hallmark dish is scaccia, a folded semolina “pizza” with a crispy surface and gooey lasagna-like core.

Served with a side of house marinara sauce and topped with mozzarella, parmesan, fresh basil, and wild garlic ricotta.

Arancini (stuffed risotto balls) are another Sicilian favorite, while cannoli (filled with local ricotta and freshly roasted pistachios or house-made Door County cherry jam and dark chocolate chips) are a sweet tooth’s delight.

25. Flour + Water, San Francisco, California

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA.

This San Francisco restaurant, which launched in 2009, makes pizzas and housemade pastas influenced by Italian regional cooking traditions using Northern California ingredients.

The menu changes daily depending on what’s in season, so anticipate thoughtful dishes like veal carpaccio with maitake conserva.

Pig sausage and mustard greens pizza, black garlic and squash tortellini, beet and duck fattisu with apple mostarda, and veal Milanese with smoked potatoes.

The Barolo Grill, located in Denver’s Cherry Creek area, specializes on northern Italian food and wine.

Including, of course, a large variety of Barolo and Barbaresco from Piedmont.

Every summer, the entire crew travels to Italy for a 10-day pilgrimage to learn more about the rich culinary culture and history of the country, visiting Piedmont, Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, and the Veneto.

When a waitress or sommelier suggests a wine match for your dinner, it’s likely that they’ve been through the vineyards and sampled the wines with the winemaker.

Highlights include the seafood cassoulet with Tuscan white beans, tiger prawns, and lobster sausage, as well as the Barolo braised duck.

27. Al Forno, Providence, R.I.

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA.

For those who can’t afford a journey to Italy, Al Forno on South Main Street in Providence, R.I., delivers a genuine Italian dining experience.

George Germon and Johanne Killeen, husband and wife owner-chefs, won the Insegna del Ristorante Italiano from the Italian government.

A rare accolade for Americans, for their knowledgeable enthusiasm for pasta and innovation of the grilled pizza.

Their grilled pizza margarita, with fresh herbs, pomodoro, two cheeses, and extra-virgin olive oil, is undoubtedly their most famous pie, having been named one of America’s 35 Best Pizzas by The Daily Meal.

28. Valentino, Santa Monica, Calif

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA.

Piero Selvaggio’s Santa Monica classic has set the bar for Italian fine dining in America for more than 40 years.

He served authentic Italian pastas and exotica like radicchio and balsamic vinegar when they were still exotica in this country.

Also, he absorbed the nuova cucina’s inspirations and modernized his menu without losing touch with his roots.

He survived earthquakes, economic downturns, and the onslaught of new, hip places that could have pushed his restaurant into the Boring Old Standby category — but didn’t.

Today, he’s returning to Italian regional food, particularly that of Sicily, where he was born, and Sardinia, where chef Nico Chessa was born.

More on Valentino

Yes, you can get prosciutto and melon or pasta alla carbonara here.

But why not try the chilled eggplant terrine, the nonna’s lasagna with mushroom and duck ragù, the Bari-style orecchiette with broccolini and peperoncini.

Or the Roman-style braised oxtail with bitter chocolate sauce? The wine selection is one of the best in the country, and the service is impeccable.

29. Fiola, Washington, D.C.

This is one of the best Restaurants in the USA.

Chef Fabio Trabocchi and his upmarket D.C. restaurant Fiola have received several honors (including a Michelin star for 2020).

The menu demonstrates why. It changes every day depending on what’s in season and fresh.

Tuna crudo with caviar and red king prawn, hand-cut tagliatelle with foraged mushrooms, and charcoal-grilled deer with braised endive and preserved huckleberry are just a few of the menu offerings.

Can’t make up your mind on what to order? Choose from a variety of tasting menus.

Debra Quinci grew up in Sicily watching her grandmother make couscous by hand.

Founded Quinci Emporium to bring an authentic taste of Italy to the Midwest with an eclectic selection of wine, cheese, freshly baked savory and sweet treats. And delicacies like Sicilian mulberry jam and truffle honey for your pantry.

Stop in for cheesy artichoke focaccia made with Sardinian olive oil or an afternoon pick-me-up macchiato (the espresso is from Quinci’s hometown of Palermo) and biscotti.

Also, Her family makes almond cookies, and the brown butter shortbread is dangerously addicting.

Quinci provides small-group culinary workshops, such as how to bake using Sangiovese wine flour or chestnut flour, as well as wine tastings with visiting Italian wineries, which sell out rapidly.

Read Also:

• Disney VIP Tour
• Cultural Trips
• 20 Best Aquarium in the World

Italian cuisine is an indisputable feature of the American eating scene.

Almost every neighborhood has its own red sauce establishment, managed by a local nonna who has been making her renowned lasagna the same manner for decades.

Modern Italian restaurants, on the other hand, strive for more, such as handcrafted pasta, rustic regional dishes, and gorgeous decor.

Please leave a comment, like, and share this post with your friends and family.