Best Italian Restaurants in Brooklyn: Five Worth Booking
Dana Whitfield · October 7, 2026 · 7 min
The best Italian restaurants in Brooklyn for a planned dinner are Lilia at 567 Union Avenue, which describes its cooking as wood-fired seafood, handcrafted pastas and classic Italian cocktails, and Misi at 329 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg, built around handmade pasta and vegetable antipasti. Al Di La Trattoria at 248 Fifth Avenue is the pick whose web menu shows prices, where a shared starter and two pastas come to $66.50 on its posted menu, Frankies 457 Spuntino in Carroll Gardens serves its full menu at lunch and dinner seven days a week, and Roberta’s on Moore Street in Bushwick covers wood-fired pizza from noon on weekdays and 11am on weekends. Hours, prices and policies below were read from each restaurant’s own site in October 2026.
Brooklyn Italian restaurants at a glance
| Restaurant | Address | Best for | Key verified detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lilia | 567 Union Avenue, at North 10th Street | A planned pasta-and-seafood dinner | Resy or email; dinner from 5pm (4pm Friday to Sunday) |
| Misi | 329 Kent Avenue | Pasta with a vegetable-heavy table | Ten pastas and ten vegetable antipasti listed; lunch Friday to Sunday |
| Al Di La Trattoria | 248 Fifth Avenue | A dinner with a known bill | Pastas $19 to $29.50; closed Sunday |
| Frankies 457 Spuntino | 457 Court Street | Lunch, or dinner at an odd hour | Full menu 11am to 10pm daily, to 11pm Friday and Saturday |
| Roberta’s | 261 Moore Street | Pizza for a group | Open from noon weekdays, 11am weekends; OpenTable |
How these were chosen
Every restaurant here has a live official site that was read for this list, and every hour, price and booking rule comes from that site. Al Di La Trattoria is the one pick whose prices could be read from its site, so its cost for two is a sum of named dishes, before drinks, tax and tip. Lilia and Misi post menus without prices, and Frankies 457 and Roberta’s post theirs as PDFs, so those entries name a dish but give no cost for two rather than guess. Five picks is deliberate: this is a short list of rooms with a clear reason to go, not a borough survey.
Lilia: wood-fired seafood and handmade pasta
Lilia sits at 567 Union Avenue, on the corner of North 10th Street. Its own site describes “wood-fired seafood, handcrafted pastas, classic Italian cocktails” and “simple ingredients and soulful cooking, honoring regional traditions.” The menu runs to seven pastas, from Rigatoni Diavola to Beet Filled Casunziei, plus a short list of cocktail snacks such as Cacio e Pepe Frittelle.
What to order: the Sheep’s Milk Cheese Agnolotti, with the Cacio e Pepe Frittelle to start.
Cost for two: not listed. The online menu names dishes without prices, so ask when you book.
Booking: Resy, or email reservations@lilianewyork.com. Dinner starts at 5pm Monday to Thursday and 4pm Friday to Sunday; the site gives the closing time as 9:30pm on one page and 10pm on another, so confirm the last seating when you book. The pages checked for this list say nothing about walk-ins, and the site has a private events page.
Misi: pasta and vegetables, in South Williamsburg
Misi, at 329 Kent Avenue, “celebrates handmade pasta dishes and vegetable antipasti inspired by simple Italian cooking,” and the menu bears it out: ten pastas and ten vegetable antipasti, from charred marinated peppers with whipped ricotta crostini to grilled baby artichokes with salsa verde. That balance makes it the strongest pick here for a table with a vegetarian in it.
What to order: the Fettuccine with buffalo butter, parmigiano extra vecchio and black pepper, and one or two of the vegetable antipasti for the table.
Cost for two: not listed. The online menu names dishes without prices.
Booking: a reservation form on Misi’s own site, with party sizes from 1 to “8+”, or call 347-566-3262. Dinner runs 5pm to 9:30pm Monday to Thursday and 4:30pm to 9:30pm Friday to Sunday, and Friday to Sunday add a lunch service from 11:30am to 2:30pm, which is the extra window to try if dinner is full.
Al Di La Trattoria: the dinner with a known bill
Al Di La Trattoria, at 248 Fifth Avenue, publishes a full dinner menu with prices, which makes it the easiest Brooklyn Italian dinner here to budget. Pastas run from $19 for the Casunziei to $29.50 for the Spaghetti alla Chitarra Neri, with Malfatti at $23, Ravioli di Ricotta at $26 and Pappardelle with Duck at $29. Antipasti run from $17.50 to $22, plus bread and butter at $4.50.
What to order: the Casunziei ($19), the least expensive pasta on the list, or the Malfatti ($23).
Cost for two: about $66.50 for a shared Stracciatella ($19.50), the Casunziei ($19) and the Tagliatelle al Ragù ($28).
Booking: Resy, or call (718) 783-4565. It serves dinner only, 5pm to 9:30pm Monday to Thursday and 5pm to 10pm Friday and Saturday, and it is closed on Sunday, so there are fewer slots in a week here than at any other pick on this list.
Frankies 457 Spuntino: lunch and dinner, every day
Frankies 457 Spuntino, at 457 Court Street, calls itself “the pioneering Brooklyn restaurant” and says it is “now entering its 20th year in the heart of Carroll Gardens.” Its site states: “Our full menu is available for lunch and dinner seven days a week, along with a constantly changing selection of seasonal specials.” Hours are 11am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday.
What to order: the cavatelli and meatballs that open the restaurant’s own description of its food, with the Caesar salad if the table wants something green.
Cost for two: not listed here. The food menu is posted as a PDF, so check current prices on the site.
Booking: OpenTable, or call (718) 403-0033. The widest hours on this list, and the same menu at noon as at 9pm, make this the easiest of the five to fit into a day.
Roberta’s: wood-fired pizza in Bushwick
Roberta’s Bushwick location is at 261 Moore Street. The site describes “a diverse collection of seasonally focused dishes, from wood-fired Neapolitan-inspired pizzas to house-cured meats, handmade pasta, seasonal seafood and vegetable dishes, and equally ambitious desserts.” It opens at noon Monday to Friday, closing at 10pm, and at 11am on weekends, closing at 11pm on Saturday and 10pm on Sunday.
What to order: a wood-fired pizza for the table, then a pasta.
Cost for two: not listed here. The menus are posted as PDFs, so check current prices on the site.
Booking: OpenTable through the “Book a table” link. Separate lunch, midday, brunch and dinner menus mean there is no dead afternoon here, which suits a group that can’t agree on a time.
How to book Italian in Brooklyn
Check the right app. Lilia and Al Di La Trattoria use Resy, Frankies 457 and Roberta’s use OpenTable, and Misi takes bookings through its own site, so a single platform will undercount what’s available.
Use the extra services. Misi adds lunch Friday to Sunday, Frankies 457 serves its full menu from 11am every day, and Roberta’s opens at noon, so a midday table is the simplest way into three of the five. Al Di La Trattoria and Lilia are dinner only.
Order by the pasta. Every room here leads with pasta or pizza, and a shared antipasto plus a pasta each is usually the right amount; this site’s guide to ordering at an Italian restaurant course by course explains why. For a group, the dishes that share well and how many to order is the companion piece, and how New Yorkers actually pick a restaurant covers booking windows and travel time, which matter more when dinner is a borough away.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Italian restaurant in Brooklyn?
For a planned dinner, Lilia at 567 Union Avenue, which describes its cooking as wood-fired seafood, handcrafted pastas and classic Italian cocktails, and books through Resy or by email. Misi at 329 Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg is the pasta-and-vegetables alternative. For a dinner with a known bill, Al Di La Trattoria on Fifth Avenue posts pastas from $19 to $29.50.
Which Brooklyn Italian restaurants are open for lunch?
Frankies 457 Spuntino on Court Street serves its full menu at lunch and dinner seven days a week from 11am, and Roberta’s on Moore Street opens at noon on weekdays and 11am on weekends. Misi serves lunch Friday to Sunday from 11:30am to 2:30pm. Lilia and Al Di La Trattoria serve dinner only.
How much is dinner for two at an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn?
At Al Di La Trattoria, a shared Stracciatella ($19.50), the Casunziei ($19) and the Tagliatelle al Ragù ($28) come to $66.50 before drinks, tax and tip, on the menu posted in October 2026. Lilia and Misi publish their menus online without prices, so ask when you book.