Best Italian Restaurants in Manhattan: One Pick per Area

No website can prove which is the best Italian restaurant in Manhattan, so this guide names one pick per area, not a ranking: Giulietta in Midtown East, Ci Siamo in Midtown West, Via Carota in the West Village, Babbo in Greenwich Village, Fiaschetteria Pistoia in the East Village and Lucciola on the Upper West Side. Five of the six are open seven days a week, only Via Carota says it offers no reservations, and the two cheapest pastas on the five à la carte menus cost 48 to 58 dollars. Hours, prices and policies below come from each restaurant’s own website, checked in October 2026; Pistoia’s menu and Lucciola’s tasting menus print prices without a currency sign.

Six Manhattan Italian restaurants at a glance

How the six were chosen

One restaurant per area, picked from what its own site publishes: current hours, a priced menu and a stated booking rule. It is a short list, not a ranking, and it uses no reviews or awards. Areas follow each street address, with Midtown split at Fifth Avenue; Ci Siamo’s address is in Manhattan West, on Midtown’s far west side. Cost for two is the two cheapest dishes in each menu’s pasta section, before starters, drinks, tax and tip; Lucciola, with tasting menus only, has none. Nobody from this publication visited or phoned these restaurants.

Best for an early weekday start: Giulietta, Midtown East

Giulietta, at 200 Park Avenue at the MetLife Building, opens at 7am Monday to Friday and at 10am on Saturday and Sunday; no other pick here opens before 10am on any day. Its posted closing times run from 9pm on Sunday to 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

What to order: the Tagliatelle Bolognese ($30), listed as beef and pork.

Cost for two: 54 dollars for Spaghetti Pomodoro ($26) and Rigatoni ($28).

Booking: a Find a Table button on the site, or 212.597.2424.

Best for an early dinner service: Ci Siamo, Midtown West

Ci Siamo, at 440 West 33rd Street in The Manhattan West Plaza, serves dinner from 4:30pm to 10pm every day. That starts earlier than the 5pm to 6pm openings at Babbo, Fiaschetteria Pistoia and Lucciola, which post dinner hours only. For a later table in Midtown West, Osteria La Baia, at 129 West 52nd Street, lists lunch and dinner to midnight on Friday and Saturday. This site’s guide to Italian restaurants in Midtown Manhattan compares rooms on both sides of Fifth Avenue.

What to order: the Stracci ($29), with rabbit, wine and parmigiano.

Cost for two: 52 dollars for Tagliatelle ($25) and Potato Ravioli ($27).

Booking: a Reservations button on the site, or (212) 219-6559.

Best for arriving without a booking: Via Carota, West Village

Via Carota, at 51 Grove Street, is the one pick whose own pages say there is no table to book. Its Questions page says “We do not offer reservations at this time,” and its home page prints “Walk-ins always welcome.” It closes at 11pm every night and opens at 11am Monday to Thursday and 10am on Saturday and Sunday; the home page prints Friday’s opening as both 10am and 11am, so confirm.

What to order: the tagliatelle with Parmigiano and prosciutto ($27).

Cost for two: 51 dollars for the tortelli with butternut squash ($25) and the risotto with meyer lemon ($26), which the menu lists in its Pasta section.

Booking: none to make; the Questions page takes waitlist names in person only. The West Village’s other rooms, with their booking windows, are in this site’s guide to Italian restaurants in the West Village.

Best for a set-price dinner: Babbo, Greenwich Village

Babbo, at 110 Waverly Place in its historic Greenwich Village carriage house, posts dinner hours only: 5pm to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 5pm to 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Beside the à la carte list, the menu offers the Babbo Tour Tasting, “Seven plates in four courses $115 per person,” with per-person supplements of $10 for the Lobster Fusilloni, $15 for the Veal Chop and $30 for the Porterhouse.

What to order: the Beef Cheek Ravioli ($45), a dish named in the site’s cuisine description.

Cost for two: 58 dollars for Corn Triangoli ($28) and Spinach & Ricotta Tortelloni ($30). Two Tour Tastings come to 230 dollars before supplements.

Booking: a Book A Table button on the site, or (212) 777-0303.

Best for the lowest pasta bill: Fiaschetteria Pistoia, East Village

Fiaschetteria Pistoia, at 647 East 11th Street, posts one schedule for every day: 5:30pm to 10:30pm. Its menu prints prices as plain numbers, and the Spaghetti con Pomarola and the Pappardelle al Ragù are both listed at 24, the lowest pasta prices among the five à la carte menus. The menu adds “minimum one dish for person” and a 22% to 25% gratuity for parties of five and up.

What to order: the Pici Freschi Cacio e Pepe (27), hand-rolled spaghetti with pecorino and black pepper.

Cost for two: 48, the sum of the two pastas listed at 24. Confirm the currency and total when booking.

Booking: by phone, on the East Village line, +1 (212) 777-3355. The reservations page says it does not accept reservations by email or social media.

Best for a tasting-menu night: Lucciola, Upper West Side

Lucciola, at 621 Amsterdam Avenue, gives its cuisine as “Italian fine dining, tasting menus, wine pairings.” Its dinner menu page lists a “No Menu” tasting, a six-course Viaggio in Emilia Romagna and the three-item Lucciola Icons option, not à la carte pastas. The figures print as bare numbers with no currency symbol or per-person label: 189 for Icons, then 219, 229, 239 and 249 for the five-, six-, seven- and nine-course menus, each beside a higher wine-pairing figure. Confirm the currency, the per-person basis and the total when booking. It is closed Monday, open 6pm to 10pm Tuesday to Friday and 5pm to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.

What to order: the Viaggio in Emilia Romagna, which lists butter and sage tortelloni, tortellini and a deconstructed lasagna.

Booking: a card is required, and the cancellation policy is 24 hours before the reservation “to avoid an $185 per person fee.” Only complete parties are seated, and online bookings take up to six guests.

Which part of Manhattan has the best Italian restaurants?

On this evidence no area wins; the rooms differ in how they let a table in. Only Via Carota says it offers no reservations, the two set-price dinners are Babbo’s Tour Tasting and Lucciola’s tasting menus, and Lucciola is the one pick closed on Monday. The Upper East Side has no pick here but has its own Upper East Side guide, and The Red Sauce Index compares five Manhattan neighborhoods in its ranked neighborhood guide.

How do the six differ on booking?

Each site names a different route to a table. Giulietta, Ci Siamo and Babbo print a booking button and a phone number, Fiaschetteria Pistoia asks for calls rather than email or social media, Lucciola requires a card, and Via Carota takes no reservations. Two of the six state a walk-in rule on the pages read: Via Carota’s Questions page says the entire restaurant and bar is seated “on a first come, first served basis every day from open to close,” and Lucciola’s FAQ answers its question about weekday walk-ins with “Yes, for the whole dining experience only, though.” Giulietta, Ci Siamo, Babbo and Fiaschetteria Pistoia publish none on the pages read, so call to ask. Rooms elsewhere in the city that print a walk-in rule are listed in this site’s guide to Manhattan Italian restaurants without a reservation.

Which of the six costs least for two?

On menus read in October 2026, the two cheapest pastas come to 51 dollars at Via Carota, 52 at Ci Siamo, 54 at Giulietta and 58 at Babbo, and to 48 at Fiaschetteria Pistoia, whose plain numbers carry no currency sign. That is a spread of 10 before starters, drinks, tax and tip, so hours and booking rules separate the five more than price does. Babbo’s two Tour Tastings come to 230 dollars; Lucciola’s bare tasting figures stay unconfirmed until the booking step shows a total.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Italian restaurant in Manhattan?

No single restaurant wins on published facts, and this guide does not rank them, so it picks one per area: Giulietta (Midtown East), Ci Siamo (Midtown West), Via Carota (West Village), Babbo (Greenwich Village), Fiaschetteria Pistoia (East Village) and Lucciola (Upper West Side). Via Carota suits a night without a booking and Babbo a set price.

Which Italian restaurants in Manhattan take walk-ins?

Via Carota at 51 Grove Street says it offers no reservations and seats parties first come, first served. Lucciola at 621 Amsterdam Avenue accepts weekday walk-ins for the whole dining experience only. The other four picks publish no walk-in rule on the pages read, so call first.

How much does dinner for two cost at a Manhattan Italian restaurant?

At the five restaurants with à la carte menus, the two cheapest pastas add up to 48 to 58 in October 2026, before starters, drinks, tax and tip; Fiaschetteria Pistoia’s 48 is a plain number with no currency sign. Babbo’s Tour Tasting is $115 per person, and Lucciola’s tasting figures print as bare numbers from 189 to 249, so confirm them.

Which of these Manhattan Italian restaurants opens earliest?

Of the six picks, Giulietta at 200 Park Avenue opens earliest: 7am Monday to Friday and 10am on Saturday and Sunday. Ci Siamo at 440 West 33rd Street starts dinner service at 4:30pm every day, earlier than Babbo, Fiaschetteria Pistoia and Lucciola.