You can’t talk about Italian food in Boston without a nod to its spiritual home in the North End. But the city these days is so much more than red sauce joints (don’t get us wrong, we love a red sauce joint). With quirky prix fixe family style spots, newer restaurants in Dorchester that feel like you’re on a Roman holiday, and some of the freshest crudo anywhere, the Italian scene here has never been better.
Of course, thanks to rom-coms and Billy Joel songs, there’s a lot of pressure on Italian restaurants to be quaint and romantic places, where candlelight flickers on the faces of a couple who just broke up, made up, and got engaged on the same night. We can’t promise you’ll find that at the 14 spots on this guide, but what we can guarantee is lots of old-school places with outsized charm and portion sizes, as well as restaurants heavy on small plates and crudo.
Still looking for more carbs? Let us introduce you to the best pizza places in Boston.