Best Italian restaurants in Raleigh

Raleigh's Italian bench runs deeper than most categories, and it splits in two. The nationally noticed rooms are new or Midtown-modern: Figulina, a 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in the Warehouse District, and Cucciolo Terrazza at North Hills, the only Raleigh Italian entry on Axios Raleigh's 30 best Triangle restaurants list this August. The rest of the depth is old family red-sauce rooms that have outlasted everything around them, from Amedeo's (1963) beside NC State to Vic's in City Market, INDY Week's Best Italian for Wake County in 2025.

For Wake Forest readers, the North Raleigh rooms on Falls of Neuse and Six Forks are the shortest drive; downtown and North Hills take longer. No Raleigh Italian restaurant is in the MICHELIN Guide American South 2025, so the awards here are local and dated. Use the list by neighborhood and by budget: several entries publish prices, and the ones that do not say so.

How we chose

Every entry is inside Raleigh city limits and had a dated signal that it was open as of September 2026; where that signal is only the business's own site plus aggregator activity, the entry says so and asks you to call. Facts come from each restaurant's own site first, and awards appear only when named and dated. We left out chains, hotel-group rooms, buffets, closed places (Mia Francesca, Tuscan Blu, Bocci) and businesses that belong on another of our lists: pizzerias such as Oakwood Pizza Box belong on the site's best-pizza list, and Brodeto, MICHELIN Recommended but an Adriatic seafood house, is on the seafood list. Entries are listed alphabetically, not ranked. Hours and prices were last checked in September 2026; call for anything an entry says is unconfirmed.

Amedeo's Italian Restaurant

Raleigh's oldest Italian restaurant sits on Western Boulevard beside NC State, where Amedeo "Dick" DeAngelis, a player on the Wolfpack's 1957 ACC championship team, opened it in 1963. The dining room is a Wolfpack shrine, and the food is Italian-American family recipes, per the site, which names Hinnant Family Vineyards among its wines. David Harris, who also owns Vivo, has been majority owner-operator since 2010. Named dishes and prices are not published. The site carries no 2026-dated content; the open signal is that site plus aggregator activity through July 2026, so call before driving.

Why we chose them

• Sixty-three years in business, opened in 1963, per its own site.
• The City of Raleigh proclaimed August 27, 2023 Amedeo's Day, per its own site.
• Founder Amedeo DeAngelis received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, per its own site.
• Open seven days for lunch and dinner, with reservations on Resy and its own lot on Western Boulevard.

Address: Raleigh — 3905 Western Blvd.

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Bella Monica Cucina & Vino

An Italian-American trattoria in the Olde Raleigh Village shopping center off Edwards Mill Road in West Raleigh, run since August 2000 by chef-owner couple Corbett and Julie Monica. It started as a takeout pizza counter and grew into a full room built on the family's New York and New Jersey roots, with Nana's gravy running through the menu. Prices from its own site: eight-layer meat lasagne $28, baked ziti $22, chicken parmigiana $27, Mom's spaghetti and meatballs $25, Neapolitan pizzas $14 to $24. The site publishes its opening hours two ways, so check first.

Why we chose them

• Twenty-six years under the same chef-owners, profiled by Raleigh Magazine on June 30, 2026.
• Closed Sunday, per both hour listings on its own site.
• A dedicated gluten-free menu, and the baked ziti can be made gluten-free, per Raleigh Magazine.
• Its own site claims a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, with no year stated.
• A covered, heated patio, per Raleigh Magazine, and a large shopping-center lot.

Address: Raleigh — 3121 Edwards Mill Rd., Ste. 103, at Olde Raleigh Village

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Cafe Tiramisu

Northern Italian in the Northridge Shopping Center off Falls of Neuse Road, and one of two 1996 rooms on this list, with Caffé Luna. The DeMartino family opened it after running Piccolo Mondo from 1976, and many of those recipes are still on the menu: house spinach fettuccine, osso buco, saltimbocca, and a pollo ripiene stuffed with mozzarella, sausage and house pesto. Chef Paolo DeMartino co-owns it with sons Richard and Rodolfo. The address here comes from the restaurant's own site; Visit Raleigh and Yelp print a different street number, 6008, so confirm by phone.

Why we chose them

• Runner-up, Best Italian Restaurant, INDY Week Best of the Triangle 2025, Wake County, published April 15, 2025.
• Dinner only, seven nights, with reservations recommended on its own site and active on OpenTable.
• The same family has cooked Northern Italian food in Raleigh since 1976, counting Piccolo Mondo, per its own site.
• Visit Raleigh says you may see Paolo or one of his sons cooking to order.

Address: Raleigh — 6196 Falls of Neuse Rd., Ste. 116, at Northridge Shopping Center

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Caffé Luna

Thirty years on East Hargett Street, a block off Fayetteville Street in a historic building, make Caffé Luna one of two 1996 Italian rooms still open in Raleigh, with Cafe Tiramisu. Parker Kennedy founded it, and the long-time management team now owns it, per the site. The food is Tuscan-leaning, and the room hangs local art. It is one of the few downtown restaurants that publishes prices: prosciutto e melone $7.95, calamari fritti $9.95, penne caprese $16.95, lasagna $16.95, the bistecca della Luna strip steak $25.95. House-made pasta is not published.

Why we chose them

• Closed Sunday and Monday, with dinner Tuesday through Saturday, per its own site.
• Employee-owned by its management team since the founder stepped away, per its own site.
• OpenTable lists smart casual dress and deck or street parking.

Address: Raleigh — 136 E. Hargett St.

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Casa Carbone Ristorante

A Glenwood Avenue strip near Pleasant Valley in northwest Raleigh holds Casa Carbone, a Southern Italian family room where co-owners Maria and Michael's children and relatives have worked the floor, and Maria makes the desserts and special menus. Two founding dates are published: the restaurant's own story page says the Carbone family has served Raleigh since 1958, while Visit Raleigh says it was founded in 1984. We claim neither. Site prices look dated, so confirm: spaghetti with meatballs $13, linguine with clams $14, entrées $17.50 to $22. Meatballs and marinara are sold to go.

Why we chose them

• Closed Mondays, with dinner-only hours the rest of the week, per its own site.
• Its site was updated in August and September 2026, which is the only open signal found, so call first.
• Gluten-free pasta is available on request, per its own menu.
• The house sauces and dressings are sold to take home, per its own site.
• The address comes from Visit Raleigh; the restaurant's own contact page returned a 404 when checked.

Address: Raleigh — 6019 Glenwood Ave., Ste. A

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Cucciolo Terrazza

Midtown's modern Italian, on Six Forks Road at North Hills, from cousins Jimmy and Julian Kim, who opened it as a sister to Cucciolo Osteria in Durham around 2022; the exact date could not be confirmed. The About page says the menu is small by design, a seasonal rotation built on pasta, with house-made ricotta and sausage named on the menu; whether the pasta itself is made in house is not published. Toast prices: spicy vodka pasta $21, beef bolognese $26, crab ravioli $30, spaghetti pomodoro $15, and an 18-ounce bone-in ribeye at $68.

Why we chose them

• The only Raleigh Italian restaurant on Axios Raleigh's 30 best Triangle restaurants list, published August 28, 2026.
• Axios cited the butter chicken, $27 on the Toast menu, and the spicy vodka rigatoni.
• Raleigh Magazine put it on its Best Restaurants 2025 list, published August 25, 2025.
• Brunch on Saturday and Sunday plus dinner seven nights, with reservations on OpenTable and valet available.
• A wine cellar room seats up to eight for private dinners, per Visit Raleigh.

Address: Raleigh — 4200 Six Forks Rd., Ste. 100, at North Hills

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Figulina

The newest name on this list and the one with the widest national notice. Figulina opened in late February 2024 in the Warehouse District's former Humble Pie space, downtown, under British-born chef-owner David Ellis, who cooked under Ashley Christensen at Poole's. Every pasta is handmade and changes with the season, and the dining room has a window onto what its own site calls an open-view pasta room. The menu is built for sharing, with a community table, and the bar leans on aperitivi and digestivi. Prices are not published online.

Why we chose them

• James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2025, per Axios Raleigh's January 22, 2025 report.
• Named one of the Triangle's eight best Italian restaurants by The News & Observer on May 8, 2026.
• Also on Raleigh Magazine's Best Restaurants 2025 list, published August 25, 2025, which cited the busiate with NC shrimp.
• Dinner only, with reservations through the site; Axios reported Tuesday through Saturday at opening, so confirm Sunday and Monday.
• The N&O printed a South Wilmington Street address in May 2026 that its own site does not match; use Harrington Street.

Address: Raleigh — 317 S. Harrington St.

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Gravy Italian-American Kitchen

Downtown on South Wilmington Street in the Moore Square district, Gravy has been Empire Eats' red-sauce restaurant since 2009. Its About page defines gravy as the tomato sauce Italian-American mothers cooked nightly, and says the house version is made fresh daily from select tomatoes and local herbs and served over pasta made in house, cooked al dente. OpenTable menu prices read like lunch prices, so confirm: tagliatelle bolognese $16, lasagna $16, chicken parmigiana $16, gnocchi $17, tiramisu $9. There is a courtyard for outdoor dining and an adjacent parking garage.

Why we chose them

• Seventeen years downtown under Empire Eats, the group behind The Pit and Sitti.
• Sunday brings half-price spaghetti and meatballs, and Thursday is date night, per its own site.
• Open seven days, lunch through dinner, with reservations on OpenTable.
• The menu is on OpenTable; the restaurant's own menu page was not loading in September 2026.

Address: Raleigh — 135 S. Wilmington St.

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Mulino Italian Kitchen & Bar

Inside the 1901 Melrose Knitting Mill on North Dawson Street downtown, Mulino opened April 18, 2017, replacing owner Samad Hachby's Moroccan restaurant Babylon in the same building. Hachby, raised in Morocco and schooled in Italy, runs it under Umbria Hospitality, named for the Italian region. The pasta is made in house: pici amatriciana with guanciale, tonnarelli carbonara, tagliatelle bolognese, and handmade potato gnocchi al tartufo. The pizza is pinsa, the Roman style, and Mulino is the only Italian room in Raleigh that makes it. The patio is a large part of the draw.

Why we chose them

• Raleigh Magazine Best Restaurants 2025, published August 25, 2025, cited the house-made pastas and red-wine-braised lamb with risotto.
• Closed Mondays, and the bar stays open later than the kitchen Thursday through Saturday, per its own site.
• The wine list is built around Italian estates with house-imported bottles, per its own site.
• Parking is the League Lot or the State Government West deck nearby, per its own site.

Address: Raleigh — 309 N. Dawson St.

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Vic's Ristorante Italiano & Pizzeria

A City Market red-sauce room the Longo family has run since the 1990s, and the original of what are now four Vic's locations across Raleigh. Mario Longo Sr., born in Calabria, came to the United States as a teenager; WALTER reports he still makes the pizza doughs and sauces from scratch and employs a Naples-trained chef for the pasta. Penne alla vodka, calamari fra diavolo and New York-style pizza anchor the menu. The opening year is published two ways: 1993 per WALTER's June 2026 profile, 1998 per its own About page. Prices are not published.

Why we chose them

• Winner, Best Italian Restaurant, INDY Week Best of the Triangle 2025, Wake County, published April 15, 2025.
• Lucia Longo makes the desserts, including the house tiramisu and limoncello cake, per WALTER's June 2026 profile.
• Half-off house bottles on Wednesdays and a wine dinner the first Wednesday of each month, per its own site.
• The Longo children each run a location, and WRAL reported a North Raleigh site coming at Six Forks and Millbrook on March 13, 2026.
• Sunday hours are not shown on the City Market site, so call before a Sunday drive.

Address: Raleigh — 331 Blake St., at City Market

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Vivace

Urban Food Group's trattoria on Lassiter Mill Road at North Hills, open since 2006, when WRAL reviewed it as a new trattoria that December. Kevin and Stacey Jennings' group also runs Coquette and The Mill in Raleigh. Fresh pasta is made daily, per the site, and the wine list is Italian-focused. Prices on the site: cacio e pepe $14, ricotta gnocchi $18, mushroom ravioli $21, porchetta $28, and a 32-ounce bistecca alla Fiorentina at $110. The street number here comes from the restaurant's own site; Urban Food Group's page prints 4351 instead, so confirm.

Why we chose them

• Twenty years in North Hills, dated by WRAL's December 12, 2006 review of the new trattoria.
• Its own site thanks voters for a Gold in the 2026 Midtown Diamond Awards, a Midtown Magazine reader award.
• Lunch daily, an intermezzo menu through the afternoon, and dinner seven nights, per its own site.
• Reservations are on Resy, and parking is the North Hills deck.
• Wood-fired pizza was on the menu at opening, per WRAL in 2006.

Address: Raleigh — 4209 Lassiter Mill Rd., Ste. 115, at North Hills

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Vivo Ristorante Pizzeria

On Six Forks Road near Sandy Forks in North Raleigh, Vivo is the old-school room owner David Harris acquired and, per his site, revitalized; no opening date is published, and OpenTable reviews go back to 2016. The site describes from-scratch pasta and a family-run room, and OpenTable's listing adds brick-oven pizza. Prices are on the site: spaghetti and meatballs $20, rigatoni vodka $21, bolognese $24, lobster ravioli $28, NY-style pizza $15. Whether it is open as of September 2026 rests on its own undated site plus aggregator activity through August 2026, so call before driving.

Why we chose them

• Shared runner-up honors for Best Italian Restaurant in INDY Week's Best of the Triangle 2025, Wake County, published April 15, 2025.
• OpenTable's description calls the ingredients 80% organic and farm to table; treat that as the restaurant's own claim.
• Lunch and dinner seven days, with reservations on Resy, per its own site.
• Gluten-free pizza crust is a $5 add-on, and the Grandma's Margherita is $17 on its own menu.
• Owner David Harris is also the majority owner of Amedeo's on Western Boulevard.

Address: Raleigh — 7400 Six Forks Rd., Ste. 2

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Prices, hours and opening status last checked September 21, 2026. Call ahead where an entry says to.