Best Italian Restaurants in St Louis

Italian food offers the ultimate in rich, comforting fare. From creamy pasta to St Louis’s beloved baked ravioli, you can find an abundance of rich and satisfying options when you settle for classic Italian food. Whether you’re looking for a special occasion dinner or an especially delightful lunch, we have some great local options for you to check out.

Bar Italia Ristorante

Bar Italia serves upscale Italian fare in a charming environment. The spacious patio dining area is especially popular in warm weather months. A local staple since 1983, this destination has a long history of delighting diners with its authentic dishes. The menu is succinct enough to ensure that every item gets ample attention and fresh preparation.

Meat lovers will adore the fettuccine tre amici, featuring veal, chicken, and Italian fennel sausage in one hearty dish. Diners looking for vegetarian options will find plenty of choices as well, such as the rigatoni with wild mushrooms, delivering cremini, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms in a rich garlic and herb sauce topped with parmigiano. You don’t have to go for pasta to enjoy the rich Italian flavors of Bar Italia. The entrees include delights such as a half chicken in wine-mustard cream sauce, an Angus tenderloin steak in chianti demi-glace, and grilled New Zealand lamb chops in a mouthwatering balsamic glaze.

Location: 13 Maryland Plaza, St Louis.

Hours: 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Charlie Gitto’s On the Hill

Charlie Gitto’s On the Hill provides a refined dining experience with a business casual dress code. Though Charlie Gitto’s opened in 1981, its kitchen boasts a much longer and more storied history. As the tale goes, St Louis’s famous toasted ravioli originated here in 1947 when a chef, at what was then known as Angelo’s, dropped a ravioli in hot oil instead of water by accident, thus discovering a dish that would soon be a local favorite.

The menu includes the quintessential toasted ravioli as well as a wide selection of Italian and Sicilian dishes, including brick-oven pizzas, pasta, steak, veal, chicken, and seafood. The Nunzio is one of Charlie Gitto’s signature dishes featuring a breaded boneless chicken breast topped with crab meat and finished with a lemon butter sauce. The Seafood Pasta Suzanne is another signature favorite delivering a spicy kick in this hearty dish filled with shrimp, clams, scallops, langostinos, and mussels with homemade tagliatelle noodles. This restaurant is the ideal pick for a special celebration or romantic date, with something for everyone.

Location: 5226 Shaw Ave., St Louis.

Hours: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Trattoria Marcella

Brothers Jamie and Steve Komorek opened Trattoria Marcella in 1995, naming it after their mother. Renowned for their Italian comfort food, the Komoreks deliver a satisfying selection of Italian favorites on their multi-course menu. You can start with appetizers, such as homemade toasted ravioli, stuffed artichokes, and roasted wild mushrooms. The pasta menu includes an inspired selection of dishes, such as the rigatoni with gulf shrimp, roasted cauliflower, sun-dried tomato, and toasted pine nuts in a roasted garlic tomato cream sauce or the straw and hay featuring egg and spinach noodles, coppa ham, mushrooms, peas, and mascarpone cheese.

Among the entrees, you’ll find dishes such as grilled lamb chops with caramelized mushrooms, onions, peppers, and eggplant risotto or grilled beef tenderloin in Barolo wine sauce with mushrooms and hand-whipped potatoes. If you’re looking for something more casual, you can order a Roman-style pizza, bar burger, or tenderloin sandwich served on cheese garlic bread. Complete your comforting feast with homemade tiramisu or Sicilian cannoli.

Location: 3600 Watson Road, St Louis.

Hours: 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Roberto’s Trattoria & Chophouse

Reservations are strongly recommended for Roberto’s Trattoria & Chophouse. This restaurant gets rave reviews for its blend of Southern Italian cuisine and steakhouse favorites. The rigatoni alla vodka gets particularly high marks for its combination of shrimp and lobster meat in a rich tomato cream sauce. The entrees include several gourmet options, such as the veal saltimbocca with imported prosciutto and fontinella cheese in a sage chardonnay sauce. The chicken spiedini is stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, onion, cheese, and pancetta then lightly breaded and broiled in a white wine mushroom sauce.

If you’re in the mood for something more on the chophouse side, try the filet peppercorn or ribeye paired with sides such as roasted vegetables or baked potato. While Roberto’s maintains a satisfying wine list, you won’t want to leave without sampling the house-made limoncello liquor made with hand-peeled lemons, pure cane sugar, and grain alcohol. You can even take home your own 500 ml bottle.

Location: 145 Concord Plaza, St Louis.

Hours: 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Anthonino’s Taverna

Anthonino’s Taverna has a vast menu with picks for nearly any craving. You can start with appetizers ranging from fried cauliflower in buffalo sauce with yogurt tzatziki to Prince Edward Island mussels with crostini. Anthonino’s toasted ravioli comes filled with not only beef but also ricotta, Romano, and pecorino cheeses. These ravioli are so good they were once featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.”

The pasta menu features fresh signature dishes ranging from distinctive picks such as nero pasta tossed in squid ink and served with squid to traditional favorites such as meatball pasta with Nonna’s housemade meatballs. The Italian entrees include chicken parmesan, beef braciole, and steak modiga. If you prefer something more American, you can order the Frisco-style or aptly named Americano burger. You can also opt for Americanized Italian in the form of hand-tossed pizzas.

Location: 2225 Macklind Ave., St Louis.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Do you know of another great Italian restaurant in the St Louis area? Contact our team at AutoCenters Nissan and let us know. We want to make sure we have all the best suggestions in the city for hungry drivers headed off the lot looking for something to eat.

Image by Jean-claude Attipoe is licensed with Unsplash License