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GuideUpdated July 15, 2026

15 Best Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles

The 15 best italian restaurants in Los Angeles, sorted by rating and curated by TastyPals editors.

The best italian restaurants in Los Angeles are Palermo Italian Restaurant, Bacari GDL, Felix Trattoria, and more. Start with Palermo Italian Restaurant if you want the strongest overall first pick.

By Giovanni Ricci•15 ranked picks•Published July 15, 2026•Updated July 15, 2026
Methodology•Editorial team
Palermo Italian RestaurantBacari GDLFelix Trattoria
15 Best Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles
Google

Top picks at a glance

#1Palermo Italian RestaurantItalian • Los Angeles • $$#2Bacari GDLItalian • Glendale • value#3Felix TrattoriaItalian • Venice • value

Who this guide is for

This guide covers the highest-rated italian restaurants in Los Angeles. The picks are sorted by Google rating and review volume to give you a reliable shortlist. Picks span Los Angeles, Glendale and Venice.

Quick picks

Palermo Italian Restaurant
Italian • Los Angeles
Palermo Italian Restaurant is a italian pick in Los Angeles when you want dinner to feel a little more planned.
Bacari GDL
Italian • Glendale
Let's be clear about what Bacari GDL is pulling off at The Americana at Brand: it's a small act of defiance against mall-restaurant mediocrity.
Felix Trattoria
Italian • Venice
Felix Trattoria is an easy italian option in Venice in Los Angeles to suggest without needing a long explanation.
Browse all Los Angeles restaurantsBack to Los Angeles hub
Editorial details
Published: July 15, 2026
Last updated: July 15, 2026

On this page

  1. 1. Palermo Italian RestaurantView →
  2. 2. Bacari GDLView →
  3. 3. Felix TrattoriaView →
  4. 4. Scopa Italian RootsView →
  5. 5. Angelini OsteriaView →
  6. 6. OsteView →
  7. 7. Maccheroni RepublicView →
  8. 8. Andre'sView →
  9. 9. Ca Del SoleView →
  10. 10. Bacari PDRView →
  11. 11. Bottega LouieView →
  12. 12. BestiaView →
  13. 13. Pasta SistersView →
  14. 14. L’Antica Pizzeria da MicheleView →
  15. 15. Osteria La BucaView →

How the restaurants compare

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Palermo Italian Restaurant
Google
Palermo Italian Restaurant
Los Angeles • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$$
Best for
date night
Mood
Easygoing
Bacari GDL
Glendale • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
dinner
Mood
Glendale
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Felix Trattoria
Google
Felix Trattoria
Venice • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
dinner
Mood
Venice
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Scopa Italian Roots
Google
Scopa Italian Roots
Venice • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
dinner
Mood
Venice

How we chose

We looked for restaurants that feel like a strong fit for the guide topic, not just the most obvious names in the city. The shortlist favors rooms with clear mood, dependable pacing, and enough distinction to help someone decide faster. Read our full methodology →

Room tone

Lighting, pace, and general energy all need to support the reason someone clicked this guide.

Food fit

We favored restaurants that feel best suited for the moment, not just restaurants with broad reputation.

Useful range

The final list tries to give readers enough variation in neighborhood, price, and style to compare real options.

15 ranked picks

Bacari GDL — Let's be clear about what Bacari GDL is pulling off at The Americana at Brand: it's a small act of defiance against mall-restaurant mediocrity. The Americana typically delivers the kind of overlit chain dining that has the soul of an airport terminal, but Bacari GDL reportedly walks into that context with repurposed wine-bottle chandeliers, a wood-collage feature wall, and a 10-foot wood-stone oven that anchors the whole operation. Chef-owner Lior Hillel, whose Israeli background runs through the menu as a consistent influence, opened this Glendale location alongside the Kronfli brothers with a stated thesis: fire is the technique, the Mediterranean is the mood, and the menu answers to nobody's borders in particular. That level of intention is not something this price point usually bothers with. The wood-stone oven is the menu's organizing principle, not a design flourish. The Glazed Pork Belly — finished with an umami mulling glaze, sesame, lemon, green onion, and cilantro — is what diners and critics alike keep pointing to as the reason to come back. The Mac & Cheese, a five-cheese fondue topped with toasted panko and white truffle oil, has a reputation for delivering the crust that most versions skip entirely. The Mujadara, a Levantine lentil-and-basmati preparation rooted in Syrian cooking, is the kind of dish that punches well above the price level just by existing on this menu. Brussels Sprouts with pomegranate molasses crème fraîche and julienne beets are consistently cited for acid work that outperforms plenty of pricier neighbors across the street. The practical case for Bacari GDL runs through the 90-minute open bar, which is reportedly the worst-kept value secret on the Americana block and makes this one of the more defensible dinner propositions in the San Fernando Valley corridor. Book ahead on weekends — the room fills once the shopping crowd clears out. If you're ordering strategically, the Pork Belly and Mujadara together represent the menu's sharpest contrast: fire-roasted richness against restrained Levantine earthiness. Close with the Medjool Date Cake — brown sugar caramel, crispy bacon — and you'll understand why the room stays full. View restaurant →

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Maccheroni Republic — Maccheroni Republic occupies a room on South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles that takes the trattoria idea seriously: tin ceilings, tiled walls, tall mirrors, the kind of interior that doesn't need a concept because it already has a character. Antonio Tommasi and Jean-Louis de Mori opened it in 2014, and a decade in it carries a Michelin Bib Gourmand — recognition that tends to follow kitchens delivering consistent, purposeful cooking rather than momentary ambition. The operation runs an in-house pastificio working exclusively with organic flour, which frames everything that follows. The menu centers on handmade pasta in the Italian regional tradition, and the dishes that consistently draw attention are the bigoli della nonna — long tubular strands paired with an Angus-and-sausage ragù — and the squid ink garganelli, which diners reportedly find carries genuine seafood depth without leaning on spectacle to make the point. A pappardelle with beef ragù rounds out the pasta repertoire that the kitchen is known for, and the pattern across accounts is one of technique in service of restraint: sauces that support the pasta rather than overwhelm it. At a mid-range price point, the Bib Gourmand designation implies a kitchen punching above what the cheque suggests. Practically speaking, Maccheroni Republic absorbs a weeknight dinner and a quiet occasion with equal composure — it doesn't pitch itself differently depending on why you're there. Walk-in availability is plausible but unreliable given its reputation; a reservation is the more sensible approach. If you're ordering to understand what the kitchen actually does, the bigoli della nonna and the squid ink garganelli are the logical starting points. View restaurant →
Bestia — Bestia arrived in the Arts District more than a decade ago and is widely credited with reorienting what Los Angeles expected from Italian cooking — not red-sauce nostalgia, not minimalist modernism, but something more aggressive and ingredient-driven. The room itself is part of the proposition: a converted warehouse space that accommodates a full dining room at volume, anchored by a wood-fired oven that drives much of the menu's character. The neighbourhood has changed considerably around it, but Bestia's reputation has kept pace rather than coasted on founding mythology. The menu is built around handmade pastas, wood-fired preparations, and a commitment to offal that is unusual for a restaurant operating at this scale and visibility. Diners consistently point to the offal dishes — bone marrow, chicken liver, sweetbreads among them — as the kitchen's most direct statement of intent. That a full Arts District dining room sustains demand for sweetbreads night after night is a reasonable indicator that the kitchen has developed an audience rather than simply inherited one. Pastas are reported to rotate with some frequency, which rewards repeat visits and suggests the kitchen is working from a position of confidence rather than formula. No verified dish list is available for this edition, so ordering should follow the server's guidance on what is current. Reservations are a genuine logistical consideration. Peak sittings on Friday and Saturday evenings book out well in advance — the system should be approached the moment a window opens. Tuesday and Wednesday sittings are reportedly more accessible without any reported drop in kitchen output. Thursday evenings are flagged by regulars as a useful middle ground: the room has momentum but the weekend crowd has not yet arrived. Book at least two to three weeks out for any weekend visit. View restaurant →

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Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist