TastyPals
Login / Sign up
Taste ID
AboutMethodologyApp
GuideUpdated July 15, 2026

3 Best Italian Restaurants in Upper East Side, New York

The best italian restaurants in Upper East Side, New York — each rated 4.0★ or higher. Top-rated at 9.4★. Curated by TastyPals.

The best italian restaurants in upper east side in New York are La Voglia NYC, Piccola Cucina Uptown, Uva. Start with La Voglia NYC if you want the strongest overall first pick.

By Giovanni Ricci•3 ranked picks•Published July 15, 2026•Updated July 15, 2026
Methodology•Editorial team
La Voglia NYCPiccola Cucina UptownUva
3 Best Italian Restaurants in Upper East Side, New York
Google

Top picks at a glance

#1La Voglia NYCItalian • Upper East Side • splurge#2Piccola Cucina UptownItalian • Upper East Side • splurge#3UvaItalian • Upper East Side • splurge

Who this guide is for

This guide covers the highest-rated italian restaurants in Upper East Side, New York. Whether you live in the neighbourhood or are making the trip, these picks are sorted by quality and review depth to give you a fast shortlist.

Quick picks

La Voglia NYC
Italian • Upper East Side
La Voglia occupies a generous stretch of Third Avenue at 92nd, a block from the Y, and the room itself makes a case before the food arrives: 150 indoor seats, retractable windows, 80 more on the pa…
Piccola Cucina Uptown
Italian • Upper East Side
Piccola Cucina Uptown trades on a familiar bit of theatre — the Bucatini Cacio e Pepe ($29.45) finished tablerise in a wheel of parmesan, a gesture more often seen than tasted these days.
Uva
Italian • Upper East Side
Uva has operated on Second Avenue since 2005, which, on the Upper East Side, counts for something — not merely longevity, but a particular kind of accumulated credibility.
Browse all New York restaurantsBack to New York hub
Editorial details
Published: July 15, 2026
Last updated: July 15, 2026

On this page

  1. 1. La Voglia NYCView →
  2. 2. Piccola Cucina UptownView →
  3. 3. UvaView →

How the restaurants compare

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for La Voglia NYC
Google
La Voglia NYC
Upper East Side • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
splurge
Best for
Special occasion
Mood
Upper East Side
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Piccola Cucina Uptown
Google
Piccola Cucina Uptown
Upper East Side • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
splurge
Best for
Special occasion
Mood
Upper East Side
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Uva
Google
Uva
Upper East Side • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
splurge
Best for
Special occasion
Mood
Upper East Side

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.

3 ranked picks

La Voglia NYC — La Voglia occupies a generous stretch of Third Avenue at 92nd, a block from the Y, and the room itself makes a case before the food arrives: 150 indoor seats, retractable windows, 80 more on the patio. This is a restaurant built for scale and for the Upper East Side dinner that wants to feel like an event without leaving the neighborhood. The kitchen's lineage is muddled in the public record—Antonio Savino and Alessandro Pendinelli are both credited—but the ambition reads clearly enough: a Bolognese cooked 22 hours, homegrown flours and preserves, Colorado lamb. The Pollo Wellington—chicken in place of beef—is the sort of swing that either justifies the room or doesn't, and I'd order it to find out. The wine list runs past 400 bottles, which signals seriousness. At dinner the cheque reportedly climbs; the $29 lunch prix fixe is the lower-risk reconnaissance. A handsome, romantic room for an anniversary. Whether the cooking earns that occasion is the question this address still needs to answer convincingly. View restaurant →
Piccola Cucina Uptown — Piccola Cucina Uptown trades on a familiar bit of theatre — the Bucatini Cacio e Pepe ($29.45) finished tablerise in a wheel of parmesan, a gesture more often seen than tasted these days. Here, at least, Chef Philip Guardione's Sicilian instinct for restraint keeps it from collapsing into spectacle: the dish arrives glossy, properly peppered, no costume jewellery. That same discipline carries the Pappardelle Ai Funghi Porcini (~$24.95) and a tidy Parmigiana di Melanzane ($24.95), where the cooking does its talking quietly. The room earns its Upper East Side address without straining for it — rustic wood, low light, a second-floor bar and summer terrace added in 2023 that nudge it past mere neighbourhood trattoria. At roughly $50–100 a head, the maths is honest rather than aspirational; this is dinner across from Central Park, not a destination occasion. Finish with the Cannoli Siciliani ($16.45) or the tableside Tiramisu ($16.45), both of which justify the small indulgence. A confident, unpretentious table that knows precisely what it is. View restaurant →
Uva — Uva has operated on Second Avenue since 2005, which, on the Upper East Side, counts for something — not merely longevity, but a particular kind of accumulated credibility. What the room has built over two decades is a committed Italian wine bar proposition: more than forty wines by the glass, a bottle list weighted toward the peninsula's northern regions, and a kitchen whose role is to pace the drinking rather than compete with it. The candlelit brick interior and lantern-strung backyard patio are not the product of a recent repositioning; they read, by all accounts, as atmosphere that simply settled in over time. This is a room designed for the long evening, and the clientele — neighbors who fill the space on weekday nights without obvious occasion — appear to understand that. The kitchen centers on Northern Italian fundamentals, and the dishes that appear most consistently in the record are worth noting. The truffle polenta is the anchor, reportedly substantial and deliberate — the kind of preparation that rewards patience in both execution and eating. On the wine side, the Lambrusco Medici, Ermete is the bottle most associated with this menu: lightly effervescent, dark-fruited, and well-suited to the food's register. The Vin Brulé — a mulled wine — has a reputation on the back patio in colder months that goes beyond seasonal novelty. Diners willing to move past familiar Italian varietals consistently point toward the Ortrugo and the Umbria Blend as the rewards for doing so. Practically speaking: the backyard patio is worth requesting at booking, and booking is worth doing — the room fills earlier than the late-night kitchen hours might suggest. The wine program is the reason to be here; the cocktail list is not. Come with enough time to work through a few glasses and let the kitchen pace the rest. View restaurant →

Get the App

Save these spots to your New York list

Keep the shortlist handy in the TastyPals app and find similar restaurants across New York.

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

Explore next

Upper East SideItalianclassicSpecial occasionupscale

Related guides

Guide • vancouver

The Best Italian Restaurants in Vancouver (2026)

Wood-fired Robson Street rooms, reservation-free pasta counters on the Drive, and the city's Gold-medal new osteria — the Vancouver Italian worth the table, each individually reviewed.

Read guide

Manhattan dinner scene
Google

Guide • new york

Best Restaurants in New York 2026

Ten New York restaurants that have earned their place through cooking, conviction, and the kind of staying power that survives every trend cycle — from a West Village Italian-American beloved since 2016 to a Lincoln Center tasting room that still sets the global standard.

Read guide

Get the App

Save these spots to your New York list

Save these spots to your New York list in the TastyPals app, then explore similar restaurants when you want a tighter shortlist for the night.

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