Source : the age
From basement stayers to new players, these Italian restaurants serve up sophisticated snacks, perfect pasta and service that’s old-school in the best way. We’re talking establishments where white-jacketed waitstaff dish up hospitality with a capital H, others where the pace is furious but balls are never dropped. Whichever you choose, you’re guaranteed an experience that our critics have rated good enough to earn a Good Food Guide hat.
Editors’ note: This top 10 list is taken from the 2026 edition of The Age Good Food Guide, but honorable mentions must go to these restaurants awarded hats after its October release: Bar Carolina in South Yarra, now helmed by Karen Martini; Il Bacaro in the city, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary; and storied Bourke Street dining room Florentino, now under the stewardship of Rebecca Yazbek’s Edition Group.
Bar Olo
It’s barely 5pm yet the padded barstools are full, a turntable spins vinyl and the warm woody room has a convivial hum. “It’s a very busy place,” laughs one of the charming young staff who keeps the place purring. Devotees of this Scopri sibling (another hatted Italian) love its well-executed classics – from skewered saltimbocca to tiramisu – paired with largely Italian wines. There’s an exemplary fritto misto of calamari, whiting and prawns; griddled sweet peppers from the owners’ farm with salty ribbons of lardo; and the signature spiral of pappardelle ripiene stuffed with field mushrooms.
165 Nicholson Street, Carlton, barolocarlton.com.au
Caterina’s Cucina e Bar
Owner Caterina Borsato rattles off daily specials at antique marble-topped tables at her basement power-lunch hub; today it might be goldband snapper crudo with a trifecta of citrus and a persimmon sauce. The menu displays an Italian awe for the seasons, but there’s always rabbit, perhaps on the bone in a light white-wine braise boosted by green olives. A meticulous list of 600 wines spans approachable to aspirational, with plenty by the glass and half-bottle, although no one’s counting how many glasses they’ve had. What is worth counting is the chefs’ hats (up from one to two), and its 30 years of weekdays-only trade.
Basement, 221 Queen Street, Melbourne, caterinas.com.au
Cecconi’s
In another CBD basement, Cecconi’s zhooshy room is contemporary, but the welcome and service are old-school in the best of ways. Your ricotta agnolotti might come dolloped with porcini foam and nettle puree, but the flavours are true. Linguine plays a much straighter bat with a nicely cooked lode of prawn, scallop and clams. The subterranean space does a brisk business-lunch trade in big steaks and bigger reds − Cecconi’s recently raised a glass to two decades on Flinders Lane (and another 10 before that, in the site that’s home to Rockpool Bar & Grill).
Basement, 61 Flinders Lane, Melbourne; also at level 1/489 Toorak Road, Toorak; cecconis.com
Centonove
For more than two decades, staff at this Kew corner trattoria have greeted diners as guests and farewelled them as friends. This is hospitality with a capital H, from the lemon slices dropped gently into gleaming water glasses to the last lick of impossibly light tiramisu. The linen is crisp, the jazz gentle and the service meticulous. Sauces star across the prix-fixe menu, which is available as two ($89) or three ($109) courses. Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ginger and prawn mousse benefit from caviar-specked bisque, while sweet hunks of crab flesh mingle with a generous hail of pangrattato in an exemplary spaghettini.
109 Cotham Road, Kew, centonove.com.au
Di Stasio Citta
In a stark concrete gallery, suave waiters carry martinis on silver trays to top-end-of-town types − you might clock a politician and their security detail − who like their stuzzichini with a side of video art. It can feel like you’ve stumbled onto a surrealist filmset, but a single, salty bite of sage-wrapped anchovy is a delicious reality check. A tangle of whisper-crisp fried seafood and zucchini might follow, or ricotta-spinach gnudi, gnocchi’s lighter Tuscan cousin. Two-hatted service is as crisp as the double-clothed tables.
45 Spring Street, Melbourne, distasio.com.au
Lagotto
Straddling Carlton North and Fitzroy North, Lagotto’s mood-lit marble and maroon room attracts a well-dressed young professional crowd. Waitstaff will affirm each of your choices with “gorgeous”. And so they are. A slab of lush duck lasagne, its cross-section crisped on the grill, luxuriates in intensely cheesy parmesan foam. A skewer of ruffled pastrami is understatedly plated with black-garlic ketchup. And pork chop partnered by bittersweet kumquat jus and radicchio tones in with the room. Woof; this is a handsome Italian with pedigree, just like its namesake dog breed.
1 York Street, Fitzroy North, lagotto-fitzroynorth.com.au
La Vetta
A rare find in an outer-fringe suburb, it’s obvious why locals are so enamoured with winery restaurant La Vetta, which strikes that elusive balance between accessible and special. Well-crusted steaks are placed on nearly every table, whether a date by the picture frame window or a big family celebrating. Global ingredients inspire ingenious flourishes: curry leaves bolster a bisque coating paccheri pasta and Moreton Bay bug; chimichurri rides shotgun with the aforementioned scotch fillet. Wines are affordable estate drops or Italian varieties, and the views of rolling hills will have you forgetting you’re still in the city.
2335 Mickleham Road, Mickleham, marnongestate.com.au
Lucia
Lucia’s handsome dining room and striking bar are elegant spaces in an unlikely office-block location, screened from Kings Way by creamy sheer drapes and an upbeat soundtrack. Shiny happy people order caviar and martinis; laughter and clinking glasses tinkle from luxurious booths and cosy tables. White-jacketed, white-sneakered waitstaff spirit away coats, unfurl napkins and pour barolo. The menu starts with eclectic snacks, including a “taco” of wafer-thin kohlrabi wrapping lobster, avocado and finger lime; mains are fine-dining level, like crisp-skinned duck with quince and caramelised-fennel crust.
11 Eastern Road, South Melbourne, luciamelbourne.com
Trattoria Emilia
From the red neon sign ushering you down the alleyway to the bluestone-framed door welcoming you into the bustling dining room, Emilia has charisma to burn. Steel-beamed ceilings and white subway tiles whisper industrial but landscape paintings and oxblood banquettes lay on the romance. Warm staff furnish you swiftly with wine recommendations and snacks − perhaps wafer-thin crostini with whipped lemon butter and Cantabrian anchovies, or kingfish carpaccio with bottarga, squid ink and freeze-dried mandarin − before moving on to pasta that demonstrates extreme mastery of the art form (the tortelloni is a signature for a reason).
360 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, emiliamelbourne.com.au
Tipo 00
This Italo institution is perennially packed, so book well in advance and don’t be surprised if service runs at a brisk pace; you’re not the only one in thrall to Tipo’s charms. There’s no safer bet than pasta, but it’s best appreciated after a few detours, the first being ox tongue: delicately sliced, glistening with balsamic reduction and arranged like an accordion. The critics’ pick of the pastas is pillowy half-moons of pumpkin ravioli sitting among taleggio and offset by crisp sage. The Tipomisu is bolted to the menu, but you might luck onto its seasonal sister, tartufomisu: layers of chocolate and coffee crowned with fresh black truffle shavings and truffle cream.
361 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, tipo00.com.au
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
