20 Italian restaurants in Boston for your next pasta craving

Mamma Maria overlooks North Square and changes its regional Italian cooking with the New England seasons. It has several private dining rooms as well as its regular dinner service, making it worth considering for a meal with a particular occasion attached. Ask about the room and group arrangements directly when planning a celebration.

The Salty Pig on Dartmouth Street lets you build a board from meats, cheeses and accompaniments before moving on to pasta or pizza. Its menu includes house-made charcuterie alongside products from other makers. It works for a table that wants to share a few things, then decide whether dinner needs another round of food.

Bar Volpe brings southern Italian cooking to West Broadway in South Boston, with handmade pasta, vegetables and wood-fired seafood. Karen Akunowicz’s restaurant is also a pastificio, or pasta shop. You can sit down for dinner or buy pasta, sauces and ricotta to make the following night considerably easier.

SRV on Columbus Avenue takes its name from the Serene Republic of Venice. The menu gives you cicchetti, fresh pasta and risotto made to order, with Italian wines and cocktails. Start with small bites before deciding on the larger dishes; a Venetian-inspired meal has more routes through it than an appetizer followed by chicken parm.

Coppa is Ken Oringer’s South End enoteca, serving Italian small plates, house-made pasta, pizza and charcuterie. The Shawmut Avenue restaurant also has outdoor seating when conditions allow. It is a useful choice when one person wants pizza, another wants pasta and everyone is willing to share at least the first part of dinner.

Trattoria Il Panino serves pasta and other Italian dishes around Hanover and Parmenter streets, with a covered patio among its seating options. Its website lists a separate late-night menu on Fridays and Saturdays. Check which menu applies to your arrival time if you are planning dinner after a show rather than before one.

Bricco on Hanover Street combines an Italian dining room and wine bar, with pasta, seafood, meat and chops across the menu. The bar offers a different way into the evening, including cocktails and pizza. Make sure you are booking Bricco Ristorante; its nearby bakery and salumeria are separate stops with different purposes.

Prezza on Fleet Street gives pasta and wood-grilled dishes equal room on the menu. Its listed options include smoked mozzarella ravioli, fish stew, grilled swordfish and steaks. That range suits a group that agrees on Italian food but does not all want a bowl of pasta. Read the current menu for seasonal preparations.

Rino’s Place in East Boston serves handmade pasta and substantial red-sauce dishes, including lobster ravioli, baked pasta and chicken or veal preparations. Its menu also states that the restaurant is cash only. Bring what you need to pay before sitting down; this is a detail to settle before the check arrives.

Fox & the Knife on West Broadway is Karen Akunowicz’s Italian restaurant and enoteca, with handmade pasta, antipasti, aperitivi and amaro. The bar serves the full menu and is held for walk-ins on a first-come basis. It gives a solo diner or pair another option when the reservation calendar does not cooperate.

La Famiglia Giorgio’s on Salem Street is built around Roman cooking and large portions. The family-run restaurant explicitly encourages the kind of meal that leaves you with something to take home. Ask about portions as you order, particularly if the table is considering several appetizers before everyone chooses a main.

Arya Trattoria on Hanover Street offers a three-course menu called Fare un Viaggio alongside its individual dishes. The whole table must participate in that option, which includes appetizers, pasta and an entrée for each person. Agree on the format before ordering; it is meant to be a shared decision rather than one person’s add-on.

Lucca on Hanover Street offers Italian dinner service, with separate wine, cocktail, dessert and children’s menus. Its private dining options include a wine room and other spaces for groups. Keep it in mind when the meal involves several generations or an organized gathering, and discuss the group’s needs before choosing a room.

MIDA’s South End restaurant is the Tremont Street location of chef Douglass Williams’s Italian neighborhood restaurant. Use the South End menu and booking page when making plans, since MIDA also has restaurants in East Boston, Newton and Fenway. The shared name does not mean a reservation at one will get you seated at another.

Euno’s menu runs from linguine with clams to mushroom gnocchi and pappardelle with a meat sauce. Seafood and meat entrées give non-pasta eaters options too. The North End restaurant also lists nightly specials based on available produce and seafood, so ask about those before deciding the printed menu has settled everything.

Terramia on Salem Street serves northern and southern Italian dishes in a small North End restaurant. Its menu includes vegan ravioli as well as seafood pasta and meat dishes. It is worth a look for a mixed group of eaters, with any allergy or strict dietary requirement discussed directly with the restaurant before booking.

Ciao Roma looks onto North Square and serves Roman-inspired Italian food, including homemade pasta. Outdoor seating is a separate reservation choice, and the restaurant warns that it may not be able to move patio diners inside in bad weather. Book the setting you actually want and read the terms before choosing an outdoor table.

All’Antico Vinaio is the sandwich option here, with Boston branches of the Florence-born shop. It belongs in a lunch plan or a quick meal rather than a list of formal dinner reservations. Compare the fillings at your chosen location and order for the appetite you brought; a restaurant guide can leave room for paper wrapping.

For another night, our Boston restaurant guide covers meals beyond Italian food. If dinner is only the start, keep the next stop nearby: the speakeasy guide gives you a few places to continue the evening.