10 of the best Italian restaurants in Orlando
If you’re on vacation in Orlando and find yourself with a serious craving for Italian food, then you’re in luck! Orlando has a huge choice of amazing Italian restaurants serving up all your favorites.
So, from pasta to gelato and everything in between, check out our rundown of 10 of the best Italian restaurants in Orlando.
Christini’s has offered fine Italian dining to the city for over 40 years and its longevity simply shows how good this establishment really is. The meat and seafood dishes are particularly divine, but what truly complements the award-winning menu is the five-star service that comes with it.
For a varied menu that includes classic Italian dishes with a modern twist, all within welcoming and stylish surroundings, make sure you head to Prato. The wood-fired pizzas are also some of the finest in Orlando and it’s no surprise that this place gets booked out most of the time. So, if you’re in the northeast of the city, phone ahead and make a reservation.
This restaurant was never up there with the greats in Orlando, but following its makeover on the ‘Ambush’ episode of Restaurant Impossible back in 2015, it’s now one of the best in the city.
All their dishes are expertly made from scratch thanks to the guidance of celebrity chef Robert Irvine. This makes the dough in the pizzas and the pasta taste incredible. Plus, they even make fresh mozzarella every morning.
What people love about Il Pescatore is the quaint, old-school aesthetics of the restaurant’s décor and the traditional food it serves, which comes from a mix of family recipes from previous owners.
Even though the restaurant’s name means ‘the fisherman’, it’s the meat dishes that really shine at this special little place. The meatballs and stuffed cannelloni are particularly good and they don’t skimp on portion sizes either.
Mama Della’s is found within the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Universal Studios Resort, but you don’t need to be a guest to enjoy the delights of this restaurant. It specializes in meals from Tuscany, Piemonte and Naples, so you won’t find any pizza, but the meat and pasta plates they serve are superb.
On special occasions, you can also enjoy free entertainment with musicians roaming the restaurant floor and serenading you with traditional Italian folk songs.
Close to ICON Park, Vincenzo Cucina Italiana is an exceptional and award-winning restaurant that prides itself on offering Italian cuisine with ‘modern accents’. People flock to this place because the food is so good, possibly because they import a lot of pasta, meat and cheese from the great nation itself. Their gelato is also some of the finest you can get in all of Orlando.
As it’s so popular it’s definitely another spot where you should try to get a reservation reasonably far in advance.
La Luce is another fantastic Italian restaurant in Orlando within a hotel, specifically the Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek. It was another venture of esteemed Napa Valley-based chef, Donna Scala, who brought an innovative California edge to the previously more traditional menu. It was this award-winning mix that still remains to this day and has made La Luce incredibly popular with locals and tourists alike.
The thin-base pizzas are piled high with toppings and the desserts are so good you won’t want to share. As you might expect with the Napa influence, the huge wine list is exquisite.
It calls itself ‘Orlando’s classic steakhouse with an Italian flair’, so any carnivores near International Drive should head on over to Vito’s Chop House.
While there’s a huge choice of steaks of all cuts and sizes, you’ll be pleased to know that the rest of the menu features plenty of Italian classics and delicacies. From spicy rigatoni to fresh fish with traditional herbs, chicken parmesan and generous antipasti portions, there’s something to suit all tastes.
Another signature offering for this restaurant is its vast selection of drinks, in particular its wine list which features more than 800 bottles from some of the world’s finest vineyards.
If you’re in Downtown Orlando and want Italian food in a more intimate setting, Café Trastevere is the perfect spot. From the outside, it looks like an Italian villa and this aesthetic continues when you enter. With the enticing scents from the kitchen to the cozy layout of the tables, you’ll be forgiven for thinking you’re in a sleepy town in Naples.
The quality of the food more than matches the settings and the delightful menu covers all your Italian favorites, including a range of pasta, meat and fish dishes. But it’s the vegetarian options that really steal the show, with the salads being some of Orlando’s best.
The menu at Mia’s Italian Kitchen is inspired by the cooking of the owner’s Naples-born great-grandmother. This means you can get delicious meals with generous portion sizes, all made with simple, fresh ingredients.
What’s more, when it comes to Italian restaurants in Orlando for the family, this place is ideal. This is because on specific days they offer set menus that give you lots of smaller plates to sample a wider range of their dishes. In addition to this, there’s a ‘Happy Hour’ offer at the bar where you can get two-for-one drinks on weekdays between 3pm and 7pm. They also serve $5 bar snacks as well if you want a light bite.
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