Discover the Coziest Italian Restaurants in the West Village
From intimate osterias to bustling all-day eateries, these neighborhood restaurants do Italian well.
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Finding your favorite Italian restaurant in a city like New York is an extraordinary act—and once you have one, you must never let it go. Hold it tightly like the lapels of a wool coat when the wind whips down Sixth Avenue. Learn the names of the owners, the managers and the waitstaff. Greet them ebulliently, and if you can, in Italian. Try every dish on the menu until you know, for sure, which is your go-to. Tip plentifully and often until the server knows, for sure, what that dish is, too.
In Manhattan, it is fair to say there are more Italian restaurants than one can count, many of which are pizzerias or heavier American-Italian cuisine that stray from the goal of being transported to an evening in that dreamy European country. Others are tailored for tourists, and those are not on this list. Now, if you’re a New Yorker who already has their beloved Sangiovese on tap at the osteria down the street, maybe this roundup isn’t a necessity, but you’re still sure to rediscover an old favorite you forgot about or a new spot you’ve been wanting to check out. If you’re someone looking for love (of pasta) in the West Village, read on.
The West Village: a sweet, upscale neighborhood between Tribeca and the Meatpacking District. Its notable aesthetic consists of cobblestone streets, vine-covered brownstones and some of the city’s most authentic, divinely delicious Italian restaurants. From newly opened hotspots to pocket-sized espresso bars overflowing with Italian energy, we rounded up 14 of the West Village’s best Italian restaurants that feel like home.
The Coziest Italian Restaurants in the West Village
Don Angie
- 103 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY 10014
Home of the famous lasagna pinwheels, Don Angie is a West Village classic epitomizing Italian food in New York City, done right. From date nights to drinks with friends, Don Angie is an intimate setting for shareable plates and melt-in-your-mouth pastas, such as the buffalo milk caramelle with black sesame and candied kumquat. It’s been open since 2017, but reservations are still difficult—try to score one when they’re releases seven days in advance.
Open daily for dinner and for brunch Friday through Sunday.
San Sabino
- 113 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY 10014
For a dining experience dedicated to seafood, try Don Angie chefs Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli’s San Sabino. Their newest project with the prominent food group, Quality Branded, opened in spring 2024. Here, they offer playful renditions of Italian with some unexpected Asian and American fusion. Some must-try dishes include the raw spicy tuna with broken arancini and rabe furikake, octopus carpaccio and stuffed farfalle with smoked chili crab, chive and tobiko.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Palma
- 28 Cornelia St, New York, NY 10014
Tucked into a block-long pocket of the West Village, Palma feels like dining in a friend’s summer home in Italy. Its small front seating area feels like a family’s dining room filled with small tables and candlelight while its sun-drenched back garden transports diners to warm Italian afternoons whatever the weather in New York.
Open since 2001, the 35-seat restaurant offers a menu filled with authentic dishes made with organic and locally-sourced ingredients. For starters, the homemade sourdough focaccia is made from a cherished Italian mother yeast, Italian flour and extra virgin olive oil from Puglia. Beside the dish description, “per fare la scarpetta!” is written cursive—which is the traditional act of using a piece of bread to gather up the sauce on one’s plate.
Open for dinner Tuesday to Sunday with a noon brunch on weekends.
Via Carota and Bar Pisellino
- 51 and 52 Grove Street, 7th Ave S at, New York, NY 10014
It’s no surprise these neighboring restaurants from Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, the chef-restaurateur team who set a standard for Italian fare in New York and beyond, make the list. Via Carota is a no-reservations, walk-in only osteria that pays homage to old-world, old-school Italian, from its rustic villa-inspired decor to its seasonal menu with mostly traditional dishes such as ribollita, a Tuscan vegetable bread soup, aged prosciutto, antipasti, verdure, pastas, pesce and carne.
Pisellino’s all-day cafe serves as an ideal stop for an espresso at the bar or aperitivo. Among many of the city’s Italian restaurants, Pisellino provides an authentic aperitivo experience–including small bites such as green olives or chips with each pre-dinner drink.
Via Carota is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday through Sunday starting at 10 a.m. Bar Pisellino daily 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
I Sodi
- 314 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10014
Sodi and Wiliams’ West Village style goes beyond the neighboring Via Carota and Bar Pisellino. Since 2008, their long-celebrated restaurant, I Sodi, has delved deep into Tuscan fare with. A calmer, less-crowded counterpart to Via Carota, the restaurant is named for Sodi’s family and is an ode that honors the chef’s personal history and roots, reflecting her upbringing on a Tuscan farm, where food is sacred and enjoying it is ritualistic. Highlights include the lasagna and pappardelle al limone.
Open daily for dinner with brunch on weekends from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Ciccio CinCin
- 681 Washington St, New York, NY 10014
At Ciccio CinCin, husband-and-wife team Giacomo Romano and Sam Leung bring the West Village a cozy, modern hub for Italian that honors a blending of culture, family and cuisine essential to New York. The menu dives deep into Romano’s native Florentine cuisine while playing with flavors from Leung’s Asian lineage. Nicely executed rustic Italian dishes like coccoli, delicate balls of fried dough dipped in a warm, decadent stracchino cheese sauce and served with Prosciutto di Parma, complement more inventive ones like the ricci di mare, a homemade pasta in a fresh, creamy uni sauce topped with seaweed flakes.
Open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner, with brunch coming soon on weekends.
Malatesta Trattoria
- 649 Washington St, New York, NY 10014
For an authentic Italian meal prepared with simple, quality ingredients in a wonderfully lived-in setting complete with, weathered white-tiled floors, red leather chairs, long wooden tables and exposed brick walls in the dining room go to Malatesta. This neighborhood spot has been serving locals since 1998; its menu is relatively limited, with straightforward dishes you’d find at Italian trattorias, including classic veal meatballs, homemade tagliatelle al ragu and other fresh pastas, and some American ones. For the West Village, and anywhere in New York City, the prices are a welcome reprieve, with pasta dishes under $20 and most wines by the glass from $10 to $15.
Open for dinner daily, plus brunch on weekends.
Lume
- 259 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014
Lume landed in the former Extra Virgin digs as one of the latest offerings for Italian fare (with some French twists) in the West Village. From the same team as the nearby St Tropez wine bar, Lume reflects its name, which means “light” in Italian, with a melodious, warm atmosphere particularly welcome on the frigid nights that followed its Jan. 13 opening. This place is great for locals looking to try something new, but also because the Italian food is exceptional. Wagyu carpaccio, crispy Roman artichokes and the more decadent burrata and lobster tail with San Giacomo balsamic vinegar stand out for antipasti, alongside a focaccia service and 30 months aged prosciutto service.
For dinner, house-made pastas typical of Bologna and Rome, such as bolognese, cacio e pepe and carbonara, plus, a uniquely creamy goat cheese cavatelli, are great to enjoy ahead of the whole branzino stuffed with hearty proportions of eggplant, artichoke and lemon confit or chicken parmesan. Don't skip out on the deconstructed tiramisu or torta meringata torched tableside. Lume also offers a significant spread for brunch, with some more decadent Italian pastas and gnocchi, focaccia with prosciutto, pesto rosso and burrata, as well as American go-tos like gluten-free buttermilk pancakes, avocado toast and their Wagyu beef burger (with fries tossed in Italian herbs and Parmigiano Reggiano).
Open daily for breakfast, brunch lunch and dinner, and until 12:30 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
L’Artusi
- 228 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014
At L’Artusi, fine Italian fare is presented to pair with alongside a diverse regional wine selection stored in a 2,500-bottle walk-in wine cellar. Opened in 2008, the entire concept is inspired by Pellegrino Artusi, a 19th-century Italian writer credited with examining the science of cooking and the art of eating well. The menu at the cozy, dimly-lit two-story restaurant is worth the hype; it’s well articulated without going over the top, such as a burrata dish with roasted fig and pear, pine nuts, mint and balsamic, and the famous roast chicken. At its recently opened supper club, L’Artusi also offers ticketed multi-course tasting menu dinners with expert wine pairings.
Open for lunch weekdays from noon to 2:30 p.m. and brunch weekends 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with dinner service starting at 5 p.m. daily.
Sogno Toscano
- 17 Perry Street, New York, NY
This espresso and wine bar is a cozy, cool scene that gets flooded with natural light during the day. Sogno Tuscano is the brick-and-mortar café for a small, Tuscany-based food products supplier for the restaurant industry, and it sources ingredients from around the region. Guests can choose from a curated selection of olive oils, pastas and the like to bring home, or order from the full-service, all-day menu at one of the intimate bistro tables. In addition to breakfast dishes, pastries and pastas, the restaurant specializes in a full-page offering of schiacciata, a Tuscan flatbread similar to focaccia, made with a range of toppings and fresh ingredients imported from Italy. Sogno Toscano hosts live music on Sunday and Monday evenings and offers half-price bottles of wine Monday through Thursday.
Open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Sant Ambroeus
- 259 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10014
It’s easy to love the West Village outpost of this reputable restaurant, which originated in Milan in 1936. In warmer months, sidewalk tables wrap around the corner of West 4th and Perry Streets, looking onto sweet brownstones and charming shops. On weekdays, this part of the West Village remains quiet amidst the morning hustle and welcomes commuters to pause for a cappuccino and cornetto at the bar (the way Italians do). Languid dinners of Cutelèta alla Milanese and simple Italian pastas like its signature, sage-flecked spinach and ricotta ravioli can be enjoyed in one of the red leather banquets inside. And don’t forget to complete the meal with a confection from Sant Ambroeus’ glass encasement of cookies.
Open daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Morandi
- 211 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10014
Keith McNally gets plenty of attention for longstanding Francophile haunts like Balthazar and Pastis. But Morandi, his rustic trattoria in the heart of the West Village, is not to be overlooked. The Italian restaurant is clearly McNally—a sweeping space with wall-to-wall mirrors splattered with time, a large wooden bar to enjoy drinks and full meals and a well-executed, quality selection of regional dishes from newly appointed head chef Fabio Bano. The hand-stretched focaccia is cloud-like and crisp; the Polpette alla Siciliana, meatballs with pine nuts and pickled raisins, melt in the mouth; and for dessert, the passion fruit semifreddo is a light, palate cleansing confection bursting with bright flavor. At Morandi, reservations are accessible and the atmosphere begs for a long, wet lunch.
Open weekdays for breakfast through dinner and weekends from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m, with a half-hour break at 4:30 p.m.
Dante West Village
- 551 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014
Dante has been an icon for Italian culture and cuisine in Greenwich Village since 1915, but the West Village sister restaurant deserves a mention on the list for its charcoal oven-baked bread alone. The maitake and oyster mushroom risotto (arguably equal parts rice and mushrooms), cherry tomato and basil burrata and béchamel-filled arancini are all contenders for must-have dishes, too. Situated on the corner of Hudson and Perry, Dante West Village’s exterior is a bloom of vines and flowers—an aesthetic welcome that beckons locals and NYC tourists into its warm, vintage-vibe interior throughout the seasons. In addition to its classic Italian fare, the menu does provide other options that lean more into Mediterranean and American, in case the night calls for a crispy baked potato.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight.
Travelers Poets & Friends and Alaluna Ristorante
- 453 to 457 6th Ave, New York, NY 10011
One More Hospitality, the team behind sea-centric Italian West Village eateries Osteria 57 and Alice, continues to impact the local scene with Travelers Poets and Friends and the sultry supper club and dinner venue, Alaluna, located inside it. This eccentric Italian love affair is expressed in a unique format. By day, it’s a market and café with a full-service dining area and bar. Customers can stop by the Italian-style market for hand-rolled pastas, house-jarred sauces, pre-made antipasti and bread or just sit and enjoy a bite while they work or dine with friends. At night, the market-café changes over to accommodate a dinner crowd.
For a moodier, more fine-dining experience, guests can try Alaluna, which operates separately from Travelers Poets and Friends but can be accessed through a velvet curtain (or the front door at 453 Sixth Avenue). Downstairs, it houses a private dining area and bar intended to be “the dark side of the moon.”
Travelers Poets and Friends is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Alaluna is open Wednesday to Saturday for dinner only.
