Philadelphia has two Italian food scenes and they barely acknowledge each other.
One is red gravy, veal parm, Formica, and a family that has run the same room since before the war. The other is Marc Vetri's descendants — handmade pasta, tasting menus, a wine list, and a chef who trained in Bergamo.
Both are excellent. Choosing between them is the actual decision, and most guides pretend it does not exist. These are the 16 best Italian restaurants in Philadelphia, sorted so you can tell which is which.
Why Philadelphia Is an Italian Food City
South Philadelphia absorbed one of the largest Italian immigrant populations in America, concentrated around the 9th Street market from the 1880s onward. What survived is unusual: not a historic district that tourists visit, but a working neighborhood where the third and fourth generation still run the restaurants.
That is why the old-school places here taste different from their equivalents in other cities. They never had to be revived, because they never closed.
The modern side arrived later, largely through Vetri Cucina in 1998 and the cooks who came through that kitchen. Both scenes now sit within about two miles of each other.
The Old-School Italian Restaurants
The ones with the gravy. Cash-friendly, reservation-optional, loud.
Ralph's Italian Restaurant — 760 S. 9th Street, Italian Market
Open since 1900 and the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in the country by most accounts. Order the veal parmesan or the penne alla vodka. Nothing here has been deconstructed and nothing is going to be.
It sits in the middle of the Italian Market, which makes it the natural end to a day on 9th Street.
Dante & Luigi's — 762 S. 10th Street, Bella Vista
Established 1899, in a corner rowhouse that looks exactly as it should. The perciatelli genovese is the dish to get — a slow onion-heavy sauce you will not find at the newer places.
Villa Di Roma — 936 S. 9th Street, Italian Market
Meatballs and homemade gravy, family-run, no ceremony whatsoever. The most straightforwardly South Philadelphian meal on this list.
The Victor Café — 1303 Dickinson Street, South Philadelphia
The waiters are opera singers and they stop serving to perform. It sounds like a novelty and it has been running since 1933, which is longer than most novelties last. The meatballs are excellent and there is a real vegan menu.
Book it for a birthday. It is the correct room for one.
L'Angolo Ristorante — 1415 W. Porter Street, South Philadelphia
A small mom-and-pop dining room doing veal parm, branzino and proper cannoli. BYOB, which keeps a very good dinner reasonable.
Scannicchio's — 2500 S. Broad Street, South Philadelphia
Twenty-plus years, pork chops and clams casino, and a room that fills with people who have been coming for all twenty of them.
The Saloon — 750 S. 7th Street, Bella Vista
Dark wood, a full bar, and a 1960s mood that has not been styled — it simply never changed. The Bosses' chicken is the order. The most expensive room in this section and worth it.
Marra's — 1734 E. Passyunk Avenue, East Passyunk
Brick-oven pizza and ninety years on the avenue. Now the elder statesman of East Passyunk, which has otherwise turned over almost entirely.
Palizzi Social Club — 1408 S. 12th Street, South Philadelphia
Members only, thirty seats, four nights a week. You cannot just turn up, and that is the entire point. If someone offers to bring you, clear your evening.
The Modern Italian Restaurants
Handmade pasta, shorter menus, wine lists.
Vetri Cucina — 1312 Spruce Street, Center City
The restaurant that changed what Italian food could be in this city. A townhouse dining room, a tasting menu, and Michelin recognition when the guide arrived in Philadelphia in 2025.
Expensive, small, and still the benchmark. Everything in this section exists downstream of it.
Fiorella — 817 Christian Street, Italian Market
Michelin Bib Gourmand. Vetri's pasta bar in a former butcher shop, seating about two dozen people. The ricotta gnocchi is rich enough to be the whole meal.
The best value on this entire list and one of the hardest small rooms to get into. Full context in our Michelin guide to Philadelphia.
Cicala at the Divine Lorraine — 699 N. Broad Street, North Broad
Inside the restored Divine Lorraine hotel, which is worth seeing on its own. Pappardelle al ragù and ravioli allo scoglio, in a genuinely grand room.
Osteria — 640 N. Broad Street, North Broad
A 500-bottle wine list and a Parma pizza that has been on the menu for years because removing it would cause an incident. Indoor-outdoor seating, easier to book than Vetri, nearly as serious.
A Mano — 2244 Fairmount Avenue, Fairmount
Ricotta-heavy pastas and a menu that turns over with the season. BYOB, which is the difference between a good dinner and an expensive one.
Le Virtù — 1927 E. Passyunk Avenue, East Passyunk
Abruzzese cooking specifically, not generic Italian — farm-sourced, regional, with gluten-free pasta made properly rather than apologetically. The mural-backed patio is one of the better outdoor tables in the city.
Little Nonna's — 1234 Locust Street, Washington Square West
Mismatched plates, cloth napkins, and sauces that take the old-school approach seriously without pretending to be a hundred years old. The bridge between this list's two halves.
Philadelphia's Italian BYOBs
Pennsylvania's liquor licensing is expensive and difficult, which produced one of the strongest BYOB cultures in America. Several of the best Italian meals in Philadelphia come without a wine list, and the savings are real — typically $40 to $80 on a dinner for four.
The Italian BYOBs worth planning around: A Mano (2244 Fairmount Avenue), L'Angolo (1415 W. Porter Street), Elma (431 E. Girard Avenue, Fishtown), Scampi (617 S. 3rd Street, Queen Village) and Adoro (769 E. Passyunk Avenue).
Check before you go — licenses change, and a place that was BYOB last year may not be.
How to Choose
For a first visit to Philadelphia: Ralph's. It is the institution, it is in the Italian Market, and it explains the city.
For the best food, full stop: Fiorella, if you can get in. Vetri Cucina if you are spending.
For a birthday or an anniversary: The Victor Café for the opera, The Saloon for the room.
For a Tuesday: L'Angolo or A Mano, with a bottle from home.
For pizza rather than pasta: Marra's, or see our Philadelphia pizza guide.
Eat Through Italian Philadelphia on PlateWalk
The Italian Market is nine blocks, and the restaurants on it are three of the sixteen above. PlateWalk maps the Italian Market Trail — 5 stops, GPS-guided, so you are not standing on a corner working out which bakery is which.
Check in at each stop as you go. Complete the trail and you earn +50 PlatePoints, redeemable for rewards at partner restaurants.
Free on Android — iOS coming soon.
Start the Italian Market Trail →
For more, see our guides to Rittenhouse Square and Philadelphia's best cheesesteaks. Visit Philadelphia keeps a broader Italian dining roundup covering additional neighborhoods.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Italian restaurant in Philadelphia?
It depends which kind you want. Vetri Cucina and Fiorella are the top picks for modern Italian, both Michelin-recognized. For old-school red gravy, Ralph's on 9th Street and Dante & Luigi's on 10th are the two most consistently named.
What is the oldest Italian restaurant in Philadelphia?
Ralph's Italian Restaurant at 760 S. 9th Street opened in 1900 and is widely described as the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurant in the United States. Dante & Luigi's, established 1899, is the other contender.
Where is the Italian neighborhood in Philadelphia?
South Philadelphia, centered on the 9th Street Italian Market between Fitzwater and Wharton Streets, with Bella Vista and East Passyunk adjacent. Italian immigrants settled the area from the 1880s.
What are the best Italian BYOBs in Philadelphia?
A Mano in Fairmount, L'Angolo in South Philadelphia, Elma in Fishtown, Scampi in Queen Village and Adoro on East Passyunk Avenue. Pennsylvania's liquor licensing costs produced an unusually strong BYOB scene.
Can you eat at Palizzi Social Club?
Only as a member or a member's guest. Palizzi at 1408 S. 12th Street is a members-only club with about thirty seats, open four nights a week, and does not accept walk-ins.
Which Philadelphia Italian restaurants have Michelin recognition?
Vetri Cucina and Ambra hold Michelin recommendations, and Fiorella holds a Bib Gourmand. The Michelin Guide first covered Philadelphia in November 2025.
Where can I get the best pasta in Philadelphia?
Fiorella for the ricotta gnocchi, Vetri Cucina for the tasting menu, and Cicala at the Divine Lorraine for pappardelle al ragù. All three make their pasta in house.
