The best Italian restaurants in London for 2026, ranked

London Italian has had a quietly brilliant decade. Padella made fresh pasta a casual mid-week thing, Bocca di Lupo never went away, and the wave of Italian-British rooms (Brutto, Manteca, Trullo) finally settled into the canon.

This is the working ranking for spring 2026. No chains, no places I have only been to once, and no nostalgia votes for places that have lost the plot. If you disagree, the comments are the place — I update this every six months.

For one-off pasta-making classes and Italian supper clubs, the London food events feed catches them.

1. Bocca di Lupo

Soho regional Italian that has stayed sharp for over a decade. The menu is properly region-by-region (Lazio one column, Sicily another), the bar seats are where you want to sit, and the pre-theatre set is one of the best deals in Soho.

The fritto misto and the orecchiette with wild fennel sausage are the two orders that I always come back to. Wine list is excellent and properly Italian.

2. Padella

I know. The queue. The hype. It is still genuinely that good. The pici cacio e pepe is the most ordered pasta in London for a reason and the pappardelle with beef shin is the second order. Borough branch is the original and still the best — Shoreditch is fine but lacks the magic.

Pro tip: 2:30pm walk-in on a weekday is calm.

3. Brutto

Russell Norman's Florentine room in Clerkenwell. The bistecca alla Fiorentina is correct, the chicken liver crostini is the starter, and the Negroni is the only correct opening drink. The room is small, the energy is high, and the food is unfussy in exactly the right way.

This is my Friday-night Italian.

4. Bancone

Covent Garden pasta room. Slightly more refined than Padella, slightly less queue, and the silk handkerchiefs with walnut butter and confit egg yolk is one of the best plates in London full stop. The pici with smoked tomato and pangrattato is the second order.

5. Trullo

Highbury Italian that has been excellent for so long it is properly canonical now. Hand-cut pasta upstairs, wood-grilled meats downstairs, and a wine list that has grown into one of the best Italian lists in the city. Sunday lunch here is genuinely a special thing.

6. Lina Stores

Soho counter Italian, the green-and-white tiled room. Pasta is fresh from the deli upstairs, the polpette are the side, and the room is the kind of cosy you want for a Tuesday-night dinner. The newer Marylebone branch is also good.

7. Manteca

Shoreditch nose-to-tail Italian-British. The whipped cods' roe with fried bread is the headline, the pig skin ragu is the second order, and the pasta-of-the-day is always the move. The room is loud in the right way, the wine list is short and correct.

8. Sardine

Hoxton coastal Italian. The pici, the sardines, the bread, the wine. It is the kind of place where the menu is small and you order all of it. Reservations have been easier in 2026 which suggests the buzz has cooled which is fine, the food is still mental.

9. 40 Maltby Street

Wine bar that does food, technically, but the food is properly Italian-leaning and properly excellent. Hand-written menu, no booking, get there at 6 on a weekday. The wine list is one of the best natural-leaning lists in London.

10. Cafe Murano

Angela Hartnett's rooms. The set lunch — three courses for around £30 — is one of the best deals in central London and is a brilliant business-lunch option. The pasta is properly grown-up and the service is on a different level to most of the list.

Worth knowing

A few near-misses. Pastaio is fine but lacks the magic. Cecconi's is an event place not a food place. Tutto is too new for me to commit to but is on the watch list. Mountain is sort of Italian-leaning and is properly excellent — it would be top eight on a longer list.

How I use the list

Date night: Bocca di Lupo or Brutto. Wednesday-night pasta: Padella or Bancone. Sunday lunch: Trullo. Big group with chaos: Manteca. Birthday lunch: Cafe Murano set lunch.

For Italian supper clubs and pasta-making events, save the cuisine on the London food events feed and they will surface.