Diners' Choice: Contemporary Italian restaurants in New York City

OpenTable

Updated April 05, 2025

Looking for restaurants with the best overall Contemporary Italian cuisine in New York City? You’re in the right place. Each month OpenTable analyzes more than 400,000 new diner reviews. We sort the results by category to help you discover new favorites. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

Café Mars

4.9

4.9 (116)

$50 and over

Contemporary Italian

Park Slope

About the restaurant

Café Mars is an unusual Italian restaurant. Come see what we mean!

For parties larger than 6 please email info@cafemarsbk.com to help craft your hassle free dining experience!

Top review

Cay

Dined 4 days ago

We had a wonderful night at Cafe Mars. Food (and drink) was delicious, service was warm and helpful. We love love love Cafe Mars!

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Experience

Large Party Pre Fix Reservation (5-6 guests)

Aunt Jake's Pasta Experience

4.9

4.9 (1045)

$30 and under

Contemporary Italian

Upper East Side

About the restaurant

Join us at Aunt Jake's Upper East Side for our Pasta Making Class & 3-course pasta menu! The cost is $60 per person for pasta instruction and the prefix meal. We require a $10 per person non-refundable deposit.
The entire experience is approximately 2.5 hours.

Please use the OpenTable mobile app for best results when booking the Pasta Experience.

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Aunt Jake's was founded in 2015, as the company set out to replicate the idyllic, simplistic cuisine we grew up to enjoy. However, we wanted to create Italian food for the “next” generation. The idea was to develop an Italian concept around the customer’s choice of how to eat pasta compared to how the restaurant wanted you to eat it. With that in mind, Aunt Jake’s core mission is to bring high-quality fresh ingredients daily to craft our handmade pasta and sauces health-consciously. The customer can mix and match sauce with shape and create a custom dish of their own.

Top review

Fabio

Dined 1 day ago

Truly an amazing experience. Anthony, the pasta trainer, was funny, helpful, and provided an unforgettable experience for my girlfriend and I. The bartender and server were both so helpful and funny as well. We were looking forward to this for over a month and it did NOT disappoint. Food was spot on and delicious and eating the homemade pasta the staff makes was the difference you can immediately tell. I recommend this to friends and couples looking for a great time. Thank you, Anthony!

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Experience

Aunt Jake's "How to Make Pasta" Experience

Lume

4.5

4.5 (9)

$31 to $50

Contemporary Italian

West Village

About the restaurant

Lume is a new Italian restaurant in the West Village that offers a unique dining experience. The restaurant is divided into two sections: a bar and a dining room. The bar is U-shaped and is adorned with a shower of lamps that give the space a chic and festive feel. The dining room features traditional French banquettes, beige tones, and bronze moldings for an ambiance of discreet luxury. The menu at Lume is a balance between French classics and Italian cuisine. There are two chefs in the kitchen, one Italian and one French. The menu features dishes such as arancinis with porcini mushrooms, grilled octopus, and wagyu beef carpaccio for starters. For main courses, there are comforting pasta dishes like ziti alla bolognese and bucatini cacio e pepe, as well as more adventurous options like scallops with rosemary and risotto with sun-dried tomatoes, or chicken parmesan with fontina cheese. The service at Lume is attentive, and the staff has been recruited from the owners' other two restaurants. The owners are a family business and are all very involved in the restaurant. They are lucky to have employees who have been loyal for years. Lume has been a success since it opened, and it continues to be popular with both

Top review

OpenTable DinerVIP

Dined on Feb 28, 2025

Lovely restaurant! Cute and cozy ambience, and the food was amazing

Ninos 46

4.5

4.5 (1217)

$30 and under

Contemporary Italian

Midtown West

About the restaurant

Our family-owned, traditional Italian midtown restaurant is back! Bigger and better than ever,” Nino’s 46” is now serving, lunch and dinner daily. Stop by for our delicious wood fired brick oven pizza, our handcrafted pasta and homemade desserts. Join us for a glass of wine, a cocktail or an espresso. No matter what you choose from our re-invented menu, you will not be disappointed.

Top review

Christina

Dined on Apr 16, 2025

Food was delicious! Great place! Service was great as well

Cecconi's Dumbo

4.6

4.6 (5444)

$30 and under

Contemporary Italian

DUMBO

About the restaurant

In support of the regulations issued by the city of New York, Cecconi’s Dumbo is now open for outdoor seating until 11pm.

Cecconi’s Dumbo is a modern day classic Italian restaurant near Brooklyn Bridge park, specializing in hand-made pasta, wood-fired pizza and other Italian staples. Originating in Venice and with outposts in London and West Hollywood, Cecconi’s has become a critically acclaimed dining destination featuring simply prepared Venetian inspired food.

With waterfront views of the Manhattan Skyline, join us in our main dining room, bar or patio dinner and weekend brunch seven days a week.

Cecconi’s offers an elegant and relaxed dining experience for all guests.

Top review

Serhii

Dined 5 days ago

Excellent food, pleased atmosphere. Easy reservation.

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Popular dish

Spicy Salami Mushroom

Popular dish

Whipped Ricotta Truffle Honey Crostini

Popular dish

Rigatoni Bolognese

Il Fiorista

4.7

4.7 (306)

$31 to $50

Contemporary Italian

NoMad

About the restaurant

This beautiful restaurant is a short walk away from Madison Square Park, Il Fiorista means The Florist in Italian, where we explore botanical ingredients in our brunch, dinner, and bar menus. Much like Italian cuisine this allows for local and seasonal produce, we source from the Union Square Greenmarket and local producers. Il Fiorista is open seven days a week for dinner and aperitivo hour, also weekend brunch with indoor and patio seating featuring specials from our extensive wine list and cocktails. Also our private dining is available for large parties and events.

Top review

Louise

Dined 5 days ago

Excellent pasta, tasty and good value. Lovely ambiance.

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Experience

Four Course Chef's Menu

Experience

Three Course Prefix Menu

Pizza Secret

4.4

4.4 (101)

$30 and under

Contemporary Italian

Park Slope

About the restaurant

Pizza Secret, conveniently located near the Barclays Center and other attractions as well as owned by Chef Rosario Granieri, is fueled by one of the oldest wood-fired brick ovens in New York. It allows us to bakes perfect traditional and gourmet pizzas along with authentic Italian cucine. More than just a modest pizzeria, Pizza Secret offers other delicious Neapolitan nibbles, for example crocchè, meatballs, bruschette and fresh pasta dishes, as well as refreshing cocktails such as negronis and martinis. Our atmosphere is chic, casual and fun. We were voted #19 in the 50 Top Pizza USA for 2024, so come visit us to see what we're all about!

Top review

OpenTable Diner

Dined on Mar 12, 2025

Colleen is the best server and took care of our party of 8 with kindness, efficiency and ease. The Americana pizza is always a crowd pleaser and the new vodka penne was delicious (but a bit small of a portion)! The salads were fresh and delicious. Thank you for a lovely evening!

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Experience

Lunch Special

Cecconi's at The Ned NoMad

4.5

4.5 (414)

$31 to $50

Contemporary Italian

NoMad

About the restaurant

Welcome to the first Cecconi's in Manhattan!

Situated on the first floor of the Ned Nomad, this modern-day classic Italian restaurant serves hand-made pasta, pizza, seafood, and dishes from Northern Italy.

Design details include a hand-chipped mosaic and terrazzo striped floor, a new take on the traditional Cecconi’s stripe, set against navy velvet banquettes, golden-yellow leather chairs, and a polished timber bar, inspired by classic mid-century Italian Trattorias.

Cecconi’s is open to the public, with advance reservations for members and hotel guests.

Top review

GinaVIP

Dined 6 days ago

Frequent visitor to this location and its consistently good. The food is tasty, comes out quick and the chairs are very comfortable. It’s mostly filled with business people during breakfast hours so if you’re looking for that or a breakfast date spot definitely check it out.

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Cacio e Pepe Downtown

4.2

4.2 (1496)

$31 to $50

Contemporary Italian

East Village

About the restaurant

This East Village gem is consistently excellent and is known for innovation and excellence in Roman cuisine. Chef Salvatore Corea creates a seasonal menu, but always remains faithful to its signature namesake dish: homemade pasta brought to your table and spun in a wheel of pecorino cheese, then dusted with a flourish of pepper. Voted a ‘Critic’s Pick’ by New York Magazine, Cacio e Pepe is celebrated by reviewers as a classic Italian restaurant with a modern twist. A 50-seat garden is set behind the main dining room, there is al-fresco dining out front, and waiters will help you select the perfect cocktail or wine to complement your meal. Enjoy dinner any night or brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Top review

DanaWyn

Dined 2 days ago

Great dinner with great service!! We were treated like regulars and had a lot of fun with our waitstaff.

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Popular dish

Tonnarelli cacio e pepe

Popular dish

Tiramisù

Popular dish

Spaghetti alla carbonara

Paul's on Time Square - Hilton Garden Inn

3.8

3.8 (68)

$31 to $50

Contemporary Italian

Theater District

About the restaurant

Paul’s on Times Square is an Italian restaurant that offers many traditional dishes as well as fresh, homemade pizza. From the delicious Burrata Caprese Salad to the Follie Di Melezane Pasta dish, there is something that will please everyone's taste buds. The atmosphere is key in this Times Square hot spot! You’d never know you were there when you wrap in the cozy, traditional Italian feel of Paul’s On Times Square. Stop by for happy hour, a regular dinner or even plan your party here. Experience it for yourself.

Top review

Rick

Dined on Mar 26, 2025

The only difficulty we had was that they did not advertise that they were located inside the Hilton Garden Inn, and we had a problem finding it

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