The best Italian table in greater New Orleans is a 1946 roadhouse twenty minutes west of the city that takes no cards and answers one phone. The newest is a James Beard winner’s comeback in the Marigny. Between them: a 1913 BBQ-shrimp house, a Roosevelt Hotel pizza room and a four-hour Bolognese. Nine rooms, ranked.
Sicilian first, Creole always
New Orleans absorbed more Sicilian immigration per capita than any Southern city, and the result was never strictly Italian: it was red gravy crossed with Gulf shrimp, the muffuletta, oysters baked in garlic and breadcrumbs. The modern bench runs that same crossing at every price. The New Orleans dining guide holds the full roster; the Italian dining guide sets the standards this list applies. One caution before you book: this city’s Italian scene turned over hard in 2025, and half the listicles still in circulation name rooms that no longer exist.
The nine, ranked
1. Mosca’s — Westwego
The Mosca family has run the same white roadhouse on US-90 since 1946, now in its fourth generation, and the menu still arrives family-style: oysters Mosca baked in garlic, olive oil and breadcrumbs, chicken à la grande, spaghetti bordelaise. Cash only, phone only, around $30 to $40 a head. The New York Times put it on its 25 best New Orleans restaurants list in July 2025, which surprised nobody local. Mosca’s full review covers the drive. Not for anyone who needs a wine list or a card reader; bring cash and patience.
2. Gianna — Warehouse District
Donald Link’s Italian room at 700 Magazine Street earned a James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant in 2020 and has outlived its hype cycle. Justin Koslowsky, formerly of Chemin à la Mer, took the kitchen in 2024, and the lasagnetta is the order: spinach pasta, a four-hour Bolognese of beef, veal, guanciale and chicken liver, béchamel, Grana Padano. Most plates stay under $30. Gianna’s full review has the detail. Books on Resy and OpenTable without drama midweek.
3. Evviva — Marigny
Rebecca Wilcomb won the James Beard for Best Chef: South in 2017, left Gianna in 2021, and came back in March 2025 with her own room at 2600 Dauphine Street, cooking coastal Italian with Marcus Jacobs of Marjie’s Grill beside her. The menu changes daily; the anchovy bread and whatever Gulf fish hit the broiler that morning are the constants. Ian McNulty named it among the city’s five best openings of 2025. Around $45 to $65 a head, on OpenTable.
4. Tana — Old Metairie
Michael Gulotta, who built MoPho and Maypop, turned to his own Sicilian family table in December 2023 at 2919 Metairie Road. The blue crab gnocchi is the dish the room talks about; the tableside cheese-wheel pasta is the one it photographs. Dinner entrées run $35 to $45, and the three-course $28 lunch is the quiet bargain of this list. Worth leaving Orleans Parish for, which is not a sentence written lightly.
5. Irene’s — French Quarter
Irene DiPietro opened her Quarter dining room in 1993 and her son Nicholas Scalco has cooked in it since 2000. Duck St. Philip, roasted crisp and glazed with a pecan-raspberry pancetta demi-glace, has survived every menu revision for a reason. OpenTable named it a top romantic restaurant in 2025; the garlic smell on Bienville Street does the advertising. Dinner runs $50 to $100 a head. Book it for the date; skip it if you want quiet, because the room runs full and loud by 19:30.
6. Domenica — CBD
The Roosevelt Hotel’s Italian room opened in 2009 and survived its founding chef’s departure better than most. Michael Wilson runs the kitchen now, and the whole roasted cauliflower with whipped feta, the dish that launched a thousand imitations, is still on the menu. Wood-fired pizzas sit at $18 to $22. The right call for a pre-show dinner on Baronne Street; the wrong one for a long lingering evening, because the room moves at hotel pace.
7. Pascal’s Manale — Uptown
Open since 1913 on Napoleon Avenue and owned by Dickie Brennan’s group since 2023, Manale’s is the birthplace of New Orleans barbecue shrimp: whole Gulf shrimp drowned in butter, black pepper and Worcestershire, with French bread for the sauce. Entrées run $25 to $40. Order the shrimp, a dozen raw oysters at the stand-up bar, and nothing ambitious. It is a 113-year-old institution, not a tasting menu, and it knows the difference.
8. Brutto Americano — CBD
When the Ace Hotel became the Barnett, Josephine Estelle went with it; Brian Burns opened Brutto Americano in the 600 Carondelet Street space in March 2025. The kitchen runs Gulf-Italian: seared scallops with fennel and Parmesan broth, house-extruded pastas, a short four-course option for the undecided. Around $30 to $50 for mains, on OpenTable. Early days, but the cooking already argues the hotel upgrade was mutual.
9. Vincent’s — Riverbend
Vincent Catalanotto’s St. Charles Avenue dining room has won Gambit’s readers’ poll for best Italian for twenty consecutive years, which tells you what the city actually eats when critics aren’t watching: crawfish pasta in cream, osso buco, corn-and-crab bisque in a tiny dark room with framed photos. Pastas run $23 to $27. Not for minimalists; the portions and the décor share a philosophy.
What to skip
Skip any guide still sending you to Avo: Nick Lama’s Uptown Sicilian room closed on December 23, 2025, after a decade on Magazine Street. Josephine Estelle is gone too, replaced by Brutto Americano when the hotel rebranded. And Lilette, often filed under Italian, is John Harris’s French bistro with Italian sympathies; go, but go knowing which country is cooking.
Booking mechanics
Mosca’s takes reservations by phone only and closes Sunday and Monday; call days ahead for Friday or Saturday. Gianna, Domenica, Evviva and Brutto Americano hold OpenTable or Resy inventory a month out and rarely sell out midweek. Irene’s is the bottleneck: the room is small, the Quarter feeds it tourists, and prime Saturday slots vanish a week or more ahead, so book it the day you book the hotel. For the romance calculus, the first-date guide explains why a loud Quarter dining room can still work.
Keep reading
The New Orleans seafood ranking covers the Gulf side of this city’s appetite, the New Orleans French ranking handles the Creole old guard, and the Houston Italian ranking shows what the nearest big rival does with red sauce.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Italian restaurant in New Orleans?
Mosca’s, the 1946 family roadhouse in Westwego, for the full argument: oysters Mosca, chicken à la grande and spaghetti bordelaise served family-style, cash only, phone only. The New York Times named it among the city’s 25 best in July 2025. Inside the city limits, Gianna in the Warehouse District is the strongest all-round room.
Is Mosca's worth the drive from New Orleans?
Yes, if you treat it as the event it is. The drive is about twenty minutes west on US-90, the room takes no cards, and the kitchen has cooked the same Sicilian-Creole menu for four generations. Order the oysters Mosca and the chicken à la grande for the table. Skip it only if you need a wine program or a quick dinner; nothing here is quick.
What is Creole-Italian food?
It is the cuisine Sicilian immigrants built after arriving in New Orleans in the late 1800s: Italian technique applied to Gulf product and Creole seasoning. Barbecue shrimp at Pascal’s Manale, crawfish pasta at Vincent’s and oysters Mosca are the canon. The Italian dining guide covers how the genre relates to the cooking it left behind.
How expensive is Italian dining in New Orleans in 2026?
The spread is friendly. Domenica’s pizzas sit under $25, Gianna keeps most plates under $30, Tana’s dinner entrées run $35 to $45, and a full evening at Irene’s lands between $50 and $100 a head with wine. Nothing on this list charges tasting-menu money, which is part of why the genre travels so well here.
Which New Orleans Italian restaurant is best for a date?
Irene’s in the French Quarter, named a top romantic restaurant by OpenTable in 2025: candle-bright, garlicky and loud in the right way. Book a week or more ahead for weekends. For a quieter first date, Evviva’s daily menu in the Marigny gives you more conversation per decibel, and the New Orleans dining guide lists the full date-night bench.
Prices, chefs, awards and opening status were checked against the restaurants’ published menus, booking platforms and the current Michelin and local guide editions; all of it changes without notice, so confirm on the booking page before you commit. Restaurants for Kings is editorial, not sponsored. Some reservation links may earn an affiliate commission, which never affects a ranking or a score.