RFK Cuisine · Italian · Chicago
Best Italian Restaurants in Chicago 2026
Italian · Chicago · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Sarah Grueneberg spent a decade making the case that the best pasta in Chicago is rolled fresh in a glass-walled pastificio in the West Loop, and the line for a Monteverde table still proves her right every night. But the city's Italian map is wider than one room: a Logan Square kitchen with the only Green Star in Chicago, a River North dining room built for being photographed, a Lakeview room that cooks the south of Italy over wood, and two trattorias — one Tuscan, one northern — that have outlasted every trend the city has thrown at them. These are the seven Italian rooms worth planning an evening around, ranked on the cooking, the room and what the bill buys, with the dish to order at each.
1.Monteverde
Chicago's benchmark pasta room a decade on; book Monteverde weeks ahead for a dinner built around the cacio whey pepe.
Sarah Grueneberg — a James Beard Best Chef: Great Lakes winner and Top Chef finalist — opened Monteverde at 1020 West Madison Street in 2015, and ten years in it is still one of the hardest reservations in the West Loop. The heart of the room is the pastificio, a glass-fronted station where the team rolls fresh shapes through the day; the signature is the cacio whey pepe, a corkscrew fusilloni built on pecorino and lemon-ricotta whey that is the city's smartest riff on cacio e pepe. The tortelli and the wood-grilled dishes back it up, mains land in the mid-twenties, and the room hums without tipping into noise. This is the table to build a Chicago Italian night around. Book on Tock two to four weeks out.
Reserve on Tock; the cacio whey pepe, a tortelli, and whatever is wood-grilled.
2.Daisies
The only Green Star in Chicago; book Daisies for vegetable-led pasta that takes sustainability as seriously as flavor.
Joe Frillman opened Daisies in Logan Square in 2017 and expanded it into a bigger room a block away in 2023, and the kitchen holds the only Michelin Green Star in Chicago — awarded in 2023, 2024 and 2025 — alongside a 2025 Bib Gourmand. Frillman builds the menu off his family's farm produce, so the pasta arrives wrapped around whatever is at its peak: a hand-cut noodle with spring alliums, a filled shape with summer squash. It is the rare seasonal restaurant where the vegetables, not the protein, are the headline, and the cocktail program is genuinely good. Book a few days ahead on Resy, more for a weekend.
Reserve on Resy; the pasta of the week and a vegetable plate, then a cocktail.
3.RPM Italian
River North's most glamorous Italian room; book RPM for the tableside bolognese and the best people-watching in the city.
RPM Italian, the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant at 52 West Illinois Street backed by Giuliana and Bill Rancic, is where Chicago goes to be seen over pasta. The room is loud, low-lit and full of suits and celebrities, and the kitchen knows exactly what it is for: a tableside bolognese finished in a wheel of parmigiano, a long handmade-pasta list, and a wine program deeper than the scene suggests. It is not the place for a quiet anniversary, but for a high-energy night out it is the most fun Italian table in River North. Reserve on Resy days ahead and ask for a banquette.
Book on Resy; the bolognese finished tableside and a bottle of Barolo.
4.Coda di Volpe
Lakeview's wood-fired southern Italian; book Coda di Volpe for the parts of Italy the trattorias skip, near Wrigley.
Coda di Volpe, the Boka Restaurant Group room at 3335 North Southport Avenue in Lakeview, takes its name from a Campanian grape and cooks the south of Italy — the olive-oil-and-tomato half that Chicago's older trattorias mostly ignore. The wood-fired oven does the heavy lifting, charring vegetables and finishing pizzas, while the kitchen rolls its own pasta and pours a southern-leaning wine list. It is a neighborhood restaurant with a serious kitchen behind it, a few blocks from Wrigley Field and an easy pre- or post-game table. Reserve on OpenTable a few days out; weekends near a home stand fill fast.
Book on OpenTable; a wood-fired vegetable, the pasta of the day, and a southern red.
5.Riccardo Trattoria
Lincoln Park's quiet northern-Italian reference; book Riccardo Trattoria for handmade pasta and a calm anniversary table.
Riccardo Michi — son of the family behind Milan's Bice — runs Riccardo Trattoria at 2119 North Clark Street in Lincoln Park, and it is the city's most reliable northern-Italian room. The cooking is regional and unshowy: fresh egg pasta, a proper risotto, braised meats and a tiramisù made the right way, served in a warm, low-key dining room that rewards a conversation. It is the antidote to RPM's noise — the table to take a date or a parent who wants real Italian food without a scene. Reserve on OpenTable a few days ahead; the room is small.
Book on OpenTable; the handmade pasta, a risotto, and the tiramisù.
6.Coco Pazzo
River North's enduring Tuscan room; book Coco Pazzo for a wood-beamed classic that has outlasted three decades of trends.
Coco Pazzo has held down a brick-and-beam corner at 300 West Hubbard Street in River North since 1992, cooking the kind of Tuscan food — bistecca, hand-rolled pasta, considered seafood — that does not chase fashion and does not need to. The dining room is generous and grown-up, the service old-school in the best sense, and the kitchen sources carefully enough that the simplest plates land hardest. For a business lunch or a special dinner that prizes consistency over novelty, it is one of the most dependable Italian rooms downtown. Reserve on OpenTable; same-week notice usually works outside the holidays.
Book on OpenTable; the pasta of the day and a Tuscan steak to share.
7.Anteprima
Andersonville's regional-Italian local; book Anteprima for honest pasta and a wine list that out-punches the room.
Anteprima, on Clark Street in Andersonville, is the kind of neighborhood Italian restaurant every city wishes it had more of: a small, warm room rolling its own pasta, cooking regional dishes that change with the season, and pouring an Italian wine list far more serious than the storefront suggests. There is no scene and no marketing — just careful northern-Italian cooking at a fair price, the reason it has held its corner for years. For a low-key dinner on the North Side with a memorable bottle, it is the value pick on this list. Reserve on OpenTable a few days ahead.
Book on OpenTable; the seasonal pasta and a bottle off the regional list.
How Chicago eats Italian
Chicago's Italian story runs on two tracks. One is the immigrant-trattoria lineage — the red-sauce rooms, the family kitchens, the Tuscan and northern classics that arrived with the city's Italian neighborhoods and never left. The other is newer: a wave of chef-driven rooms led by Monteverde and Daisies that treat pasta as a craft to be rolled fresh daily and a menu to be rebuilt every season. The best of the city now sits where those tracks meet — handmade pasta, regional sourcing, and a glass of something Italian that earns its place.
Geography sorts the list. River North clusters the glamour and the classics — RPM Italian and Coco Pazzo within a few blocks; the West Loop holds Monteverde; Lincoln Park and Lakeview carry Riccardo Trattoria and Coda di Volpe; and the North Side neighborhoods of Logan Square and Andersonville anchor Daisies and Anteprima. Chicago eats earlier than Italy — 7:30 is prime — and the toughest tables release on Tock and Resy a few weeks out. For everything beyond pasta, the Chicago dining guide maps the city by neighborhood and occasion.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for real Chicago Italian
The River North chain-italian rooms. The stretch around the Rancic-and-tourist end of River North is thick with high-volume Italian restaurants trading on location and a long wine-by-the-glass list rather than a kitchen. Walk a few blocks to Coco Pazzo or book RPM Italian if you want the scene done properly.
Monteverde for a quiet, last-minute night. Grueneberg's room is a buzzing, hard-to-book occasion table, not a drop-in. For a calm dinner you can get into this week, point yourself at Riccardo Trattoria in Lincoln Park or Anteprima in Andersonville instead.
Frequently asked
What is the best Italian restaurant in Chicago?
Monteverde, Sarah Grueneberg's West Loop restaurant and pastificio at 1020 West Madison Street, is the city's benchmark for fresh pasta and one of its hardest reservations a decade after opening. The signature is the cacio whey pepe, a fusilloni riff on cacio e pepe finished with lemon-ricotta whey. For modern, vegetable-led pasta, Joe Frillman's Daisies in Logan Square is the other essential table. Choose by whether you want a buzzing room or a quieter, seasonal one.
Which Chicago Italian restaurant has a Michelin Green Star?
Daisies in Logan Square is the only restaurant in Chicago to hold a Michelin Green Star, awarded for sustainability in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and it also carries a 2025 Bib Gourmand. Chef Joe Frillman builds the menu around his family's farm produce and a pasta program that anchors the plates. It is the city's clearest argument that Italian cooking in Chicago can be both seasonal and serious.
Where do you find the best pasta in Chicago?
Monteverde makes its name on a pastificio that rolls fresh shapes through the day, with the cacio whey pepe and the tortelli as the orders. Daisies, Coda di Volpe and Riccardo Trattoria all roll pasta in house too, each with a different accent — vegetable-led, southern Italian, and northern Italian respectively. For handmade pasta in a glamorous River North room, RPM Italian's bolognese is the people-watching order. Book Monteverde well ahead; the others take a few days' notice.
How far ahead should I book Italian restaurants in Chicago?
Monteverde is the toughest table and is worth booking two to four weeks out on Tock, earlier for a weekend. RPM Italian fills its prime River North times days ahead on Resy. Daisies, Coda di Volpe and Riccardo Trattoria usually need a few days' notice, more on Friday and Saturday. Coco Pazzo and Anteprima are the easiest of the group and often take a same-week reservation or a walk-in at the bar.
What is the difference between northern and southern Italian cooking in Chicago?
Chicago's Italian rooms split along the same lines Italy does. Riccardo Trattoria and Anteprima cook northern — butter, fresh egg pasta, braises and risotto — while Coda di Volpe leans southern, with wood-fired vegetables, tomato and olive oil. Monteverde and Daisies are modern and regional-hopping, building menus from technique rather than a single region. Coco Pazzo is the Tuscan classic. Pick the region you are in the mood for, then book the room that cooks it.
More Italian, by city
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