RFK Cuisine · Italian · Paris
Best Italian Restaurants in Paris 2026
Italian · Paris · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
One major Italian ranking recently named the second-best Italian restaurant in the world, and it is not in Italy — it is Il Carpaccio, tucked inside a Paris hotel on Avenue Hoche, and it holds the only Michelin star an Italian kitchen in the city currently has. That tells you something about Paris and Italy: the French capital cooks Italian food quietly, almost defensively, but when it commits it does so seriously. Below the starred room sits a deep field — the Alajmo family's gilded arcade café, a critics' pasta favourite near Bastille, the old-guard truffle palace off the Étoile, and the no-reservations Big Mamma phenomenon. These are the seven Italian restaurants in Paris worth booking in 2026, ranked on the cooking, the room and what the bill buys, with the dish to order and how to get a table.
1.Il Carpaccio
Paris's only Michelin-starred Italian, a chef couple cooking pasta worth a hotel-lobby detour — book Il Carpaccio for a serious Italian occasion.
Il Carpaccio, the Italian dining room inside Le Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris on Avenue Hoche, is the only Italian restaurant in the city to hold a Michelin star, and it kept it in 2026. The chef couple Oliver Piras and Alessandra Del Favero — who arrived in 2021 and won the star the following spring — cook a precise, produce-led menu of handmade pasta and luxury ingredients that one major Italian ranking placed second among Italian restaurants worldwide. The room, all mirrors and shell-pink, is grand-hotel formal rather than trattoria-warm. Expect around €150 to €190 a head before wine. For the best Italian meal in Paris and a genuine occasion, book the dining room a week or two ahead.
Reserve direct or via the hotel; the signature carpaccio, a handmade pasta course, and a Piedmontese red from the list.
2.Passerini
Giovanni Passerini's critics' favourite near Bastille, pasta and offal cooked with conviction — book it for the best plate of pasta in Paris.
Passerini, on rue Traversière near the Marché d'Aligre in the twelfth, is the Paris Italian that chefs and critics name first. Giovanni Passerini cooks a short, daily-changing menu built on superb pasta and a Roman feel for offal and big flavours — the trippa alla romana is a signature, the fresh pasta is the reason regulars come back, and a whole roast fish or meat to share anchors the table. The room is relaxed and unfussy, the wine list Italian and well-chosen. Expect around €60 to €90 a head before wine. For modern Italian cooking with real point of view and none of the hotel formality, book a week ahead; the room is small.
Reserve direct; the trippa alla romana, whatever pasta is on that day, and a sharing main from the board.
3.Caffè Stern
The three-star Alajmo family's gilded arcade café, history on the walls and Veneto on the plate — book Caffè Stern for atmosphere with pedigree.
Caffè Stern is the Paris outpost of the Alajmo family, the Veneto dynasty behind three-Michelin-star Le Calandre near Padua and Il Quadri on Venice's Piazza San Marco. They installed it inside a preserved nineteenth-century engraver's workshop in the Passage des Panoramas, one of the city's covered arcades, and left the gilded, theatrical interior almost untouched. Chef Alessandro Fornaro cooks a Veneto-leaning Italian menu — cicchetti, risotto, pasta — to match the setting. The room is the headline act, but the kitchen has the family's serious pedigree behind it. Expect around €70 to €110 a head before wine. For an atmospheric Italian dinner in one of Paris's most beautiful rooms, book a week ahead.
Reserve direct; the cicchetti to start, a risotto or pasta course, and a Veneto wine you will not see at home.
4.Sormani
The old-guard Italian off the Étoile, where the white-truffle trolley still arrives in autumn — book Sormani for grand, classic Italian indulgence.
Sormani, on a quiet street off the Étoile in the seventeenth, is the grand old man of Paris Italian dining: a plush, red-walled room founded by Pascal Fayet in 1985 and led since 2019 by Franck Potier-Sodaro, built on classic luxury cooking rather than neo-bistro fashion. This is where Paris has long gone for white truffle in season, for rich handmade pasta and for the kind of formal Italian service that has all but disappeared elsewhere. It is unashamedly expensive and old-school, and for a certain occasion that is exactly the point. Expect around €90 to €140 a head before wine, more when the truffles are out. For traditional, indulgent Italian in a grand room, book a few days to a week ahead.
Reserve direct; the truffle pasta in season, a classic risotto, and a Barolo from the cellar.
5.Daroco
A buzzy Roman trattoria in a former Gaultier atelier near the Bourse — book Daroco for excellent pizza and pasta in a great-looking room.
Daroco, in a former Jean-Paul Gaultier atelier on rue Vivienne near the Bourse, is the smart-casual Italian that Paris actually fills every night. The cooking is Roman at heart — blistered pizza from the oven, generous pasta, antipasti to share — done well and served in a high-ceilinged, good-looking room that draws a young, dressed-up crowd. It is livelier and far cheaper than the starred end, and the spin-off Datil and wine bar nearby extend the same idea. Expect around €40 to €70 a head with drinks. For a fun, reliable Italian dinner with a buzz, book a few days ahead, especially for weekends.
Reserve direct; a pizza from the oven, a pasta to share, and an Aperol or an Italian red.
6.Loulou
Italian-Riviera cooking with a Tuileries terrace beside the Louvre — book Loulou for the best-located lunch in Paris on a sunny day.
Loulou sits in the garden of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, on the edge of the Jardin des Tuileries with the Louvre filling the view, and trades on one of the great restaurant locations in Paris. The menu is Italian with a Riviera accent — vitello tonnato, pasta, grilled fish — competent rather than revelatory, but nobody books Loulou only for the cooking. The terrace, on a warm day, is the whole point: a long lunch in the Tuileries with a glass of white and the museum behind you. Expect around €60 to €100 a head with drinks. For a sunny, see-and-be-seen Italian lunch in a landmark setting, book the terrace well ahead.
Reserve direct, terrace if you can; the vitello tonnato, a pasta, and a chilled glass in the garden.
7.Pink Mamma
The four-floor Big Mamma phenomenon in Pigalle, truffle pasta and queues — go to Pink Mamma for cheap, joyful Italian with no booking.
Pink Mamma, on rue de Douai in Pigalle, is the flagship of the Big Mamma group and the most Instagrammed Italian room in Paris — four floors of greenery, a glass roof, and a menu of truffle pasta, Florentine steak and burrata pitched to a young, hungry crowd. It is cheap for what it is, ruthlessly consistent and genuinely fun, and the no-reservations policy means a queue down the street most nights. Purists will sniff; everyone else has a great time. Expect around €30 to €50 a head with drinks. For a joyful, affordable Italian night with no fuss, arrive early or off-peak — the wait is real, and the kitchen runs late.
Walk in early; the truffle pasta, the Florentine steak to share, and a tiramisu to finish.
How Paris eats Italian
Paris has a complicated relationship with Italian food. In a city this proud of its own cooking, Italian has long been treated as a casual cuisine — pizza and a carafe — rather than a destination, and for years the best Italian eating here was hidden in small rooms run by homesick Italians. That has changed. Il Carpaccio's star and its place near the top of the global Italian rankings, the arrival of serious operators like the Alajmos and Giovanni Passerini, and the runaway success of the Big Mamma group have together pushed Paris Italian from afterthought to genuine scene. The result is a field that runs from a grand-hotel tasting menu to a no-reservations pasta hall, with real cooking at both ends.
A few practical notes. The smarter rooms — Il Carpaccio, Caffè Stern, Sormani, Passerini — book a few days to two weeks ahead, longer for weekends and truffle season, and their lunch menus are the value move. The Big Mamma rooms, Pink Mamma above all, take no bookings at all, so arrive early or expect to queue. Service is included in France by law, with a small extra round-up the norm for good service. Pasta and sharing antipasti are the natural way to order across most of these kitchens. For the wider city by neighbourhood and occasion, use the full Paris dining guide.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for a serious Paris Italian meal
The tourist-strip pizzerias around the big sights, for the cooking. The Italian places clustered around the Champs-Élysées and the Latin Quarter tourist runs trade on the location, not the kitchen, and the food is generic. For real Italian, head to one of the rooms above rather than the first red-checked tablecloth you see.
Il Carpaccio, if you want a relaxed, low-key dinner. It is the best Italian in the city, but it is a formal grand-hotel restaurant with a grand-hotel bill. If you want pasta and a glass of wine without the ceremony, that is Passerini or Daroco, not a starred dining room. Save Il Carpaccio for the night you want the occasion.
Frequently asked
What is the best Italian restaurant in Paris?
Il Carpaccio, inside Le Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris on Avenue Hoche, is the best, and it is the only Italian restaurant in the city with a Michelin star. The chef couple Oliver Piras and Alessandra Del Favero cook a refined menu of handmade pasta and luxury produce that a major Italian ranking placed second among Italian restaurants worldwide. For modern Italian closer to a neighbourhood mood, Giovanni Passerini's Passerini near Bastille is the critics' pick. Choose Il Carpaccio for the occasion, Passerini for the pasta.
Does Paris have a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant?
Yes. Il Carpaccio, the Italian dining room at Le Royal Monceau – Raffles Paris, holds one Michelin star and retained it in the 2026 guide. It is the city's only starred Italian, run by the chef couple Oliver Piras and Alessandra Del Favero, who took over the kitchen in 2021 and won the star in 2022. Below it, Paris has a deep field of excellent unstarred Italian rooms — Passerini, Caffè Stern from the three-star Alajmo family, and the old-guard luxury of Sormani among them.
How much does an Italian dinner in Paris cost?
Il Carpaccio is the splurge at roughly €150 to €190 a head before wine for its tasting and pasta menus. The modern mid-tier — Passerini, Caffè Stern and the long-running Sormani — generally lands between €60 and €140 a head depending on how much you order and whether truffles are involved. The casual end is far cheaper: the Big Mamma rooms like Pink Mamma run around €30 to €50 a head, and Daroco is similar. Lunch menus, where offered, are the value way into the smarter kitchens.
What is Caffè Stern?
Caffè Stern is the Paris restaurant of the Alajmo family, who run the three-Michelin-star Le Calandre near Padua and Il Quadri in Venice. It sits inside a preserved nineteenth-century engraver's shop in the Passage des Panoramas, one of the covered arcades in the second arrondissement, and serves a Veneto-leaning Italian menu under chef Alessandro Fornaro. The room itself — gilded, theatrical, unchanged from its Stern engraving days — is half the reason to come. Book for an atmospheric dinner with serious Italian pedigree behind the kitchen.
Where is the best casual or budget Italian in Paris?
The Big Mamma group's Pink Mamma in Pigalle is the casual icon — four floors of greenery, truffle pasta and Aperol, no reservations and queues out the door, cheap for what you get at around €30 to €50 a head. Daroco, in a former Jean-Paul Gaultier atelier near the Bourse, does excellent Roman pizza and pasta in a buzzy room. Both are loud, fun and far cheaper than the starred end; go early or off-peak, because the Big Mamma rooms in particular do not take bookings and fill fast.
More Italian, by city and field
More from RFK
Browse the full Paris dining guide, compare the global field on the best Italian worldwide, read the verdict on one-star Il Carpaccio and the Alajmos' Caffè Stern, plan a table to impress a client, find a first-date dinner at Daroco, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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