RFK Cuisine · Italian · Sydney
Best Italian Restaurants in Sydney 2026
Italian · Sydney · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Sydney does Italian the way it does everything else: outdoors, by the water, and a little louder than Rome would like. The city's postwar Italian migration built a deep trattoria culture, and the best of it has grown up alongside the harbour — a hatted modern-Italian room on the water at Crown, an ocean-pool icon at Bondi, a wharf stalwart at Woolloomooloo. Underneath sits the older, unkillable layer: a Paddington classic still finishing fettuccine with a fried egg and truffled butter tableside, a Surry Hills trattoria with a pasta cave, a CBD steakhouse that cooks one cut of beef, a Rosebery pizzeria that was the first in Australia to earn Naples' own certification. Ranked below are the seven rooms that show the cuisine at its best in this city, with the chef, the signature and the dish to order at each.
1.a'Mare
Alessandro Pavoni's hatted, harbour-front Italian at Crown — book it for the most polished pasta dinner in the city, for an occasion.
a'Mare, on the first level of Crown Sydney at Barangaroo, is the city's most accomplished Italian dinner. Alessandro Pavoni — the Lombardy-born chef behind the long-hatted Ormeggio at the Spit — cooks a seasonal menu built on house-made pasta and the day's seafood, plated with restraint and finished with the kind of technique that earns a chef's hat from the Good Food Guide. The room is sleek and glass-walled, looking across the water, and a Sunday pasta service has become its own draw. This is Italian cooking as fine dining rather than trattoria comfort, the produce treated with a light hand. Dinner runs roughly 120 to 180 Australian dollars a head before wine. Book a week or two ahead for a weekend window table. Come for the most precise Italian kitchen in Sydney, with the harbour in the glass.
Reserve a week or two out; the house-made pasta, the Sunday pasta service, the seafood courses, a window table over the water.
2.Icebergs Dining Room and Bar
The Bondi icon above the ocean pool, reborn after a revamp — book a window at golden hour for Italian cooking and the best view in Sydney.
Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, cantilevered above the Bondi Icebergs ocean pool, has the best outlook of any restaurant in the city and one of the most recognisable rooms in the country. Maurice Terzini opened it in 2002 and reworked it for its twentieth anniversary with the same Rome-based architects who designed the original, and it still runs a confident Italian menu — crudo, house pasta, whole fish, the long Italian wine list — with the full sweep of the beach through floor-to-ceiling glass. It trades partly on the view, but the kitchen holds up, and a stream of guest residencies keeps it current. Reckon on 120 to 160 dollars a head. Book a week or two ahead and ask for a window at golden hour. Come for the Sydney Italian meal you bring visitors to, where the room is half the point.
Reserve ahead, window table at sunset; the crudo, the house pasta, the whole fish, an Italian white from the list.
3.Buon Ricordo
The Paddington classic behind Sydney's most famous pasta — book it for fettuccine al tartufovo finished with a fried egg at the table.
Buon Ricordo, in a warm terrace on Boundary Street in Paddington, is the city's grand old Italian, opened by Armando Percuoco in 1987 and carried on under chef-owner David Wright. Its signature is the most famous plate of pasta in Sydney: fettuccine al tartufovo, tossed with parmesan and truffled butter and crowned with a fried egg, finished tableside so the yolk runs through the strands. The rest of the menu is generous, southern-leaning Italian — the kind of cooking that does not chase trends because it does not need to — and the dining room is all soft light and regulars. It is comfort at a high level, not reinvention. Dinner lands around 110 to 140 dollars a head. Book a few days ahead, longer for the weekend. Come for the egg-and-truffle fettuccine and the warmth of a room that has been getting it right for nearly forty years.
Reserve a few days out; the fettuccine al tartufovo finished tableside, the southern-Italian mains, a bottle from the Italian list.
4.Pellegrino 2000
The buzzy Surry Hills trattoria with a downstairs pasta cave — book it for hand-made pasta and the city's most fun Italian night.
Pellegrino 2000, a two-storey trattoria on Campbell Street in Surry Hills, is the room that made classic Italian cool again in Sydney. Dan Pepperell — with partners Michael Clift and Andy Tyson, the team behind Bistrot 916 — modelled it on the trattorias of Rome and Florence, candlelit and intimate downstairs around a small pasta cave, rowdy and packed upstairs. The hand-made pasta is the draw, from prawn ravioli in brown butter and lemon to the daily specials, and the crema caramel has become the most-requested way to finish. The wine list runs deep on Italian regions. It is a younger, livelier room than the harbour classics, and the cooking earns the buzz. Dinner runs around 90 to 120 dollars a head. Book a week ahead, more for upstairs on a weekend. Come for the most enjoyable Italian dinner in the inner city.
Reserve a week out; the prawn ravioli in brown butter, the daily pasta, the crema caramel, an Italian red from the list.
5.Otto Ristorante
The Finger Wharf stalwart with the marina at the door — book a waterside table for modern Italian and Sydney's long-lunch tradition.
Otto Ristorante, on the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf with the marina lapping at the deck, has been a fixture of Sydney's modern-Italian scene since 2002 and remains one of its most reliable long lunches. The menu is contemporary Italian — house pasta, seafood, a deep Italian wine list — served on a waterside terrace that fills with a particular Sydney crowd at midday and stays full into the afternoon. It is more see-and-be-seen than the quiet rooms higher on this list, but the kitchen is consistent and the setting hard to beat for a celebratory lunch. Dinner runs around 110 to 150 dollars a head. Book a few days ahead and ask for a table on the water. Come for the modern-Italian long lunch that defines a certain side of Sydney dining.
Reserve a few days out, waterside table; the house pasta, the seafood, a long lunch with an Italian white and the marina in view.
6.Bistecca
The hidden CBD steakhouse that cooks one dish — book it for bistecca alla fiorentina over coals and an amaro list to match.
Bistecca, reached down a laneway near Circular Quay and through a door in a cocktail bar, is Sydney's single-minded Italian steakhouse. From the Liquid & Larder group behind The Gidley, with executive chef Pip Pratt, it serves essentially one main course: bistecca alla fiorentina, the towering Tuscan T-bone cooked over coals and carved medium-rare for the table. Around it sit a few Italian sides, an amaro-led cocktail list and a tight snack menu in the bar. The subterranean dining room is the headliner, but the bar is a fine consolation if you cannot get a table. The steak is sold by weight, so two diners land near 100 to 140 dollars a head. Book ahead — the room is small and the concept has a following. Come for the best fiorentina in the city and nothing to decide.
Reserve ahead; the bistecca alla fiorentina over coals, the Italian sides, an amaro cocktail, a seat in the cellar dining room.
7.Da Mario
The Rosebery pizzeria that was the first in Australia certified by Naples — go for a wood-fired Margherita and not much else needed.
Da Mario, on Morley Avenue in Rosebery, is the pizza answer on this list, and a serious one: open since 2013, it was the first restaurant in Australia admitted to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the Naples body that certifies true Neapolitan pizza. That means a wood-fired oven, a soft, blistered, foldable base and a short list of classics done properly — the Margherita and the marinara as the tests, the daily specials as the reward. It is a neighbourhood pizzeria, not a destination dining room, and that is the point: this is what Sydney Italians eat on a Tuesday. A pizza-and-wine dinner lands around 35 to 55 dollars a head. Take some walk-ins midweek; book for weekend nights. Come for the most authentic Neapolitan pizza in the city, no ceremony attached.
Walk in midweek or book weekends; the Margherita, the marinara, a daily special pizza, a glass of Italian red.
How Sydney eats Italian
Italian is arguably Sydney's defining migrant cuisine. Postwar arrivals from the south built the espresso bars and trattorias of Leichhardt, Haberfield and the inner east, and the modern scene grew out of that: a layer of harbour-front fine dining at the top, a thick band of neighbourhood trattorias and pizzerias underneath, and chefs who move between the two. The best Italian meal in the city might be a hatted seafood-and-pasta dinner on the water at Crown, or it might be a fried-egg fettuccine in a forty-year-old Paddington room, or a certified Neapolitan pizza in Rosebery — the range is the point.
A few mechanics. Sydney eats Italian across the day: the long Italian lunch, especially on the water, is a local institution, so book Otto or Icebergs for midday as readily as dinner. The harbour-view rooms book ahead and fill in summer; the trattorias and pizzerias take walk-ins midweek and reward booking on weekends. Tipping is modest — rounding up or roughly ten percent for good service, not expected on top of a listed surcharge. Pasta and pizza keep the cuisine accessible at every price point; the views and the seafood are what move the bill. For the rest of the city's tables by neighbourhood and occasion, the Sydney dining guide lays it out.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious Italian
The Circular Quay and Darling Harbour tourist terraces with photo menus and harbour markups. The waterfront strips around the tourist core serve flattened, overpriced Italian to people passing through. For a harbour-view Italian that actually cooks, book Icebergs at Bondi or Otto on the Finger Wharf instead.
a'Mare or Icebergs for a casual, decide-on-the-night pasta. These are reserve-ahead, occasion rooms. When you want excellent Italian without the planning or the bill, Pellegrino 2000 can sometimes seat you at the bar, and Da Mario takes midweek walk-ins for a proper Neapolitan pizza.
Frequently asked
What is the best Italian restaurant in Sydney?
a'Mare, Alessandro Pavoni's hatted modern-Italian room on the waterfront at Crown Sydney in Barangaroo, is the city's most polished Italian dinner, built on house-made pasta and seasonal seafood. For Sydney character rather than fine dining, Maurice Terzini's Icebergs at Bondi pairs Italian cooking with the best ocean view in the city, and Buon Ricordo in Paddington is the long-running classic, famous for its truffled egg fettuccine. Start at a'Mare for an occasion, Icebergs for the setting.
How much does an Italian dinner cost in Sydney?
It spans a wide range. The fine-dining rooms — a'Mare at Crown, Icebergs at Bondi — run roughly 120 to 180 Australian dollars a head before wine. Buon Ricordo and Otto land around 110 to 150 with pasta and a main; Pellegrino 2000 is a touch less. Bistecca is priced by its single shared T-bone, sold by weight, so a couple lands near 100 to 140 a head. Da Mario, the Napoletana pizzeria, is the cheap end at 35 to 55. Pasta and pizza keep it accessible; the harbour views are what cost.
Where is the best pasta in Sydney?
For hand-made pasta, three rooms lead. a'Mare at Crown makes its pasta in-house under Alessandro Pavoni and runs a Sunday pasta service. Pellegrino 2000 in Surry Hills built a downstairs pasta cave and turns out prawn ravioli in brown butter and lemon. And Buon Ricordo in Paddington has served its truffled egg fettuccine — fettuccine al tartufovo, finished tableside with a fried egg and truffled butter — for decades; it is the single most famous pasta plate in the city. Any of the three is a safe bet.
Which Sydney Italian restaurant has the best view?
Icebergs Dining Room and Bar at Bondi, perched above the ocean pool with the full sweep of the beach through floor-to-ceiling glass, has the best view of any Italian room in Sydney and arguably the best of any restaurant in the city. a'Mare at Crown looks across the water at Barangaroo, and Otto sits on the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf with the marina at the door. For a meal where the outlook is the point, book a window table at Icebergs at golden hour.
Do you need a reservation for Italian restaurants in Sydney?
For the destination rooms, yes. a'Mare, Icebergs and Buon Ricordo book out their best tables well ahead, especially weekends and summer; reserve a week or two in advance. Otto and Pellegrino 2000 take bookings and reward planning. Bistecca, hidden below a CBD cocktail bar, needs a reservation. Da Mario in Rosebery takes some walk-ins but fills on weekend nights. Book the harbour-view rooms early, and keep the pizzeria for a casual night.
More Italian & Sydney
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Browse the full Sydney dining guide, compare the global picks in the best Italian worldwide, read the Melbourne Italian ranking, plan a special-occasion dinner at a'Mare, find a date-night table with a view at Icebergs, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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