The 8 best Italian restaurants in Charlotte

Charlotte’s Italian restaurants divide into two traditions: the red sauce institutions where the meatballs are the size of tennis balls and the newer rooms built around handmade pasta and a wine list. This list has both, ranked by consistency and the meal you remember. Eight rather than ten, with the pizza specialists covered in our pizza guide. Hours are current as of this writing.

1. Stagioni

Bruce Moffett’s modern Italian restaurant inside a historic Myers Park villa on Providence Road, cozy and dark, with wood fired pizza cut with scissors, fresh pasta like the rigatoni with braised pork, zeppole to finish and a signed card on the table for occasions. Sala, Moffett’s lounge next door, handles the drink before. Consistent for a decade.

Hours: Monday 5 to 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday to Saturday 5 to 9:30 p.m.; closed Sunday

Address: 715 Providence Rd, Charlotte, NC 28207

Why it made the list

• The best Italian dinner in the city, by most accounts.
• A villa with candlelight.
• Pizza, pasta and zeppole.
• Sala next door.

Directory listing: Stagioni

2. Ever Andalo

The Tonidandel-Brown Italian restaurant in NoDa, Michelin recognized and built on warmth: bread on arrival, a bar with a community feel, burrata with orange marmalade, gnocchi, mushroom tortelloni and a tiramisu that ends every review. Daily specials, careful cocktails and wine, weekend brunch. The bar is the walk in seat.

Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday 5 to 11 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m.; Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; closed Monday

Address: 3116 N. Davidson St, Charlotte, NC 28205

Why it made the list

• Michelin recognized.
• The tiramisu.
• Brunch on weekends.
• A bar worth eating at.

Directory listing: Ever Andalo

3. Spaghett

Sam Hart’s Italian restaurant in a historic Fourth Ward house, a four course prix fixe at $75 on local ingredients, strozzapreti in pork ragu and ricotta gnocchi, with everything available a la carte at the bar. It feels like dinner in someone’s home and the hospitality follows. Walkable from the Uptown hotels.

Hours: See the restaurant’s site for current hours

Address: 224 W. 10th St, Charlotte, NC 28202

Why it made the list

• A prix fixe that is not a splurge.
• A historic house, not a dining room.
• A la carte at the bar.
• Uptown adjacent.

Directory listing: Spaghett

4. L’Ostrica

Handmade pasta on Park Road in Montford, a six course chef’s tasting Friday through Sunday, a la carte on Wednesdays and Thursdays and a chef, Eric Ferguson, who runs plates himself. Birthday guests have gone home with a signed menu and madeleines. A spirit free pairing for the non drinker.

Hours: Wednesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Sunday 5:30 to 8 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday

Address: 4701 Park Rd, Suite D, Charlotte, NC 28209

Why it made the list

• A tasting menu without stiffness.
• Pasta made by hand daily.
• Midweek a la carte.
• One of the city’s 30 best.

Directory listing: L’Ostrica

5. Angeline’s

The Italian restaurant at the Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel in Uptown, with a ricotta and sourdough bread service people plan trips around, house pastas, chicken piccata, a New York strip that surprises and breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days. The elevator to Merchant & Trade’s rooftop is at the door.

Hours: Monday to Friday 7 to 10 a.m., 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m.

Address: 303 S. Church St, Charlotte, NC 28202

Why it made the list

• The bread service.
• Three meals a day, seven days.
• A rooftop upstairs.
• Handles occasions well.

Directory listing: Angeline’s

6. Osteria LuCa

The Montford neighborhood room on Park Road with a be kind motto and a kitchen to back it: spaghetti alla nerano, pappardelle bolognese, sweet potato gnocchi, a lasagna regulars rank first in the city, carpaccio, a hot honey and meatball pizza and a caramel apple cheesecake. Bar staff who look after walk ins. Closed Monday.

Hours: Tuesday to Thursday noon to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday noon to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Sunday 5 to 9 p.m.; closed Monday

Address: 4127 Park Rd, Charlotte, NC 28209

Why it made the list

• The lasagna.
• Pasta and pizza both.
• A real neighborhood restaurant.
• Lunch Tuesday to Saturday.

Directory listing: Osteria LuCa

7. Mama Ricotta’s

Frank Scibelli’s Kings Drive institution, 30 years of red sauce Italian with a bread service and hot oil, meatballs the size of tennis balls, penne alla vodka, chicken parm with a full plate of pasta, short rib arancini, mussels and a sunroom for lunch. Reservations matter; the wait without one is long.

Hours: Daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Address: 601 S. Kings Dr, Suite AA, Charlotte, NC 28204

Why it made the list

• Thirty years of consistency.
• Meatballs and penne alla vodka.
• Lunch in the sunroom.
• Open seven days.

Directory listing: Mama Ricotta’s

8. Little Mama’s Italian

The Scibelli family’s SouthPark and Ballantyne Italian rooms with a mozzarella bar at the center, fresh stretched cheese with peppadews and thick tomatoes, house pastas, ravioli in butter and sage, focaccia from the oven, a broiled chicken, a steak better than some steakhouses and a chocolate cake the size of a head. Packed on a Monday.

Hours: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. (SouthPark)

Address: 4521 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211

Why it made the list

• The mozzarella bar.
• Huge portions, fair prices.
• Sunday brunch at SouthPark.
• Two locations.

Directory listing: Little Mama’s Italian

Also worth knowing

The Neapolitan pizza specialists, Inizio on Park Road and Pizzeria Omaggio in Dilworth are covered in our pizza guide, and Dean’s Italian Steakhouse at the Grand Bohemian and North Italia in South End are the national names doing solid work. If we missed your Italian table, tell us.