Best Italian Restaurants in Adelaide

Ever since Lucia Rosella served Adelaide its first bowl of pasta way back in 1957, the city’s love affair with Italian cuisine has aged like a fine barolo, and only gets better with time. It feels like there’s a new Italian joint opening every other day, with relative newcomers like Anchovy Bandit slowly taking over town. Meanwhile, places like McLaren Vale’s Pizzateca show how a simple slice of pizza can shape a city’s culinary identity. For all these and more, hit this list of Adelaide’s best Italian joints, compiled by Broadsheet’s food and drink experts.

Words by Broadsheet Editors
Updated on 15 December 2025

Restaurant

Osteria Oggi

This diner raised the bar for Italian food in Adelaide when it opened in 2015, and it's just as good as ever. Visit for excellent hand-made pasta, hearty share-plates and one of the best cellars in town. It's all set within one of South Australia's most awarded restaurant interiors.

Restaurant

Anchovy Bandit

A freewheeling Italian joint that's inspired by tradition – but never bound by it. Bandit’s woodfired pizzas and housemade pasta are among the city’s best, and the drinks list spans Italianate cocktails, amaro and solid non alc options. Salute!

Restaurant

Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti Bar

In the ’50s, pizza was something most Australians had only seen in foreign magazines. Lucia's changed that when it opened in 1957, introducing locals to the Italian staple. It serves the same pizza and pasta that’s been around for decades. We hope it never changes.

Restaurant

Nido

A suburban Italian joint with hand-rolled pasta and a tight Italian wine list. While it’s very much a restaurant, you’re just as welcome to pull up a stool at the bar, order a drink, and tuck into a plate of salumi or pillowy gnocco fritto.

Restaurant

Pizzateca

“Oztalian” pizza and local wines to match. An imported Italian wood-fired oven sits in the middle of this rustic little restaurant; fresh and white with signature pastel-pink and green accents. It’s turning out pizza that’s well worth the trip to McLaren Vale.

Restaurant

Etica

The standard-setter for Neapolitan pizza in Adelaide. The rest of the selection – including antipasto, pasta and desserts – is tight and considered. The same goes for the wine list of Italian and South Australian drops.

Restaurant

Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room

It’s all about decadent dining at this New York-Style Italian Restaurant. Riffs on traditional dishes include “Roman Vegemite” soldiers, lasagne pizza and steak frites with Italian bearnaise. Settle into one of the intimate booths or get a ringside seat at the striking marble bar.

Restaurant

Blue Velvet

Italian-born husband-and-wife team Paolo Rosina and Ilenia Scuderi bring traditional (and not-so traditional) pizza and pastries to Henley Beach Road. The Pastry Lab, which serves a bounty of vegan-friendly treats, is well worth its own visit.

Restaurant

Casa Carboni

This Italian restaurant, wine bar, and cooking school has close ties with the local market. Next time you're in the Barossa, be sure to book in.

Restaurant

Amalfi Pizzeria Ristorante

The menu hasn’t changed in over two decades – no one wants it to. You can find nearly every dish in the Southern Italian culinary canon here, but special marks go to the pizza.

Restaurant

Orso

This swish bistro from restaurateur Andre Ursini is the grand counterpart to next-door deli and small bar, Willmott's Gastronomia. Come for rustic, wood-fired, pan-Italian fare. And most ingredients come from Ursini's 20-acre property in the Adelaide Hills.

Restaurant

Pizza e Mozzarella Bar

Peer through the large front windows at this Pirie Street favourite and you’ll see two beautiful red-brick ovens. They’re the only source of cooking heat for the entire restaurant, and you can learn how to use them – this spot hosts pizza-making classes for the dough-curious.

Restaurant

Coccobello

This relaxed Italian diner does just about everything really well. The pizza is great, and so is the pasta, but it's the space – stucco walls, large outdoor terrace, Mediterranean feel – that will really transport you to Italy.

Restaurant

Melt

Melt’s menu focuses on top produce and simple flavours – and it's barely changed since the restaurant opened in 2005. Favourites include the Queen Margarita and The Turk (lamb, pine nuts, pomegranate, provolone, yoghurt, mint and sumac).

Restaurant

Midnight Spaghetti

Home-style Italian food and Euro-kitsch above one of Adelaide’s favourite pubs. The namesake red-sauce pasta with anchovies, pangrattato, Kalamata olives and chilli has long been a go-to among kitchen staff at the end of a long shift, or an impromptu late-night dinner option.

Restaurant

Chicco Palms

A California-inspired pizza bar serving Italo-American classics. The pizzas here are undeniably great, but it's the atmosphere that will really keep you coming back.

Restaurant

Sunny's Pizza

You'll ask yourself the following when you enter this neon-lit gem: is Sunny’s a pizza joint that also happens to feel like a house party? Or is it a bar with DJs and primo pizza? Happily, the answer is “yes” to both.

Restaurant

Est Pizzeria

Fitting a pizza oven and restaurant into a tiny space would worry most, but not Est Pizzeria. It uses the space it has – and uses it well. If you’re coming with a group, the banquet here makes things nice and easy.

Restaurant

Ruby Red Flamingo

Last-supper-meets-Nonna’s-kitchen style dining. Our advice is to just let your waiter dishes from the ever-changing menu. That will let you focus on what's important: getting to know the very smashable wine list.

Restaurant

Borsa Pasta Cucina

A casual Italian bistro that smacks of old-school charm. Come at aperitivo hour and crowd your table with rustic pastas such as spaghetti chitarra alla carbonara – finished at the table for added theatrics.

Restaurant

Super Americano

Homestyle Italian eats are available from breakfast to dinner. Plus, pantry staples imported from Italy will hold you over until your next visit.

Restaurant

Joe’s at Sabella

A buzzy Italian diner in a renovated 1860s church with an ever-changing menu and a wine list big on McLaren Vale producers. Don't miss the weekly Locals Night.

More Options

Il Camino, Walkerville
What started as a takeaway pizzeria during Adelaide's lockdowns is now the sleek Italian joint it always meant to be. Meaning “fireplace” in Italian, the name of this place gives away the remit: proper woodfired pizza backed up by rustic pastas and classic Italian desserts.

Chianti, CBD
This Hutt Street restaurant – which has humble, ‘80s pizza shop roots – is an institution. It's been serving up traditional Italian cuisine to faces that have been coming through the doors for years. The restaurant celebrates regions across Italy. The Favaro family hails from the Veneto region; the name of the restaurant takes its name from Chianti in Tuscany; and there’s a Piedmontese influence on the food.

Enzo's Ristorante, Hindmarsh
Enzo Fazzari has been at the helm of this Hindmarsh staple for well over 20 years. The menu has remained largely unchanged over time - much to the joy of the many loyal customers who return year in, year out – though there are a few more vegan options than there were two decades ago.

La Trattoria, CBD
It feels like La Tratt's been around forever. It's indisputably an Adelaide icon, and it's well worth a trip here – for the walls lined with past celebrity patrons alone.

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