The Best Italian Food in Kyoto
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The best Italian food in Kyoto, according to the experts: the Michelin Guide, Gault&Millau, and The 50 have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Cenci comes out on top.
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DODICI and Germoglio hold the next two places. The Michelin Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Gault&Millau next.
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Rank 1. Cenci
Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- Gault&Millau Gault&Millau: 3 Toques
- The 50 The 50: #76 · Asia's 50 Best Restaurants
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Rank 2. DODICI
Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- Gault&Millau Gault&Millau: 3 Toques
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Rank 2. Germoglio
Piedmontese
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- Gault&Millau Gault&Millau: 3 Toques
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Rank 2. shiro
Italian
The awards
- Gault&Millau Gault&Millau: 3 Toques
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
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Rank 2. Vena
Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- Gault&Millau Gault&Millau: 2 Toques
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Rank 6. Lapintaika
Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Bib Gourmand
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Rank 7. ava
Modern Sicilian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. KOMATSU CUCINA ITALIANA
Italian
A prix fixe Italian restaurant tucked into Kamigyo-ku, where the chef took over a space his grandmother once ran and kept her family name above the door. The seasonal menu leans on Kyoto's produce, and every course includes two pastas, one dried, one handmade, which is a quiet flex for a room this understated. The cooking reads as precise without announcing it, letting the ingredients carry the argument.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. måne
Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. Ortensia
Sicilian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. Radice
Emilian
Pasta technique learned from nonnas in Emilia-Romagna shapes everything at this intimate Italian restaurant in Kyoto. The chef returned with something harder to teach than recipes: an instinct for letting ingredients speak first. That sensibility now runs through a menu built on Japanese seasonal produce, where rustic village cooking gets a quiet, refined reinterpretation. The kind of place that takes Italy seriously without ever forgetting it's in Kyoto.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. ristorante DONO
Italian
The dining room looks directly onto the torii gate of Heian Shrine, which sets an unusual bar for Italian restaurants. The chef grows his own vegetables and forages edible wild plants from the hills around Kyoto, then channels all of that through an Italian sensibility he developed in Italy. His father runs the celebrated Sojiki Nakahigashi nearby, so protecting the food culture of the region is something of a family project.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 7. Zucchero
Seafood Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 15. Pizzeria da Ciro
Neapolitan Pizzeria
Tucked between temples in Sakyo Ward, this Neapolitan pizza spot is run by a chef who trained in Naples and sources his ingredients strictly from Campania. The pies run larger than the Japanese norm, soft and light in the way that only a wood-fired dough done right can manage. The room is small and familiar, the staff attentive, and an Italian beer alongside is not a bad idea. It ranked 36th in 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific.
The awards
- 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza: #36 · 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific