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The Best Italian Food in Portland ME

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The best Italian food in Portland ME, according to the experts: James Beard Awards, Wine Enthusiast, and Portland Press Herald have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Leeward comes out on top, and the good stuff runs deepest in Portland and Peaks Island.

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Quanto Basta and Friends & Family hold the next two places. Portland Press Herald shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with James Beard Awards next.

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  1. Rank 1. Leeward

    Italian

    Warm ochre walls, bookshelves stacked with dried flowers, and handmade pasta that regularly lands a James Beard nomination: this cozy Italian restaurant on Free Street is the kind of neighborhood spot that somehow becomes a national conversation. The chef's shapes and sauces pull from whatever local producers are doing well right now, and the wine program is its own reason to linger. Settle in and watch Portland's Arts District do its thing out the window.

    The awards

    +7 more awards at Leeward
    Address
    85 Free St, Portland, ME · Portland
    Reserve
    Resy
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
    Save On the Way What's Around

  2. Rank 2. Quanto Basta

    Neapolitan Pizzeria

    The awards

    Address
    249 Congress St, Portland, ME · Portland
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
    Save On the Way What's Around

  3. Rank 3. Friends & Family

    Neapolitan Pizzeria

    The awards

    Address
    593 Congress St, Portland, ME · Portland
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
    Save On the Way What's Around

  4. Rank 3. IL Leone

    Neapolitan Pizzeria

    The awards

    Address
    2 Garden Pl, Peaks Island, ME · Peaks Island
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
    Save On the Way What's Around

  5. Rank 3. TIPO

    Creative Italian

    The awards

    Address
    182 Ocean Ave, Portland, ME · Portland
    Reserve
    Resy
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
    Save On the Way What's Around

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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.