The Best Italian Food in Portland OR
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The best Italian food in Portland OR, according to the experts: The New York Times, Eater, and 50 Top Pizza have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Cafe Olli comes out on top, and the good stuff runs deepest in Portland and Beaverton.
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Nostrana and La Bottega Cafe Deli Wine Shop hold the next two places. 50 Top Pizza shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Eater next.
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Rank 1. Cafe Olli
Neapolitan Pizzeria
The wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas come out gently charred, topped with whatever the Pacific Northwest is doing well that week. Cafe Olli is a pizza and brunch spot on MLK that also runs a serious bread and pastry program out of the adjoining bakery. The New York Times put it on their restaurant list and the chef landed a James Beard semifinalist nod, which tracks for a neighborhood place that treats zucchini and peaches like they have something to prove.
The awards
- The New York Times The New York Times: The Restaurant List
- The New York Times The New York Times: The 25 Best Restaurants in Portland, Ore., Right Now
- Eater Eater: The 38 Best Restaurants and Food Carts in Portland
- The New York Times The Restaurant List
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Portland, Ore., Right Now
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants and Food Carts in Portland
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Rank 2. Nostrana
Italian
Wood-fired oven anchoring an open kitchen, high ceilings, warm wood everywhere: Nostrana reads like the kind of Italian restaurant Portland genuinely needed someone to get right. Chef Cathy Whims built the menu around regional Italian cooking and Pacific Northwest ingredients, with pizza holding its own among the broader offerings. The naturally leavened dough and housemade mozzarella keep purists happy without making the rest of the menu feel like an afterthought.
The awards
- 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza: #48 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- Condé Nast Traveler Condé Nast Traveler: The 23 Best Restaurants in Portland, Oregon
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The awards
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Rank 4. Grana
Neapolitan Pizzeria
The open oven sits at the center of the room like a piece of furniture someone actually thought about, which tells you a lot about Grana before the pizza arrives. This is a contemporary Neapolitan pizza restaurant on East Burnside, bright and carefully put together without feeling precious. The dough runs high-hydration and long-fermented, San Marzano tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella alongside whatever's local. It landed at 26 on 50 Top Pizza USA.
The awards
- 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza: #26 · 50 Top Pizza USA
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Rank 4. Hapa Pizza
Neapolitan Pizzeria
A pizza shop in Beaverton where the dough is made with a biga starter, splitting the difference between Neapolitan softness and New York chew, then topped with flavors drawn from Asian pantries. The combination landed Hapa on the 50 Top Pizza USA list. The room is warm and the kitchen moves fast, which matters when half of Beaverton decides to show up at once. Original without being weird about it.
The awards
- 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza: #46 · 50 Top Pizza USA
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Rank 6. Mucca Osteria
Italian
Servers in ties and vests refill your water after every sip, and warm focaccia arrives before you've fully settled in. Mucca Osteria is a downtown Italian restaurant operating on the old assumption that hospitality is the whole point, and the kitchen keeps pace: handmade pastas with a silky bite, burrata draped in long-aged prosciutto, scallops over Parmesan fonduta. A room that makes you slow down without making a fuss about it.
The awards
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Rank 7. Spella Caffè
Italian Coffee Shop
Spella is a tiny downtown espresso bar built the Italian way: a marble counter, a narrow ledge to lean on, and no chairs, so nobody is writing a novel here. The menu sticks to the classics, macchiatos and lattes and espresso with a pleasant bitter edge, all of it ordered, drunk, and finished in about the time it takes to check your phone. It's a coffee break in the original sense, minus the laptop. The Infatuation put it on its list of Portland's coffee shops.
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 25 Best Coffee Shops In Portland