There is never a time when the sea of Tel Aviv’s dining scene is calm. Waves come, waves go, but one island of stability always remains standing – Italian food. And no wonder: this very basic cuisine lets us create classic versions, special variations or crazy fusions, and Tel Aviv is definitely making full use of the possibilities. We’ve rounded up recommended Italian restaurants for anyone dreaming of pasta, bruschetta, lasagna or just a good pizza. The Time Out picks.

>>כל המאמא מיה הזה: המסעדות האיטלקיות הכי מומלצות בתל אביב

1. Taverna Romana

At Taverna Romana, chef Bentsi Arbel has managed to open a down-to-earth, cheerful spot with a fun, unpretentious vibe, fair prices and Italian dishes you won’t necessarily find anywhere else, except maybe in Italy. For example, pizza tonda – flat and super-thin in a distinctly Roman style, fried and stretchy carbonara supplì, gnocchi alla Romana and more excellent, generous fresh pastas.
8 Eliezer Kaplan St, Tel Aviv

2. Cucina Hess 4

It’s almost a pity that Tamar Cohen-Tzedek joined the judging panel of “Game of Chefs,” because ever since she became a celebrity chef everyone recognizes, it’s a nightmare to get a table. The magic of Cucina Hess, “Hess 4” for the veterans among us, comes from the gap between grimy Allenby Street and the white tablecloths, the romance and the classic Italian kitchen in its most distilled form, without a word about fusion. After being shattered by an Iranian missile and quickly coming back to life, it’s now celebrating 20 years as we speak. Here’s to another 20 like that, minus the missile if possible.
4 Hess St, Tel Aviv

3. Capara Mio

The first herald of the Italian phase chef Bentsi Arbel has entered, whose passion for Italy shows in every suppli and fried pizza – and once the plates land one after another on the table, you can’t help but pounce. Handmade pasta, olive oil and sweet sun tomatoes are combined in dishes that seem nonchalant but are honed down to the last shaving of Parmesan, all against a backdrop of soot and buses. The most Naples you can get in Tel Aviv.
105 King George St, Tel Aviv

4. Magazzino

Cafe Italia’s longstanding status is secure, but its heart is with Magazzino, the wild little child of the Yerzin brothers. In a rough, sexy space facing a roaring open kitchen you can devour starters and salads, pizzas and pastas executed meticulously down to the last flake of Parmesan. The staff is well trained in dealing with little kids running between the chairs with a pizza slice in hand and plastering themselves against the dizzying dessert vitrine, so if that’s your normal too, this is the perfect place for you.
21 Menachem Begin Rd, Tel Aviv

5. Cafe Italia

What can we say that hasn’t already been said about Cafe Italia? A real trattoria by the book, with excellent Italian dishes that never age, professional, skilled service and a rock-solid option for any family meal. It’s always fun, always Italian and always tasty at Cafe Italia. Superb pastas and especially generous portions made for sharing, crisp, blazing-hot focaccia, fresh salads and a one-of-a-kind tiramisu that, we’ve heard, people come from Italy to eat.
6 Yona Karmentzki St, Tel Aviv

6. Cicchetti

If you call it a bar, it will answer, but Cicchetti is in fact a wonderful Italian restaurant. The bar and open kitchen tempt you to order one plate after another, sip Campari and see for yourself that when the ingredients are good – as in Italy – the real trick is to let them speak for themselves and go with whatever they offer you. Pleasure guaranteed.
58 Yehuda Halevi St, Tel Aviv

7. Rustico

The veteran, beloved Rustico group does exactly what you expect from a decent trattoria: give guests a feeling of home, a menu that sticks to familiar flavors and fair prices. We found here a juicy, steaming, sexy lasagna, like Sophia Loren in her day.
15 Rothschild Blvd, Tel Aviv // 42 Basel St, Tel Aviv

8. Kiosk Del Pasta

Kiosk Del Pasta opened about a year ago and immediately won our hearts. Granted, carbs alone are enough to win us over, but in this case we’re talking about truly good carbs. Fresh pasta dishes in cheerful sauces such as linguine sardina with olive oil, sardines, lemon and tomatoes; linguine cacio e pepe by the book; excellent carbonara with real bacon; and a spicy, boldly flavored arrabbiata. It’s fun to sit there and sip a well-priced cocktail, share a bottle of wine and finish with tiramisu.
20 Ibn Gabirol St, Tel Aviv

9. Gemma

The location is Jaffa, everything else is Italy: antipasti and insalate, pizza and pasta, secondi and bambini (the dishes, not the kids themselves) in a neighborhood atmosphere. Oh, and there’s also real bacon.
14 Tirza St, Tel Aviv

10. La Tigra

Some might bristle at including a pizzeria in a list of Italian restaurants, but we maintain that while La Tigra does serve pizzas, it has turned the whole experience on its head. Beyond the fact that the leopard-spotted Neapolitan pies coming out of the oven here are a serious contender for the title of best pizza in the city (and in our humble opinion, the winner), the aperitivo here is among the best deals around, and the vibe is that of a street restaurant in Florence. It doesn’t get more Italian than that.
9 Yedidya Frenkel St, Tel Aviv

11. Gusto

“A pleasant Italian restaurant, complete with the cliché of checkered tablecloths, that doesn’t try to overreach but promises you’ll leave full and smiling – and absolutely keeps its word. Add reasonable prices and a killer location and you get one of the best neighborhood restaurants Tel Aviv has to offer,” wrote our critic. And a successful neighborhood restaurant is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it’s located in perpetually dug-up Rabin Square.
90 Frishman St, Tel Aviv

12. Amore Mio

Call us nostalgic romantics – Amore Mio deserves a warm corner in Tel Aviv’s heart. A huge menu of pizzas and an even bigger one of pastas, reasonable prices and a trattoria atmosphere have been drawing regulars here for more than 20 years. And besides, every city needs a restaurateur with a big heart like Shlomi Salmon’s.
100 Ibn Gabirol St, Tel Aviv

13. Guido

As part of the renewed boom of Italian cuisine in wartime, Guido turns out pasta dishes truly meant for sharing, at prices we’d forgotten existed, and in general it’s a place that will send you out full and purring. With the understanding that Italian food also means Italian-American food, Guido knows how to bring the gangster dishes from the movies to life – and what’s good for Tony Soprano and the Goodfellas is very good for us too.
34 Ben Gurion Blvd, Tel Aviv

14. Ernesto

Red-and-white checkered tablecloths, candles and small inviting tables are waiting for you at Ernesto to the sounds of romantic Italian music playing in the background. Almost thirty years have turned the restaurant into a legend, together with the owner sitting at the front of the room, jotting notes in a little notebook like a proper Italian padrone. And on the menu? All the essentials, from zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta (in season), through excellent lasagna Bolognese, to good meats and great pastas cooked with a lot of love. And of course, there’s the dessert vitrine.
90 Ben Yehuda St, Tel Aviv

15. TOMETOMATO/LAVA

The pasta con artist, a.k.a. Tal Rashkesky, swings in dizzying extremes between being a pesky troll (hi, Guy Zohar) and a talented chef. We’ll leave the exact diagnosis to his therapist, but one thing’s for sure: the man knows how to cook. And he cooks more than he annoys, which is why we’ll keep standing in line and grumbling about the opening hours, the rain and the war. The world is an annoying place.
26 Washington Blvd, Tel Aviv // 7 Beit HaBad Alley, Tel Aviv

16. Pronto

In his 13 years at Pronto, David Frankel took it to realms far beyond Italy – to the point that it even dropped off this list – but since he left at the end of last year and was replaced by chef Ido Samuel Cohen, the restaurant has come back right on time for an Italian renaissance. Since then there’s been more upheaval, with the Bar 51 group of chef Moshiko Gamlieli coming in and more talk of a change in direction, but we want to believe that even after the renovation and shift, it will keep the feel of a longstanding institution that knows how to change without losing who it is.
7 Herzl St, Tel Aviv

17. Toto

This one is no longer entirely Italian either: it serves classic food in a tremendous, if slightly old-school, execution, and it’s very expensive – but chef Yaron Shalev is behind some of the best pasta dishes in the country. This list wouldn’t be complete without him.
4 Berkowitz St, Tel Aviv

• Food and drinks
• אוכלים שותים