The 27 best Italian restaurants in Antwerp

Looking for the best Italian restaurants in Antwerp? Aching for a tasty plate of pasta, an exceptional pizza or a traditional dish by la mamma? Trot Op! explored the scene for you and came back with 27 authentic Italian restaurants.

I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Italian food. It’s an arbitrary rule, but I stick to it. The Italian kitchen is one of the most loved on the planet, and one of my personal favourites as well. Italians take their cuisine very seriously. When you’re an outsider messing with one of their culinary classics – by throwing pineapple on a perfectly good pizza like some yokel for example – you better sleep with one eye open. “Tasty bite” you’ll say, without thinking much of it. Until suddenly four suspiciously well-dressed individuals drag you from your house into an Alfa Romeo with tinted windows – you and your stupid Italian herbs shaker from Aldi – and you simply disappear. Your body will never be found and your dear old mum will have to mourn next to an empty casket. That’ll teach you.

 

The 27 best Italian restaurants in Antwerp

This is exactly why I decided to play it safe this time. Only restaurants with certified Italians in the kitchen made it to the list. So no Italian-Belgian fusion stuff, no spaghetti bolognese cooked by Fat Rita from the Roadside Inn and to the regret of every student in Antwerp no Da Giovanni either – I personally think they’re quite decent by the way. What you will find here, are 27 authentic Italian restaurants in Antwerp, many of them somewhat unknown by the general public: from simple and traditional to hip with a modern twist. Mamma Mia, enjoy the read!

*Last update: February 2025. I’ve considerably expanded the list. An astonishing number of new (and decent) Italians opened shop in Antwerp in recent years.

 

1. A Tavola

First on the list because that’s how the alphabet works, but A Tavola would have always been near the top of the bunch anyway. This is a fantastic restaurant. Gennaro has been running the kitchen for over twenty years here: a friendly bloke and a purebred Napolitan. If you want a truly traditional Italian food experience without necessarily having all of the most common dishes, this is the place to go. Meat, fish, fresh pastas: the menu is extensive and gets regular updates. There’s an original Fiat 500 cut in half mounted on the wall of the second dining room by the way. This has nothing to do with the food, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless. A Tavola: Lange Lozanastraat 282. www.atavola-antwerpen.be

 

2. Amùri

Amùri is a new Sicilian restaurant in Keizerstraat – pretty close to where I live. The setting is a bit unusual – this used to be my local pharmacy – but the kitchen is great. It’s led by chef Massimo and his partner Laura, who also own Kalura Pizza across the street. Amùri is more focused on fine dining. You’re not here for a spaghetti Bolognese or a pizza margherita, but to discover plent of refined and surprising Italian dishes: lots of fish and seafood, handmade ravioli and a lot of other things you wouldn’t immediately expect to get in your typical Italian restaurant. Amùri: Keizerstraat 73. www.ristorante-amuri.be

 

3. Arrikiiati

*Picture by Pope Photographie

Arrikiiati is a Sicilian bistro that moved around the corner two years ago and thus went from being in Huikstraat to Kommekensstraat. The restaurant is run by Sicilian chef Giorgio and his French sommelier girlfriend Delphine. They both worked in haute cuisine restaurants for years before coming to Antwerp to do their own thing. They started serving quick and tasty Sicilian street food (which they still do at Cannolo, now in the original location), but Arrikiiati gradually moved to fine dining. This means you can now enjoy a fantastic Sicilian five-course menu here. Arrikiiati. Kommekensstraat 22. www.arrikiiati.com

 

4. Arte

Arte is an Antwerp classic that opened on Suikerrui in 1990. It’s a very popular place, and apart from perhaps Da Giovanni it’s probably the most famous Italian restaurant in Antwerp. Arte serves classic Italian food: most of it is from Sardinia but they offer dishes from all over the country. The restaurant works with local galleries as well, so there’s always something beautiful to spot on the walls. Good way to get some culture in with your food. Arte: Suikerrui 24. www.ristorante-arte.be

 

5. Bar Riga

Once upon a time the iconic Riga suitcase store was hidden behind this façade. Nowadays it’s a lovely boutique hotel called Hotel Riga. More interesting for this article is Bar Riga: the hotel’s restaurant. It is run by an Italian chef, and the kitchen is bellissimo. You can go for some great food in a beautiful setting here, both for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Bar Riga: Korte Koepoortstraat 6. www.hotelriga.be

 

6. Cannolo

Cannolo is Arrikiiati’s sister restaurant and located right next door from it. This is where Arrikiiati’s original mission is maintained: to provide Antwerp with fast and tasty Sicilian street food. You can walk in all day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and on every first Sunday of the month you can book a special brunch formula. Cannolo is best known for its desserts, and these are mainly – as the name suggests – freshly made cannoli with all kinds of traditional and less traditional fillings. Indeed: the tastiest Italian dessert of them all and they offer a whole range of them here. Cannolo: Huikstraat 2. www.cannolo.be

 

7. Cuore di Puglia

Cuore di Puglia in Nationalestraat looks like your standard pizza place from the outside, but looks can deceive. This Italian caterer & cheese maker cooks everything the traditional way. They even produce the mozzarella that goes in many of the dishes themselves. The menu is extensive, especially as far as pizzas go, and the rates are quite democratic. They also serve pizza Hawaï by the way, but you didn’t get that from me. Cuore di Puglia: Nationalestraat 108. www.cuoredipugliantwerpen.com

 

8. Da Giacomo

Da Giacomo is a cosy neighbourhood restaurant near Antwerp Expo. The kitchen is manned by Yakup. Yakup is a Turkish guy, and technically this means I’m breaking my own rules here. But he learned everything he knows  about Italian cuisine from Angelo: a retired Italian who worked with him for years and had several restaurants of his own in the motherland. They serve plenty of Italian classics here, but the main focus is on the tasty pizzas. Definitely worth a visit. Da Giacomo: Camille Huysmanslaan 38. www.instagram.com/trattoria_dagiacomo/

 

9. Gio Pizza Bar

A lot of new pizza places opened up in Antwerp in the last few years, but not all of them make their stuff according to the strict iron code of Italian cuisine. Gio Pizza Par is one of the few who do. This is a new restaurant with a hip interior in Volkstraat near Antwerp South. They make delicious Napolitan pizzas in a wood-fired oven, and you can take the name “Pizza Bar” quite literally. There’s a whole range of cocktails available, which means it’s no problem at all to keep hanging around for a while after dinner. Gio Pizza Bar: Volkstraat 13. www.giopizzabar.be

 

10. Il Carro

Il Carro is a tiny but cosy pizzeria near the end of Vlaamsekaai in the South of the city. The kitchen is run by Kleant and Olta from Perugia. They opened up shop just a year and a half ago, and because they thought the standard pizza Napolitana was a bit too heavy for a Belgian audience, they created their own mix by combining the best elements of pizza contemporanea, Napolitana and Romana. The result is a somewhat lighter and more crispy dough, and above all: very tasty. Il Carro: Vlaamsekaai 86. www.ilcarro.be

 

11. Il Pastaiolo

Il Pastaiolo in Wilde Zee – which secretly isn’t wild at all – is one of the main places to be in Antwerp for anyone in love with Italian cuisine, and has been for more than 30 years now. Il Pastaiolo is not a restaurant but a delicatessen, offering dishes from all over Italy. Everything is made fresh and on the spot in their open kitchen. If you want to truly explore Italian gastronomy, this is the place to start. You can buy all the necessary ingredients to have a go at it at home as well. Pineapple not for sale. Il Pastaiolo: Wiegstraat 18. www.ilpastaiolo.be

 

12. Kalura

Kalura is one of the better pizzerias in Antwerp, and is located right behind my apartment in the heart of the student district. This tiny restaurant opened about a week before the start of the first lockdown. I felt so bad about this at the time, I ordered a take-away pizza every week for two months – and i must say I really liked them. This said: Kalura managed to survive all covid-misery and the place is packed every afternoon these days. Quality always prevails. Kalura: Prinsestraat 38. www.kalurapizza.be 

 

13. La Terrazza

La Terrazza is another Antwerp evergreen based in Wilrijk. They’ve been serving Italian classics for over two decades now, in a protected monument from the 1930s. The focus is on Sicily and the suggestions follow the seasons. This turned it into a popular hub for the neighbourhood and even got it a mention in the Gault & Millau guide. La Terrazza: Prins Boudewijnlaan 326. www.laterrazzawilrijk.be

 

14. L’Enoteca

L’Enoteca is an authentic and homely Italian restaurant near Dageraadplaats, where you can still eat your food on the kitchen counter. The focus is on freshly made pasta, in combination with a wide collection of more than sixty Italian wines that can be paired with any dish. Very friendly people, atmospheric place and great food: what else do you need? L’Enoteca: Grotehondstraat 5. https://www.facebook.com/enotecasavini/ 

 

15. Maccione

Maccione is a small pizzeria chain that already had venues in Hasselt, Tongeren and Liège, before recently opening one in Antwerp as well. Their Antwerp branch is located on the Southside opposite the KMSKA (where Ellis Burger used to be). They threw out the burger grill and set up a traditional Italian oven from which they conjure up real Napolitan pizzas. All ingredients are organic and they even offer a few completely vegan versions. Maccione Antwerp: Leopold De Waelplaats 2. www.maccione-pizzeria.be

 

16. Malaciorta

The Central Station neighbourhood isn’t exactly the place where you expect to find decent restaurants. Still, there’s at least one of them hidden away here.  Malaciorta means “bad luck”, and this turned out to be a very appropriate name. Two days after the restaurant opened, the first lockdown started (apparently a lot of pizza places opened up in March 2020). Fortunately, they too survived the crisis with flying colours, and Malaciorta grew into one of the most authentic pizzerias in Antwerp: fresh ingredients, wafer-thin bases and chewy crusts. Like they’d throw them on your plate in Naples. Malaciorta: Anneessensstraat 35. www.malaciorta-antwerpen.be

 

17. Mariello Pizza

Mariello is a nice new restaurant that opened in 2023 in Hopland near Theatre Square. Unlike most Antwerp pizza places, chef Mario doesn’t offer the standard Napolitan pizza, but the Roman version instead. These are rectangular, and are baked more slowly and at a lower temperature. They have a wafer-thin but crispy bottom and hardly any crust. You can eat whole pizzas here, but you can also order them per slice (and thus combine a couple of different ones). They have more than the usual toppings by the way. I ordered a pizza with pumpkin and truffle and it was great. Mariello: Hopland 46. www.mariello.be

 

18. Mario Restaurant & Traiteur

Mario in Kammenstraat is most likely the oldest Italian restaurant in Antwerp, and was opened right after WWII. Throughout the years it evolved into pure Antwerp heritage. When the menu was last adapted, JFK still had the back of his head and Marilyn Monroe in his bed. You’ll eat all the classics here as if they were personally made by your imaginary Italian grandmother. The son of the original Mario now runs the place, and his granddaughter is helping out as well. You can only have lunch here, but downstairs there is lots of take-away stuff for sale. Mario Restaurant & Traiteur: Kammenstraat 71. www.mariorestaurant.be

 

19. Materia

Materia is a fantastic restaurant on Dageraadplaats, run by chef Luigi Esposito and brother-sister combo Melinda and Gaetano Volpicelli. It opened less than two years ago, but was already voted one of the 50 best Italian restaurants outside of Italy at the 2024 Gran Galà della Cucina Italiana. Book a dinner here and you’ll get the full fine-dining experience: a limited number of tables in a beautiful setting and a fixed multi-course menu paired with top wines. The ultimate goal is a Michelin star, and perhaps this is one of but a few restaurants on the list that could see that dream fulfilled in the long run. Materia: Dageraadplaats 3. www.materiafinedining.be

 

20. Particolare

Particolare is a tiny and very traditional Italian restaurant in Moonsstraat between Hof Van Leysen and Brederodestraat. Chef Maurizio is a Napolitan with a passion for piano and wanted to combine flavours with music. This is why once a month a small ensemble performs here during a multi-course meal, accompanying an actual soprano (Hey Alissia!) A romantic dinner and a free opera: you’re not going to find this anywhere else in Antwerp. Particolare: Moonsstraat 60. www.particolare.be

 

21.  Pastificio Da Lory

Pastificio Da Lory  is a cosy pasta shop run by a Limburg-Italian family. There are different pasta dishes with lots of fillings to choose from in the counter every week, ready to take home and devour. They also sell freshly made pasta to put in your own dishes – please don’t drown it in Aldi bolognese sauce. You can have lunch here as well. It’s super tasty and not expensive at all. The business recently moved from the Oudeleeuwenrui to a larger place in Hopland behind the Stadsfeestzaal. Pastificio da lory. Hopland 27. www.dalory.be

 

22. Pizzeria Nicoletta

Pizzeria Nicoletta, near Sint-Andriesplaats, also knows how to make pizza the right way. For a long time this was the sister restaurant of the well-known (but unfortunately closed-down) Il Famosi, but now they work completely independently. Here the pizzas are made according to Napolitan tradition, and there are plenty of other dishes on the menu to choose from – all in a classic setting full of photos of Italian movie stars. Pizzeria Nicoletta: Steenbergstraat 11. www.pizzerianicoletta.be

 

23. Ristoranto Rosetta

Before it was taken over by chef Susanna last year, Rosetta used to be an Israeli restaurant. She kept only the name – it sounded Italian anyway – and turned the place into a traditional Italian diner.  Susanna is from Sardinia and this is reflected in her cuisine: most of the ingredients are imported from the island. They make pizza and classics such as ossobuco here, but you can also get more specific dishes from Sardinia, such as culurgiones (a kind of Italian dumplings) and spaghetti a la bottarga (that’s pasta with fish egg powder). Their tiramisu is unique as well: not made with Amaretto but with San Marzano. Ristoranto Rosetta: 17 People’s Street. www.ristoranterosetta.be

 

24. Salvo

*Picture by Anaïs Lesy

Salvo is a beautiful new restaurant on Amerikalei – Italiëlei would have been more appropriate in this case, but it is what it is. It produces food based on the southern Italian cuisines of Lecce and Napoli. Everything here is as fresh and as pure as possible: even the gelato is made in-house. The menu includes multiple fish and seafood dishes (the polpo alla piastra is one of the bestsellers), but you can also get fresh pastas and tasty meat dishes. The combination of owners Salvatore and Inga – who gathered decades of hospitality experience together – and Napolitan chef Rosario, ensures an Italian dining experience on a high level. Salvo: Amerikalei 87.  https://www.instagram.com/salvoristorante/

 

25.  Spritz

Spritz is the only Italian restaurant in Antwerp completely catered to vegans. It started as a lovely little place on Oude Koornmarkt, run by the young Luna and her boyfriend. When Luna decided to go vegan, she started looking for plant-based alternatives for all of her mother’s classic dishes. The results are delicious and surprisingly close to the originals. You can have everything from vegan spaghetti alla carbonara to vegan calamari. They also serve some funky cocktails, which is always nice. Spritz is currently closed because they’re moving to a bigger location in Stoofstraat. As soon as they open up again next month, I’ll update you. Spritz: Stoofstraat 2. www.spritz-antwerp.com

 

26. Vegetal Food by Grace

Recently a second vegan Italian restaurant opened up in Antwerp, more precisely on Brouwersvliet near ‘t Eilandje. Grace is Sicilian and has a long family history in the island’s restaurant business. As from February 2025, she took her culinary skills to Antwerp instead, offering vegan versions of traditional Italian classics. Everything is based on seasonal vegetables and fresh produce. The menu will change every couple of weeks, and offers dishes from several Italian regions. Vegetal Food by Grace is a lunch restaurant, which means it’s closed in the evenings for now, but they do catering as well and you can take food on the go. Vegetal Food by Grace: Brouwersvliet 42.

 

27. Joe’s

The last restaurant on the list is not Italian at all, but still produces tasty pizzas made the right way – be it with a couple of surprising toppings like fennel sausage. You can combine these with a good glass of wine or with a wide range of (mostly Antwerp-brewed) craft beers. Joe’s is almost literally on my doorstep on Frans Hals Square, and offers great food and friendly service. I also wanted to add one clear non-Italian to annoy the purists among you. There you go. Joe’s: Frans Halsplein 1. www.joes-antwerp.be

 

The 27 best Italian restaurants in Antwerp: extra info and hotels

** Disclaimer: This info section contains a number of (useful) affiliate links. This means that if you book a hotel or tour through a referral on this page, I’ll receive a small compensation for it, so I can put food on the table without having to beg for it in the train station. It won’t cost you even an extra cent, so why hesitate? Thank you in advance! (Pictures by Booking) **

Feel like booking a fun tour or activity in Antwerp before or after dinner? There’s a whole bunch of them on GetYourGuide: from city walks and culinary experience to themed bicycle tours.

Looking for a specific hotel in Antwerp? These are some of my recommendations in different price ranges.

On a budget and fine with a hostel? Pick Hostel Pulcinella in Sint-Andries Quarter or The ASH on Italiëlei near the university. Don’t mind staying a bit further from the centre? YUST behind the De Koninck Brewery is a hip alternative.

Also a bit out of the centre and midrange as far as rates go is Rock Lobster City Lodge near Dageraadplaats in Zurenborg Quarter. This is a small and unique B&B with just five rooms.

Motel One can be found near the pedestrian tunnel running under the river and the Kloosterstraat antique shops. It’s a brand new and stylish hotel that can be booked at a very reasonable rate.

Hotel FRANQ is in a higher price range and is a hotel in a wonderful old bank office. They have an inhouse Michelin restaurant, which means you don’t even have to leave the building to try some fantastic food.

Sapphire House Antwerp is a five star hotel right next to the old stock exhange and the Meir shopping street. It’s marvellously decorated and comes with a great restaurant. Compared to some other luxury hotels in Antwerps, rates are reasonable.

Fancy something besides Italian? Read my articles on the best Asian, Middle-Eastern, Vegan or Burger places in Antwerp. Thirsty? Check out the best cocktail and coffee bars in Antwerp. Want to explore the city a bit? Take a look at my posts on the five places in Antwerp you won’t get corona, or click here and here to discover four hidden gems. Would you prefer going to another Belgian destination? Read my pieces on Gaume, The Zwin, Leuven, Spa and Liège.