The best pasta in Bucharest

Bucharest has hundreds of Italian restaurants, but good pasta, truly good pasta, is found in fewer places than you might think. You can tell from the first forkful: tagliatelle rolled out that morning, which hold the sauce instead of slipping through it, a carbonara with no cream, just yolk and guanciale, ravioli filled by hand and tossed in butter and sage. In recent years pasta bars have arrived too, where you can see the pasta hung up to dry right next to your table.

For this guide we read the ratings and reviews on Google Maps (checked on 4 October 2026), TripAdvisor and the local press, and went through the menus, so we can tell you not just where to go but also what to order once you get there. We gave priority to places that make their own pasta. The Google rating is the starting point, not the verdict: the restaurant with the best pizza in town does not necessarily have the best pasta, and a small pasta bar with a few hundred reviews can make better tagliatelle than a place with ten thousand.

Bucharest is big, so for each place we also tell you which part of town it is in. Under each name you will find the rating, address and opening hours from Google Maps. Prices are those on the menus published in 2026 and may change.

1. Haute Pepper: our pick, by Piața Unirii

On Bulevardul Unirii, at the Piața Unirii end, a kilometre from the Palace of the Parliament, Haute Pepper is a Mediterranean restaurant that does not look, at first sight, like a pasta place. It serves breakfast, burgers, fish and seafood. But the pasta section is the reason to come: twelve dishes, all made with house-made pasta, from a classic carbonara to tagliolini with fresh truffles.

The name explains the idea: “haute”, as in haute couture, for high standards, and “pepper”, for a passion for spices and bold flavours.

What to order

• Seafood tagliatelle: shrimp, squid and octopus in a wine sauce (72 lei), praised in the reviews for its portion and seasoning
• Spaghetti Carbonara, with guanciale, egg, parmesan and pepper (60 lei)
• Truffle tagliolini: fresh truffles, truffle oil, butter and parmesan (95 lei), for a special night out
• Paccheri with burratina, in a tomato sauce with butter and basil (56 lei)
• Tagliatelle with beef tenderloin in tomato sauce (72 lei), or tagliatelle with sea bass and cherry tomatoes (72 lei)
• Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino with shrimp (62 lei), if you want something simple and spicy
• for dessert: pavlova (45 lei) or tiramisu (40 lei)

The vibe: a boldly designed dining room and a terrace on the boulevard. Plenty of tourists come, as it is close to the Parliament, but so do locals who know their pasta. The long opening hours also make it a good choice for a late lunch after a stroll through the Old Town.

What people praise

• the seafood tagliatelle: generous portions, very well seasoned
• the service, with waiters mentioned by name in the reviews
• the terrace and the setting, on one of the city's finest boulevards
• the fact that you can eat fish or a steak just as well, if not everyone at the table wants pasta

Good to know

• on Mondays it only opens at lunchtime
• extra parmesan costs 5 lei
• budget: 60–100 lei per person for pasta and dessert

Why it is number one: of all the places in this guide, it is the only one with both a 4.8 from more than five thousand reviews and twelve pasta dishes, all made in-house. You could come ten times and order something different every time.

2. Trattoria Mezzaluna: pasta fresca near Piața Romană

A neighbourhood trattoria a few steps from Piața Romană and the ASE (the University of Economic Studies) which, judging by the reviews, has become one of the best-rated Italian restaurants in Bucharest. Mezzaluna started out as a family restaurant opened by Florin and Laura; after 2019 a new team took over, keeping the name and the idea: unfussy, trattoria-style Italian cooking.

The menu has a whole pasta fresca section, and several reviews recommend asking about the house-made pasta that is not on the menu, served as daily specials. One customer writes that the pasta here was “the best I have ever eaten”.

What to order

• Paglia e fieno: two-colour tagliatelle with a shrimp sauce, sun-dried tomato paste and vodka (69 lei)
• Tagliatelle with salmon and shrimp, with cream and tomatoes (69 lei)
• Pappardelle with chicken and porcini (59 lei)
• Ravioli quattro formaggi, filled with four cheeses, in a gorgonzola sauce with walnuts (59 lei)
• Spaghetti nero di seppia with seafood, basil and cherry tomatoes (79 lei)
• the pasta of the day, to ask your waiter about
• for dessert: tiramisu (35 lei), the dessert mentioned most often in the reviews

The vibe: warm, a real trattoria, with low background music and a terrace. People come here for an unhurried dinner, and the waiters look after every table. Good for a date or dinner with friends.

What people praise

• the pasta, “perfect in texture, with an intense, balanced sauce”
• the service, attentive and friendly, perhaps the most praised thing in the reviews
• the tiramisu, the risotto and the lasagne
• the relaxed atmosphere

Good to know

• the website gives the address as Calea Dorobanților 63; on the map it is listed at Strada Crăciun 3
• it is full in the evening: book ahead
• budget: 70–120 lei per person

3. Osteria Galletto: hand-rolled pasta and truffles shaved at the table, in Floreasca

Osteria Galletto is the restaurant of Andrei Gaman, who spent almost eight years working in restaurants and hotels in Italy, starting at the bottom, washing dishes, before opening his first Italian restaurant in Bucharest. Galletto followed in 2016, on Calea Floreasca, and has received awards from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the institution that champions traditional Italian cooking.

The house pasta is made by hand, right in the restaurant, and the menu gives it its own section, apart from the dried pasta: almost all of it is tagliatelle, plus two kinds of ravioli. The dish the restaurant is proudest of is its truffle carbonara, “just like in Rome”.

What to order

• Tagliolini freschi al tartufo nero: house tagliolini with black truffle (80.50 lei), the most popular dish in the house
• Carbonara al tartufo, with guanciale, pecorino, truffle paste and fresh truffles (90.90 lei)
• Tagliatelle alla carbonara (66.50 lei) or tagliatelle al ragù, with a beef and pork ragù (66.50 lei)
• Ravioli ricotta e spinaci, with sage and parmesan (66.50 lei)
• Tagliatelle ai frutti di mare, with squid, clams and shrimp (79.90 lei)
• Tagliatelle al pomodoro (40.90 lei), the cheapest plate of house-made pasta on the menu

The vibe: quiet, an elegant osteria where you can talk without raising your voice. Besides pasta, the menu has pizza and fish, and the Tuscan fish stew, cacciucco, is among the most popular dishes. Good for a dinner for two.

What people praise

• the fresh pasta, “perfectly al dente”, with a sauce that is creamy without being heavy
• the truffles shaved at the table, right in front of you
• the service and the calm dining room

Good to know

• one recent review complains about portions and attention to detail, so stick to the house-made pasta, its strong point
• you can book online or by phone, often on the same day
• budget: 70–150 lei per person; more if you go for truffles or seafood

4. AveForchetta: the city's best-loved Italian restaurant, by Cișmigiu

With more than fourteen thousand reviews and a 4.9 rating, AveForchetta is the most talked-about Italian restaurant in Bucharest. It opened at the end of 2022 on the ground floor of an office building on Strada Matei Millo and calls itself an “Italian neo-bistro”: unconventional, creative Italian cooking, a modern design featuring a neon Mona Lisa holding a fork, and a huge open kitchen with a Neapolitan pizza oven.

The pasta is not made in-house but is dried Italian pasta, and the pizza is just as popular. Yet one pasta dish has become almost the restaurant's emblem: the Creamy Shrimp Pasta, a bestseller since opening day.

What to order

• Creamy Shrimp Pasta: rigatoni with shrimp, courgette, cream, shrimp stock and grana padano (66 lei), the house bestseller
• Rigatoni al ragù, with beef ragù, butter, horseradish sauce and cherry tomatoes (59 lei)
• Tortelloni al tartufo, filled with mascarpone and truffle, with pancetta and provolone (62 lei)
• Vongole del mare: spaghetti with clams, garlic, wine, lemon and chilli (56 lei)
• Shrimply The Best, shrimp in garlic butter with focaccia (66 lei), to share as a starter
• for dessert: Tira-Miss-You (39 lei)

The vibe: buzzing and busy, with a large dining room and a heated terrace, a few minutes' walk from the Old Town. The waiters are praised by name in the reviews. Good for dinner with friends or a birthday, less so for a quiet evening.

What people praise

• the service, attentive and quick even when it is full
• the shrimp pasta; among the pizzas, the truffle one is the most popular
• the atmosphere and the design

Good to know

• book: it is almost always full in the evening and at weekends
• budget: 80–200 lei per person

Why it is number 4: in a ranking of Italian restaurants, it would come first. In a ranking of pasta, it loses out to the places that roll out their own dough.

5. Farina: the newest pasta bar, with a garden, on Polonă

Opened in May 2026, Farina is the “little sister” of the Sera Eden restaurant and sits on Strada Polonă, in the former premises of the Acuarela bistro, completely redone. Everything revolves around pasta: around ten dishes, all made in-house, five starters and tiramisu. The pasta workshop is visible from the dining room, with the pasta hung up to dry, which tells you from the door what kind of place this is.

What to order

• beef ravioli, made by hand, in sage butter (48 lei), the most praised dish so far
• spaghetti with slow-cooked tomato sauce (42 lei, plus 7 lei for parmesan), the only tomato dish on the menu
• pappardelle, tagliatelle or stracci, with the sauces on the menu
• to start: bruschetta with garden tomatoes and oregano (28 lei)
• to finish: tiramisu, served from a large tray

The vibe: lots of wood, an attic room, an upstairs terrace with a single table for anyone who wants privacy, and a large garden shaded by a cherry tree. Customers describe it as “very quiet and bohemian”. The ideal place for a summer dinner or a long autumn afternoon.

What people praise

• the pasta, very tasty
• the garden and the terrace
• fair prices for handmade pasta

Good to know

• portions are moderate, not large: do not arrive starving
• it is a new place, and the service is still settling in
• closed on Mondays
• budget: 60–160 lei per person, according to Google

6. Osteria Zucca: twenty-odd kinds of pasta, at Universitate

Osteria Zucca is Galletto's older “sibling”: a family business run by Andrei Gaman and his brother, opened in 2015 on Strada Jean Louis Calderon, a few minutes from Universitate. The ingredients come from Italy, the cooking is done with extra virgin olive oil, and the menu lists more than twenty pasta dishes, the longest list in this guide.

What to order

• Bucatini all'Amatriciana (61 lei) or spaghetti carbonara (65 lei), the Roman classics
• Gnocchetti ai 4 formaggi (60 lei)
• Tagliatelle ai funghi porcini (66 lei)
• Linguine con le vongole (82 lei) or paccheri with squid sauce (82 lei)
• Tagliolini al tartufo (83 lei)
• Spaghetti al pomodoro (39 lei), the cheapest plate on the menu
• on the side: the focaccia, which some call among the best they have ever had, and tiramisu to finish

The vibe: an old house with wooden furniture, rustic paintings and a southern Italian feel, with a private room upstairs and a terrace. It feels like a family restaurant, no frills, with generous portions.

What people praise

• the focaccia and the olive oil
• the tiramisu
• the seafood platter and the grilled octopus, the most popular mains
• the Italian atmosphere, right in the centre

Good to know

• portions are big, but so are the prices, which are above average
• it seats 100, with an 18-seat room upstairs, good for groups
• budget: 80–200 lei per person

7. Pippo's: an Italian chef's own kitchen, near Piața Victoriei

Pippo is Giuseppe, an Italian cook who worked at Nonna Mia before opening his own restaurant. In November 2019 he moved from the Cartierul Francez (the French Quarter) to Strada Paris, into a small, intimate basement, and has stayed there since. It is the most personal restaurant on the list: the owner is in the kitchen, and sometimes comes out to your table to recommend what to eat.

What to order

• carbonara, which one customer calls the best Italian carbonara he has eaten, “not in Italy, but here at Pippo's”
• AOP Gamberi: spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino with shrimp, the most popular dish
• Pippo's Pasta, with large wild shrimp and plenty of sauce
• pasta with sea bream, praised in the reviews
• truffle tortellini, if they are on that day
• for dessert: tiramisu

The vibe: a small, intimate room where you feel as if you are in a family restaurant in Italy. Good for a dinner for two.

What people praise

• the shrimp pasta and the carbonara
• the feel of an authentic Italian restaurant, run by a family
• the tiramisu

Good to know

• sometimes you are not given a menu and the owner recommends the dishes: ask the price first, as some recommendations turn out expensive
• closed on Mondays
• budget: 60–250 lei per person

8. Gattini Pasta: fresh pasta at a low price, in Timpuri Noi

Gattini is not a restaurant but a pasta bar inside a food market: a counter in the Carnivale Food Market, near Piața Timpuri Noi, run by a family team. The pasta is made on site every day, following classic Italian recipes. You choose the pasta (there is a three-colour one too) and the sauce, and portions weigh 350–400 grams. Gattini also has a second location, in the Promenada mall.

What to order

• lasagne (51 lei), “well bound, with layers of pasta baked just right”, according to the B365 review
• tagliatelle aglio, olio e peperoncino with shrimp (49 lei)
• bolognese or arrabbiata, the most ordered, or an amatriciana
• pasta with gorgonzola or with porcini
• for dessert: Gattini Dolcini (23 lei), a tiramisu-style dessert that scored 10 out of 10 in the same review

The vibe: a food market, with shared tables and other stalls around, airy and relaxed. Not a place for a romantic dinner, but for a good, quick lunch or an evening with friends who want pizza or burgers.

What people praise

• the taste of the pasta itself, made by them
• the house dessert
• a team that does its best to keep everyone happy

Good to know

• the plain sauces, such as napoli, can seem too plain: go for a richer one
• it also delivers through the apps
• budget: 40–60 lei per person, the lowest on the list

9. Unico Vero: a corner of Tuscany since 2003, in Armenească

Unico Vero is a family-run Italian restaurant, opened in 2003 on a quiet street in the Armenească neighbourhood, full of old boyar houses. The cooks have been with the owners since opening day, and the restaurant has held the Italian Chamber of Commerce's Ospitalità Italiana certification for several years and was included in the first edition of the Gault&Millau Romania guide, in 2018.

The house-made pasta is tagliatelle, tagliolini, gnocchi and ravioli: the first two made with flour and egg, the gnocchi with potato and egg, and the ravioli filled with ricotta and herbs.

What to order

• tagliolini al tartufo, the house dish
• gnocchi quattro formaggi
• ravioli with ricotta and herbs
• spaghetti alla carbonara, one of the most ordered plates
• lasagne or linguine al pesto
• on the side: melanzane alla parmigiana, one of the most popular dishes

The vibe: a small, charming old house with an inner courtyard and a little terrace, “a true corner of Italy and an oasis of calm in Bucharest”, as one regular puts it.

What people praise

• the authentic food, made with quality ingredients
• the quiet of the terrace
• the waiters' recommendations

Good to know

• no online booking: phone the restaurant
• it only opens at 13:00
• the terrace is small, so in summer it is worth booking

10. Grano: an Italian deli and bistro, in Dorobanți

Half deli, half bistro, Grano is where you eat pasta and go home with what you need to make it yourself: Italian pasta, biscuits, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and jams. The cooking is traditional Italian, and the pasta list runs to thirteen dishes, from orecchiette with pesto to tortellini with mortadella.

What to order

• Rigatoni carbonara, with egg, parmesan and guanciale (77 lei), the most popular dish in the house
• Ravioli filled with truffle cream, in a parmesan and leek sauce (88 lei)
• Tortellini with mortadella and prosciutto crudo (89 lei)
• Tagliatelle with octopus ragù (63 lei)
• Orecchiette with basil pesto (71 lei) or lasagna al ragù (77 lei)
• on the side: vitello tonnato, the other dish Google marks as popular

The vibe: an Italian deli, with tables fairly close together. Good for lunch in the area or a relaxed neighbourhood dinner.

What people praise

• the authenticity of the cooking
• the deli, where you can pick up Italian products to take home
• the desserts

Good to know

• on Mondays it only opens at 16:00
• it has some of the most expensive pasta on the list, 58–92 lei a plate
• you can book online, and Grano also runs cooking workshops for children

In short: where to go, depending on what you want

• the best house-made pasta in Bucharest: Haute Pepper
• a dinner for two, with fresh pasta: Trattoria Mezzaluna or Pippo's
• truffle pasta: Osteria Galletto, where the truffles are shaved at the table
• a lively night out with friends: AveForchetta
• a garden and handmade pasta: Farina
• the longest pasta list: Osteria Zucca
• cheap and good: Gattini Pasta
• peace and quiet, in an old house: Unico Vero
• pasta at the table and Italian products to take home: Grano

A few tips

• ask about the pasta of the day: at Mezzaluna, some house-made pasta is not on the menu, and at Pippo's the owner recommends what he has cooked
• book in the evening and at weekends, especially at AveForchetta, Mezzaluna and Galletto; at Unico Vero, by phone only
• on Mondays, check the hours: Farina and Pippo's are closed, and Grano and Haute Pepper open later
• a real carbonara has no cream: you will find one at Haute Pepper, Galletto and Grano

Opening hours, menus and prices change, and Google ratings move with the reviews. Check each venue's page before you set off.