W1 London / Where to eat / Italian restaurants

The Best Italian Restaurants in W1: Seven Picks, From a Mayfair Star to Soho Pasta Bars

The best Italian restaurants in W1 cover the whole range, from a Michelin-starred dining room in Mayfair to Soho pasta bars where a bowl of handmade tagliatelle costs less than a cocktail around the corner. We picked seven that are open now, checked each against its own website in October 2026, and noted what each does best: regional Italian cooking at Bocca di Lupo, Sicilian food at Norma, Venetian dishes at 2 Veneti, and fresh pasta at Bancone and Lina Stores. Prices quoted are from each restaurant's current menus.

The seven at a glance

1. Murano, Queen Street, Mayfair

Angela Hartnett's restaurant at 20 Queen Street (W1J 5PP), a short walk from Green Park station, is the Italian choice for a special occasion. It calls itself a British-Italian Michelin-star restaurant, and the cooking is built on Hartnett's family heritage: hand-rolled pappardelle with duck ragù, Carnaroli risotto, agnolotti with chicken and mortadella. The à la carte is priced by number of courses, from £95 for three to £155 for six, and is served at lunch and dinner. The set lunch is the way in: £55 for two courses or £60 for three, from a shorter menu that in October 2026 included burrata with pear and walnuts and a blackberry crumble with zabaglione.

2. Bocca di Lupo, Archer Street, Soho

Jacob Kenedy's Bocca di Lupo, at 12 Archer Street (W1D 7BB), just off Shaftesbury Avenue, cooks dishes from across Italy's regions and serves many of them in small or large portions, so a table can share a run of plates or order conventionally. The kitchen makes as much as it can in house, including pasta, bread, sausages and salame. Two can book seats at the chef's counter facing the open kitchen. It is open until midnight Monday to Saturday, which makes it one of the best options after a West End show: from 9.30pm any wine on the list up to £300 a bottle is available by the glass. Its sister gelateria, Gelupo, is close by.

3. Norma, Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia

Norma, at 8 Charlotte Street (W1T 2LS), cooks Sicilian food with an emphasis on the island's Moorish influences, across the first two floors of a Fitzrovia townhouse, with private dining on the top floor. It holds two AA Rosettes. The pre-theatre menu is one of the better-value Italian meals in W1: two courses for £28 or three for £34, Monday to Friday from 12pm to 5.30pm. Charlotte Street's other restaurants are covered in our Fitzrovia restaurant guide.

4. 2 Veneti, Wigmore Street, Marylebone

A small, long-running Venetian restaurant at 10 Wigmore Street (W1U 2RD), a few minutes from Oxford Circus and handy for the Wigmore Hall. The October 2026 menu reads like a trip to the lagoon: baccalà mantecato (whipped salt cod) with grilled polenta, sarde in saor (sweet and sour sardines with onions, pine nuts and sultanas), bigoli with anchovies and onions, bigoli with duck and guinea fowl ragù, and a Venetian fritto misto. It is quieter and more traditional than the Soho picks.

5. Sartoria, Savile Row, Mayfair

Sartoria, at 20 Savile Row (W1S 3PR), takes its theme from the street's tailors: the name is Italian for a tailor's workshop, and the restaurant describes its style as inspired by Milan and British tailoring. The cooking is modern Italian, with handmade pasta, antipasti and seasonal meat and fish, in a smart room suited to a business lunch. At weekends it runs an Italian brunch with antipasti, pasta and spritzes. For the street itself, see our Savile Row guide.

6. Bancone, Golden Square, Soho

Bancone makes its pasta by hand every day and keeps the format simple: a short menu of pasta dishes plus a few starters and desserts, served in a buzzy room. The Golden Square branch is at 8 to 10 Lower James Street (W1F 9EL), between Regent Street and Brewer Street. It is a good choice for a quick, inexpensive lunch or an early dinner before a night out. The group's Covent Garden branch has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2020.

7. Lina Stores, Greek Street and Marylebone Lane

Lina Stores has sold Italian produce in Soho since 1944, from the green-fronted delicatessen on Brewer Street. Its first restaurant, at 51 Greek Street (W1D 4EH), serves fresh pasta, antipasti and dolci over two floors, with a 12-seat bar on the ground floor facing the kitchen. A second W1 branch, at 13 to 15 Marylebone Lane (W1U 2NE), adds a deli and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you are self-catering, the Brewer Street deli sells fresh pasta to take home.

How to choose

• A celebration: Murano, and book the set lunch if you want the cooking without the full dinner bill.
• Before or after the theatre: Norma's pre-theatre menu, or Bocca di Lupo after the show.
• A quick, cheap bowl of pasta: Bancone or Lina Stores.
• Something different: 2 Veneti for Venetian dishes you rarely see in London.

For other cuisines and areas, see our guide to where to eat in W1, our best restaurants in Soho and, for the full list of starred restaurants, Michelin-starred restaurants in W1.

Sources: restaurant websites checked October 2026: Murano menus; Bocca di Lupo; Norma; 2 Veneti; Sartoria Savile Row; Bancone; Lina Stores.