The best Italian restaurants are not necessarily the most expensive!

Italian cuisine is hailed by both foodies and health professionals as one of the most delicious, well balanced and healthful in the world. It’s certainly no wonder that the great Italian restaurants are usually packed, with patrons waiting cheerfully for their table.

Now let’s say you’ve got company coming to visit and you’d like to take them out for a superior meal. Some would say you can’t too better than taking your party to the best Italian restaurant in town. So how do you determine which is the best? Here we’ve got some clues to help you out.

The best Italian menus are built around simple ingredients in season, which are locally grown and absolutely fresh. If you look at a traditional Italian cook book, you’ll notice that the chapters of the book are organized by the seasons rather than the types of dishes. For example, an American cook book is typically organized with salads in one chapter, meats in another and so on. The traditional Italian cook book is divided in to chapters for each season. This means that throughout the year, your menus will invariably consist of fresh foods at the peak of their flavor. Italian cooks are strict in this regard - if it’s not growing now, you won’t find it on the menu tonight. So a seasonal menu is one of the signatures of the best Italian restaurants.

Another hallmark of the better Italian restaurant is one that’s Italian family owned, where the authentic, old-world preparation methods and techniques are used - no shortcuts or mass production, with very few, if any, canned or frozen ingredients.

The pizza served in great Italian restaurants may be your best gauge of authenticity. While the typical American pizza is loaded up with literally pounds of cheese, meats and produce, with a thick layer of tomato sauce as the base, the authentic Italian pizza is elegant simplicity: sparsely spread with a rich, freshly prepared tomato sauce and a minimum of carefully matched ingredients, producing an absolutely heavenly medley of flavors - in short, perhaps the best pizza you’ve ever had.

Before booking a reservation for your big party, pay a visit to the restaurant and order a pizza. Here, you’ve got a good test in finding that elusive best Italian restaurant.

Genuine Italian hospitality  also marks the best Italian restaurants. You are never hurried through your meal to make room for the next table of guests and the service reflects the pride of their art.

You might think that with such excellent fare and superior service, you’d have to pay a pretty price. The fact is that the best Italian restaurants are also reasonably priced. Food is served in generous amounts in nicely spaced courses, affording plenty of time for convivial conversation, delighting your palate every step of the way. You need never worry about anyone leaving hungry or disappointed!