Caffe Molise
Neighborhood: Downtown Salt Lake City
Address: 55 W 100 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
A stalwart of the downtown dining scene and one of the best independent restaurants in Salt Lake City. Chef and owner Fred Moessinger focuses on fresh ingredients to power the seasonal and regional Italian cuisine Caffe Molise is known for. Dishes to keep an eye out for include the spectacular pappardelle al sugo with house-made fresh pappardelle tossed with a slow-cooked sauce of pork and beef with tomatoes and topped with asiago; for something sweeter, the classic and elegant tiramisu – one of the best in town. Located conveniently next to the Salt Palace and all of SLC’s arts and entertainment venues, Caffe Molise makes for a great option for business dinners, convention dining or just a night out on the tiles.
BTG Wine Bar
Neighborhood: Downtown Salt Lake City
Address: 404 S W Temple St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
File this under bonus points. BTG lives below Caffe Molise and is operated by the same team. Home to the largest selection of wine By The Glass (get it?) the 21+ bar is perfect for pre or post game drinks at Caffe Molise. It’s also an excellent spot in its very own right. As well as an exhaustive selection of wine, the bar also features a fun food menu of Italian lighter bites like garlic shrimp and Italian meatballs. If you’re looking for heartier dishes, there’s plenty to pour with a great bottle here, dishes such as pasta carbonara and chicken piccata.
Stoneground Italian Kitchen
Neighborhood: Downtown Salt Lake City
Address: 249 E 400 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Rustic Italian recipes, Neapolitan style pizzas & fresh pastas are the name of the game at this award winning downtown SLC Italian restaurant – that’s a local favorite. Located in the heart of Salt Lake City it’s perfectly placed for a fun evening in the city. Located out back, one of downtown’s best kept secrets, their private patio that makes for wonderful al fresco dining.
Matteo
Neighborhood: Salt Lake City
Address: 439 E 900 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Matteo Sogne’s signature restaurant in SLC, has been one of the best openings in the local restaurant scene for 2023. Serving as both affable host and knowledgeable sommelier, Sogne leads guests through a traditional Italian menu. Our contributor Heather L. King stopped by the restaurant this year, writing teh following article on why you need to check out this fabulous new Italian eatery.
Veneto
Former Italian wine broker Marco Stevanoni opened Veneto to represent the dishes of his Northern Italian homeland. Born and raised in Verona, Stevanoni has a passionate commitment to classic Northern Italian cuisine; a region that often includes ingredients like rice, vegetables, and polenta prepared with meat, fish, or cheese. Other specialties include risotto, fish, game, and pandoro. And with Stevanoni’s background in wine you can count on a killer wine list.
Osteria Amore
This East side Italian eatery moved into the space formerly home to Aristo’s. With their arrival the Greek menu is replaced with a fine dining Italian one.
Bartolo’s
Bartolo’s has locations in both Park City and Salt Lake City each offering fabulously creative modern menus seven days a week. The options run the gamut, everything rom rustic pasta dishes through seasonal entrees and unique appetizers.
Settebello
Pizza Napoletana is the singular focus of this endlessly celebrated downtown pizza restaurant. This style of pizza means a soft dough is cooked quickly in a wood burning oven; the result is a thin pizza, with a pliable finish and unmistakable char marks form the blistering hot oven. Authentic ingredients and toppings are also the name of the game at Settebello – flour comes direct from Napoli, Parmesan comes from Modena – heck, even the ovens are handmade and imported from Napoli based artisans.
Maybe also check out
Our sister website SLC Menu lists 100s and 100s of menus. Check out the Italian menu’s near you now page to see what Italian restaurants are close to you. Maybe we can tempt you to something else delicious while you’re here? Check out these other detailed guides, some of the most popular pages on our website:
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
Want to know more? This is why I am the way I am.
Our sponsors and this page
This page may contain information about one of our sponsors. We only work with the very best businesses in the state, and routinely turn down offers to work with businesses we don't enjoy. If we can't hand on heart recommend them - they can't be a sponsor.
At this time we have the following sponosrs: BTG, Caffe Molise, Downtown Alliance, Feldman’s Deli, Felt Bar & Eatery, Flanker Kitchen + Sporting Club, Garage On Beck, Hearth And Hill, Hill’s Kitchen, Kin Sen Asian Noodle Bar, Kyoto, Log Haven, Oasis Cafe, SLC Eatery, Squatter’s Downtown Salt Lake City, Stoneground Italian Kitchen, Urban Hill, Wasatch Brew Pub Sugar House, Whiskey Street, White Horse.
I encourage you to Google any of our sponsors and see the stellar reviews on multiple sites that they enjoy. For a list of all our current and past relationships see our partnership history page.
I completely agree! I’ve been to a few of the restaurants on this list and they were all amazing. The pasta dishes at La Tavola were to die for, and the pizza at Pizzeria 712 was out of this world. Thanks for sharing this list, it’s now on my must-visit list for future dinners in Salt Lake City!