4 of My Favorite Italian Restaurants In Budapest

Likely the most well-known Italian restaurant in the city, Pomo D'Oro transplants a red-sauce, old-school trattoria into the heart of Budapest's downtown. The place, which opened in 2002, fills to capacity every day of the week with middle-class Hungarian families, office workers, and tourists. Despite numerous space-making extensions toward the back, the restaurant has retained a cozy atmosphere with a menu that hardly changed over the past two decades.

Highlights include the rich Tuscan tomato soup (pappa al pomodoro), the beef carpaccio, the tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms, and the memorably soft osso buco. Do save room for dessert because the profiterole and the tiramisu are really wonderful and generously portioned. Mains are €13-18 and reservations an absolute must.

Opened in 1997 by the Lombardian owner-chef, Graziano Cattaneo, Krizia comes closest in Budapest to offering a traditional ristorante experience. The restaurant is located inside a snug below-ground space on a quiet street in Budapest's District 6, near the center. There are less than a dozen tables, all of them covered in white linen.

The menu features northern Italian fare such as lasagne, tortelloni, risotto, mushroom and cream-heavy pastas, and many meat and fish dishes, for example a delicious ossobuco with polenta. The wine list goes from Lambruscos to Brunellos, plenty in between, and one you can round out the meal with a Fernet or some other amaro. Mains are €13-20. Although less elaborate, Krizia serves a wallet-friendly lunch prix-fixe on weekdays.