Need to find a REALLY good Italian restaurant in Charlotte

Bud41 can you help (or anyone else who knows the Charlotte area well)?? We just moved here 2 months ago from Chicago and are in search of a GREAT Italian restaurant in Charlotte. I%26#39;m talking the real deal, not Maggiano%26#39;s or one of the other chain places. We live in the Ballantyne area but will travel anywhere in Charlotte to find it.

Thanks in advance!!

Need to find a REALLY good Italian restaurant in Charlotte

Axid, check out this link....

www.nadasitaly.com/italyinchar.html

Need to find a REALLY good Italian restaurant in Charlotte

Wow, thanks ncgator, great web site! Looks like we%26#39;ll have our hands full trying out some new restaurants!

Thanks again!

mama ricada on kings is very good. the way it is laid out it may be a bit noisy at peak times. Not cheap but still reasonable with humungous portions. We went there on anniversary and it was very nice. If you want to go on the high end there is no beating Villa Antonio on South Blvd but expect to pay around 100 per plate for the supper but it will be full service 4 hour long meal in a romatic area. Appitizer, maincourse, desert.

My advice will maybe be helpful considering that i am italian .

I have been in Charlotte in June, i went in about 4 italian restaurants and the one that i would reccomend without a doubt is :

Luce Restaurant on Tryon St. between the 5th and the 6th st.

I had a great time, the atmosphere was great(i seated outside) and the food simply amazing, I had almost the best linguine allo scoglio ever! (just for you to know, i grew up in Italy and moved here 1 year ago so i%26#39;ve always eat in real italian restaurants).

Another restaurant were i did feel comfortable and food was very good is Mama Ricotta , Coco Osteria which is right before Luce and i think it is under the same ownership, is another good one, anyway Luce%26#39;s definitly another level.

I was really impressed by the quality of the restaurants in Charlotte.

Service was preatty good almost everywhere but the best one was at Maggiano , my waitress was simply amazing and gentle , unfortunately my spaghetti marinara wasn%26#39;t that great.

I hope this was helpful.

i almost forgot, the only thing that unfortunately there was no way to get a good one was ....ESPRESSO, no way. :)

Been out of town - sorry I did not reply. Looks like you got plenty of good advice. I would not have been much help - I%26#39;ve never found any Italian food in Charlotte that ( to my taste) can beat Carrabbas! Best wishes.

I am sure it is a very good one as all the other restaurants in charlotte , i didnt go there because they had too many Chicken dishes in the menu and that%26#39;s not italian, i actually never knew how famous were italian chickens until i moved to america :))) If you want to try to eat italian my suggestion is beware of restaurants that have Chicken Marsala chicken parmigiana, chicken here and chicken there in the menu and you will be fine.

Regards

Chicken not an Italian food?! I can%26#39;t even reply to that! LOL!!!!!!!!

eh eh I am sorry to disappoint you Bud but I would like to say it again, chicken Marsala, chicken carbonara, chicken parmigiana, chicken alfredo (well i don%26#39;t even want to mention fettuccine alfredo which is a dish that doesnt even exist in italy lol) are typical american dishes and not italian, beside we don%26#39;t eat that much chicken neither in italy, i mean is not like here , a sort of an obsession LOL it is something that we eat of course but it isn.t anything like here were 1 out of 2 recepies is about chicken .In Italy you can rarely get chicken at the restaurants , and the way we eat it the most in italy is either grilled or in the oven with potatoes ....please trust me .

Warmest Regards