Best Italian Food in Orlando on OpenTable — Ciao Italia Ristorante

The Food That Earns Top Ratings

When OpenTable diners rate the best Italian food in Orlando, they are describing what arrived at their table and what it tasted like. At Ciao Italia, what arrives at the table is the product of a kitchen that started from scratch that same day. The sauces were made this morning. The pasta was made this afternoon. The seafood came in fresh and was handled by a chef who understands Southern Italian coastal cooking at its source.

The result is food that tastes different from chain Italian. Not because the portions are larger or the presentations are fancier, but because the fundamentals are right. A well-made tomato sauce tastes like tomatoes, not like a jar. Fresh pasta has a texture that dried pasta cannot replicate. These are not subtle differences. They are the reason diners write specific reviews about specific dishes, and why those reviews consistently land Ciao Italia at the top of OpenTable rankings in its category.

Handmade Pasta Made Fresh Daily

The pasta program at Ciao Italia is the foundation of the restaurant's food identity. The sacchetti, tortellini, and ravioli are made in-house. The dough is mixed, rolled, and cut each day before service begins. This is not a marketing claim — it is a daily practice that has been part of the restaurant since 1991.

The difference shows in every dish. The Sacchetti di Filetto, filled with truffle and sage and served with parmigiano cream and sliced filet, is built around pasta that has been made to the right texture and thickness to carry the filling without overwhelming it. The Ravioli di Pesce delivers seafood in a light tomato cream sauce that would fall flat with inferior pasta. The technique matters. The ingredients matter. And both come together at Ciao Italia in a way that earns the ratings it receives.

Fresh Seafood Done the Italian Way

Southern Italian cuisine is deeply connected to the sea. The coastal regions of Campania, Calabria, and Sicily produced cooking traditions built around fresh catch, simple preparations, and respect for the ingredient. Ciao Italia carries those traditions to Orlando in dishes like the Linguine alle Vongole — fresh clams in white wine garlic sauce, an Italian coastal classic that lives or dies on the quality of the clams and the cleanliness of the sauce.

The Risotto alla Pescatora brings together clams, mussels, shrimp, and sauteed calamari in a dish that requires real technique to execute. The Cernia alla Puttanesca uses fresh Gulf grouper in a preparation rooted in Southern Italian tradition. These are not Italian-American interpretations. They are the real dishes, made properly.

The Southern Italian Kitchen Philosophy

The Navarra family brought Southern Italian cooking to Orlando when they opened Ciao Italia in 1991. The philosophy has not changed: start with quality ingredients, apply the correct technique, serve the food at its best, and treat every guest the way you would treat a guest in your own home. That philosophy is what drives the food scores on OpenTable, and it is what makes Ciao Italia the answer when Orlando diners search for the best Italian food in the city. Call (407) 354-0770 to reserve your table.