Best Contemporary Italian Restaurants in Maplewood

Gorgeous setting. We had river views in summer there are outside tables. A stylish restaurant with a central bar area. The food was fast and delicious and had a great vegetarian selection. About 5mins walk from York Street. Really can’t recommend this place enough.

We were so pleased with our first visit to Carmine's. My husband and I usually travel to NYC alone, and have never gone before because we heard how large the portions are - and they are NOT kidding. There were 7 of us for dinner, and we shared a Caesar Salad, Cheesy Garlic Bread, Rigatoni Bolognese, Eggplant Parm, Veal Scallopini, and Tiramisu and it was perfect portions. Only thing we took home was the Garlic Bread (which the 19-year-old scarfed down likely before it made it to the hotel fridge.) Paul our server was fantastic - happy to see our family reunion the day after Christmas with family from Myrtle Beach. The restaurant is crowded and loud, so expect that - but it's a fun environment and you can tell it's mostly families just having a great time. This dinner capped off a perfect day celebrating the 19-year-old's first Broadway Show.

Beautiful and clean place! Service and ambience outstanding! Great food!

We all enjoyed our food and our wine and the long time we were allowed to sit and talk after dessert. Two of us had the daily ravioli pasta special, two had the prix fixe meal (with the tiramisu for dessert - yum), and one had the salmon. Our server was very patient, putting up with all our questions and with how long it took us to order because we were catching up on a few years of history in our lives. A plus is the location - easy to get to via subways from the east and west est side of the city, not far from Union Square, Madison Square Park and Gramercy Park.

There’s nothing better than a great Jersey Italian restaurant and Taormina Ristorante was just that. Everything was perfect from beginning to end. Will definitely come back when in N J