Many places that serve “Italian food” truly do not because Italian restaurants in Downriver serve Americanized Italian food. However, I recommend a handful of restaurants in the area that serve delicious while also authentic Italian food. 

Without a doubt, my preferred place to get authentic Italian pasta is La Noria Bistro. One of my favorite pasta dishes is Ravioli Di Aragosta, which consists of lobster, shrimp, ricotta, tomato sauce, a touch of cream, and vodka. Gnocchi Alla Bava includes potato dumplings with four cheese Piemontese style and cream sauce. La Noria Bistro also have wood-fired pizza, which is different from the generic pizza you would find at Domino’s and Hungry Howie’s Pizza. Similarly, people interested in other options have a variety of choices, from steak dinners to veal cuisines, mentioning the various seasoning styles on each meal. This restaurant also has great Mexican food that works well with their Italian dishes.

Although the restaurant Ottava Via is on the more expensive side, the quality of the food is worth the price. Similar to La Noria Bistro, they also use a wood-fired oven to cook their pizzas. A well-known Italian, Benny Dimlia says, “Fresh pasta, good black truffle, good atmosphere, one of the best places.” Their pizza dishes have simple ingredients, and they only have nine types of pizza. The average price per slice is $17. The pizzas are one of the main attractions, but most come for the pasta. Because of their routine for making their sauce, they use ingredients like black pepper to add just the right flavor and to capture the authentic Italian taste. The pasta I get every time is Cacio e Pepe, a bucatini pasta with traditional pecorino cheese and black pepper sauce. This is not their only good pasta dish; others like Pesto Pasta and Penne Alla Arrabbiata are also on the top of my list. The average cost of a pasta dish is also $18. They also include steak dinners alongside a bass meal, though I have yet to try it.

A wonderful place closer to Woodhaven is Baldos Italian Restaurant. It’s my favorite place to get the stereotypical Italian pizza because it is not like Napoletana pizza or Sicilian pizza; it is made for more general American consumers. A fellow Italian Giuseppe Crapanzano states, “The place has good pizza, very tasty. Baldos is for the people, Baldos ain’t Baldos unless there’s 1,000 people there.” Freshness is a priority of theirs: they prepare homemade sauce, make their meatballs fresh, fresh pasta and dough are made every day, and they make their cannoli cream every few days. Baldos has been nearby for 50+ years and uses the same recipes passed down from generation to generation. The restaurant was created by the Dimilia family, and they still operate it. 

A restaurant just under a mile south of Baldos on Telegraph is Francesca’s Pizzeria, which specializes in Napoletana-style pizza. Their specialty on their pizzas is their own homemade sauce, and they also use a brick oven imported from Italy that uses burning wood and a rotating brick to cook the pizzas. Francesca’s Pizzeria is a more modernized restaurant on this list even though they don’t have much Italian food because they have other popular items such as wings and chicken sandwiches. They also offer even more variety in their halal options like pepperoni, sausage, and chicken. Variety is a priority for the owners as they are Arabic-Italians themselves. 

All of these places’ authentic Italian food allows me to highly recommend a visit to them.