Boston’s Best Italian Restaurants

La Padrona — the glamorous Italian restaurant that opened in Raffles last May — is a bona-fide hit. The restaurant, which was named Eater Boston’s Best New Restaurant of 2024, nails both the environment and the execution, starting with the grand staircase that diners ascend to get to the showstopping dining room. Then there’s dinner itself, which will likely involve many courses of appetizers (you can’t go wrong with the chickpea spoon bread and the tuna crudo), luxurious pasta, and even more luxurious centerpiece plates like roasted rack of lamb or the dry-aged 40-ounce porterhouse steak with grilled focaccia.