Tonino: Experience Authentic Italian Cocktails and Exceptional Cuisine in Jamaica Plain

UNREAL. Every time I go to Tonino it’s a 10/10 experience. The food is absolutely incredible...easily the best Italian in Boston, and their specials never miss. The entire staff is warm, professional, and so attentive. Special shoutout to the lovely Taylor, who always makes the experience even better. I recently had my birthday dinner there, and the staff went above and beyond to accommodate multiple dietary restrictions and food allergies. Every single one of my friends left raving about the meal and is already trying to book a reservation to go back. I seriously can’t recommend them enough!

100/10 experience and service! Tonino creates a well-curated, heartfelt dining experience. The service is impeccable; our server walked our table through the wine and spirits menu, allowing my grandmother to taste. Amazing meal all around - get all the dips and desserts. My grandmother even commented on how the eggplant caponata tasted just like her Sicilian mother’s and that she hadn’t tried one that good in 40 years!

I have both good things to say and some critiques. Let me follow a chronological order. The wine selection was the most disappointing part since the restaurant didn't carry any natural (red) wine. The pizza bianca along with stracciatella was good overall but the breads were too crispy. I ordered 4 pasta dishes. Cappelletti was the highlight of the night. It was heavenly! I found the limache, bugatini, and rigatoni average. Even more that the bugatini was too heavy, and I personally am not a fan of bread crumbs. Desserts were too playful. Salt was excessive on both tiramisu and Panna Cotta. My wife didn't like the milk chocolate on tiramusu, she was expecting a darker chocolate. The restaurant was kid friendly. Though, I expect from any restaurant to be able to make simple pasta dishes with butter or tomato sauce. Overall, I would come back for the cappelletti, and hope they fixed their wine selection by then. Ambiance and service were great.

Definitely worth the hype. The food is exceptional. Pizza Bianca with the tomato relish is delicious bite and the bread is so perfect, the pepperoni pizza with hot honey is probably the only thing we ate that you can skip but it's still really good, clams and guanciale is cooked to perfection and the sauce is addicting, the bucatini with chilli anchovy butter is one of my favorite dishes I've had, perfect chew and flavor. The sausage cavatelli was a delicious change of pace again a perfect cook on the pasta, finally the taleggio signature dish, absolutely delicious, if you're going with a group I'd probably get it as a shared plate because it is so so rich. Service was also stellar

Tonino has been one of the hardest reservations to snag in Boston, so our expectations were sky-high—and it did not disappoint. The restaurant itself is tiny, warm, and inviting, with carefully chosen art and soft lighting that create a charming, intimate vibe, and kind staff with amazing service. From start to finish, everything we had lived up to the hype. We started with both salads on the menu: the Trevisano and the Tomato. The Trevisano was tangy in the best way, while the Tomato Salad was even more impressive—fresh, vibrant, and beautifully balanced with stone fruit, tomatoes, and Fresno peppers. For mains, we tried the Pepperoni and Honey pizza, along with three pastas: Lumache with mushrooms, Cappelletti, and Bucatini with chili-anchovy butter. The pizza slice is served in two pieces, made on house-made focaccia, giving it a texture reminiscent of an elevated, crunchier Sicilian style. The sauce was beautifully balanced and paired perfectly with the spicy-sweet combination of hot honey and pepperoni. The Cappelletti was the star of the night—rich, cheesy, and elevated by a touch of aged balsamic that cut through perfectly. The Bucatini came in a very close second. Despite not usually loving anchovies, we were blown away by how harmoniously the flavors came together, with the chili butter adding heat and the breadcrumbs providing a satisfying crunch. The Lumache, while good, felt a little one-note compared to the others. Desserts were just as impressive. The ricotta cheesecake was incredibly fluffy and light, and while the panna cotta could have been a bit firmer in texture, the flavor was outstanding. The fennel and Snapdragon apple on top made for a delightful finishing touch. P.S , don’t sleep on the amazing tea selection they have, we tried the Yuzu genmaicha tea and it was delicious! Tonino might just be the best Italian restaurant in Boston right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it earn Michelin recognition this November. We’ll absolutely be back—if we can manage to get another reservation!

Finally was able to snag reservation that worked after a few weeks of trying to corral people together. The restaurant itself was great. I thought it was a little too dark but overall had a great ambiance and cute, subdued aesthetic. The music and general noise was also at a comfortable level, a nice touch which many restaurants get wrong. The service was also great. Very attentive and helpful for guiding us through the popular items, specials, and personal favorites. As a hungry group of three first-timers, we ordered 4 pastas, 2 desserts, a pizza bianca and sauce, and a slice of pizza. This amount ended up being right for leaving satiated without overly stuffed. The pizza pianca, like breadsticks, and pizza slice, like a "granny slice," was surprising light and really enjoyable. If you like crispy new york style this pizza won't scratch the itch but for lovers of flatbreads this is exceptional. The stracciatella dip was so good (the tomato relish was incredible!) as was the hot honey and pepperoni topping combination. We skipped the starters and went straight for the pastas. We split the taleggio cappelletti and each ordered our own: a seasonal butternut squash filled pasta, bucatini with anchovy chili butter, and rigatoni amatriciana. The pasta itself was outstanding. I love pasta with a bit of bite and this delivered. I thought the dishes could have all been a bit more flavourful. The popular cappelletti are little pockets of molten taleggio, a slightly funky cow's milk cheese and one of the favorites. I also really liked the rigatoni amatriciana. It was a much more tomato-ey sauce than I am used to for amatriciana and I really enjoyed it. The butternut squash raviolis were well done and bursting with sweetness. And the bucatini had all the umami from the anchovies and roe without being too fishy. Everything was good but they all lacked anything extra to be particularly special. I thought each dish could have used one more strong flavour to make the dish a bit more interesting. I had extremely high expectations due to the hype and hassle to make a reservation so that could have led to me being a bit underwhelmed. We finished off the meal with the tiramisu and panna cotta. Both were delicious, my favorite was the panna cotta. Overall, extremely good pasta and pizza and would love to return but for me, not sure I think its worth the hassle of planning a multiple weeks in advance.

Incredibly good in all respects. We've loved every dish across multiple visits. If for some crazy reason you're only ordering one pasta, pick the bucatini with chili anchovy butter and bottarga. Save room for the tiramisu, which is made using amaro (Meletti I believe), dark chocolate, and sea salt -- this combo balances out what in most other restaurants would be a cloyingly sweet dessert.

This restaurant is as good as they say, I fear! Given the very high hype surrounding this restaurant, I was fully expecting to be disappointed and have an excuse to never come back. I managed to snag a booking the day before but only for a 9:30pm slot. When we came, the place was super buzzy still even at 9:30. The server (Zach) was super friendly and open about answering questions and giving recommendations. Between the two of us, we had pizza Bianca with stracciatella, the trevisano salad, the bucatini with anchovy butter, and the taleggio cappelletti. Everything was a standout. There were truly no misses. The salad was perhaps a touch too acidic for me but my friend was obsessed with it. The cappelletti is suuuuuper rich so if you’re into that, like me, you’ll love it because they’re truly like gooey cheese bombs but my friend found it a little too rich. I’m sad knowing I love this place so much because lll have to be more cunning about how to get my next reservation! Thanks Zach for showing us a great time too, all in all an amazing experience and quickly becoming one of my top restaurants in the Boston area.