What is it?: A friendly haven for pizzas and pastas in a comfy old house just off Sathorn, with a decidedly Northern Italian bent to the menu and a crowd of groups of young Italian guys in tight black t-shirts as well as big Italian families telling their bambini to calm down.
Why we love it: You may well have seen the pictures of the big red bench at the entrance all over your social media feed for years, and for good reason. Il Bolognese is very much a tradition-driven Italian spot that plays the standards and plays them well, particularly with regard to the regional dishes of Emilia-Romagna (where Bologna is, shocker). Their pizzas are some of the best in town, and if you are with a group, they are very much a must-try, but we are particularly smitten by some of the regional dishes, like passatelli, a classic soup in which parmigiano cheese is worked into the dough of delicate little dumplings that float on the surface Branzino is a simple and excellent piece of Mediterranean seabass and the caramelle croccanti are an indulgent pile of pasta, blue cheese, truffle, and speck that will challenge even the heftiest diner.
Time Out tip: When you are paralytically full at the end of the meal (as you should be), the grappa list should sort you right out. We are particularly taken with the barrique-aged options.