Best Ravioli In Boston

Whether stuffed with meat, lobster, crab, spinach, mushrooms or a variety of cheeses,  ravioli is a time-honored staple of Italian family and restaurant tables.  The pasta can be thick or thin, and cut out and crimped together to form squares, crescents, circles or other shapes.  Traditionally served with a red sauce, ravioli also goes well with light tomato cream sauces.  Boston is famed for its Italian restaurants, most of which began and still are located in the North End.  Here, however, are five places to find the best ravioli in Boston - and all around the city, not just in the North End.

Ravioli Paul Revere may sound like a pasta dish with a cute name for tourists, but at Filippo's it is presented as an homage to their Italian heritage and their famous Revolutionary War era neighbor from the North End.  A lobster ravioli in a light tomato sauce, this dish is a marriage of cultures and cuisines which, like everything else at this delightful, charmingly decorated, old-school family restaurant, is made fresh and served with style. With a villa in Abruzzo to which they annually retire to recharge their Italian connection, the owner and his family work hard to ensure that their cuisine remains authentic and true to their Italian roots. It shows in the ravioli and the many other pasta, meat and fish dishes on its extensive menu.  The portions are as enormous as they are delicious.  With several cozy dining areas and function rooms, a meal at Filippo's is ideal for a family celebration or an intimate dinner for two.  Within easy walk of North Station and flanked by parking lots and garages at the south end of the Zakim Bridge, Filippo's is easy to get to for those planning a night in the North End.

Pagliuca's Ristorante Italiano
14 Parmenter St.
Boston, MA 02113
(617) 367-1504
www.pagliucasrestaurant.com

The ravioli like everything else is as much a bargain as it is a delight at Pagliuca's, which quite rightly styles itself "a family run Southern Italian trattoria in the North End." Pagliuca's is not fancy, but it is good - actually, beyond good.  Hailed by the Phantom Gourmet, recognized by Zagat and praised by its repeat customers for hearty, robust meals like Italian grandmother's have long been famed for, Pagliuca's delivers classic, family favorites in a manner that would make anyone of Italian heritage feel they had come home.  Big, thick, stuffed with cheese and smothered in a rich red sauce, the ravioli here is nothing short of wonderful.

Not all of Boston's best Italian restaurants are located exclusively in the North End - although Giacomo's Southend, like its brother, Giacomo's Melrose, are offshoots of the original family restaurant of the same name on Hanover Street.  For those who do not want to trudge up to the North End or are shopping or out on the town on Columbus Ave, yet still have a longing for ravioli and other traditional Italian dishes, but with a modern flair, Giacomo's Southend easily fits the bill.  The butternut squash ravioli in particular comes highly recommended, and combines diced asparagus, prosciutto, squash and mascarone cream into a singularly succulent supper.  The lobster ravioli is similarly exquisite, and is served with diced tomato in a garlic cream sauce.

Related: Boston's Best Restaurants With Handmade Pasta

Grotto
37 Bowdoin St.
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 227-3434
www.grottorestaurant.com

The aptly named subterranean restaurant Grotto in Beacon Hill serves an amazing and unique crab ravioli that will make any crabmeat lover or pasta fan happy, and will put anyone who fits both descriptions into a state of near culinary Nirvana.  Calling this dish "rich" does not even begin to do it justice, for this star of the luncheon menu with its roasted tomatoes, almonds, saffron and asparagus is a must for midday dinners.  Although the carb dish is rarely offered in the evening, ravioli aficionados will find their desires well met by the pan seared scallop ravioli with wild mushrooms, leeks and arugula that comprises the dish they call Pettini.  The Grotto is a tad pricey for their entrees, but their dinner combinations, that allow a patron to select a starter, pasta dish and dessert for $35 helps make dining there comparatively affordable, especially when the excellence of the cuisine is factored in.

Teatro
177 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 778-6841
www.teatroboston.com

Situated in the heart of Boston's theater district lies the elegant, classy Italian restaurant and bar known, quite appropriately, as Teatro.  They offer an extensive choice of pasta dishes, as well as meat, chicken, seafood and eggplant entrees and even pizza, but among the many things they do especially well is their spinach ravioli.  Made with mascarpone and creme fraiche, it is offered both as a main course and as a small plate serving, a choice which allows a dinner the joy of pairing up this wonderful ravioli with another pasta, or as a side with another entree.  The atmosphere at Teatro is perfect for theater goers looking for a big meal before or a light dinner after the show.

Related: Boston's Best Places For Spaghetti