Not on The Hill: Missouri's Highest-Rated Italian Restaurant

If you asked me to guess the highest-rated Italian restaurant in Missouri, I would have immediately narrowed it to one of the many famous places on The Hill in St. Louis. Guess what? I would be wrong as science shows the top-rated restaurant isn't anywhere near that famous St. Louis region.

I came across a new national ranking of the best Italian restaurants in each state by Cheapism, but they completely ignored Missouri. How dare they? So, I decided to do my own by querying the online reviews of Italian restaurants across Missouri and the results stunned me. No, the highest-rated Italian restaurant based on more than 500 reviews is this place in Chesterfield.

This is Paul Manno's Restaurant located at 75 Forum Shopping Center in Chesterfield, Missouri. It is frequently mentioned by St. Louis-area diners as one of the best Italian restaurants in Missouri. Reddit discussions consistently place it among the top recommendations in the state. They have an unusually high rating with a large review volume, which is often a better indicator than a perfect score from a small number of reviews.

The reviewers on Yelp seem to agree. With more than 300 reviews, Paul Manno's averages 4.5 out of 5 stars which is very high for a restaurant. I have to confess that I've never heard of this Chesterfield restaurant which is proof that I don't leave the house nearly enough. Since I crave Italian food often, they are now on my go-to list for places to try out if the opportunity happens.