Updated October 26, 2026,first published July 31, 2026
15.5/20Da Orazio Trattoria
Italian$$
Classic trattoria, where the tablecloth quickly goes from pristine to covered in all types of sauce.
Tabletop candles are lit the instant you sit down; a drinks list is presented and water is poured. Negroni orders are promptly taken; staff will tell you as much or as little about every dish as you care to ask. Trattoria Da Orazio is one of those well calibrated restaurants run by people who want nothing more for you to eat well, be happy, and listen to some energetic Italian crooning on the stereo.
If you recognise the name, yes, it’s that Orazio – Orazio D’Elia – who has been serving pizza and porchetta to families at Da Orazio in Bondi for years. His Rushcutters Bay trattoria is where the chef wants to remind Sydneysiders that he’s good for more than blistered margherita crusts and rolled pig.
Smaller plates are split across “cured”, “aged”, “preserved” and “antipasti”, building up to five pastas and some plus-sized mains. Your choice of “aged” could be baked tomino cheese teamed with sweet-sour caponata to cut through the ooze; for “preserved”, roasted red peppers are stuffed with a tuna mousse of forthright ocean flavour.
The menu roams across Italy’s regions, pulling multiple threads if you want to travel to Naples by way of spaghetti with bright passata, or Florence with ricotta-filled cannelloni. But most local diners seem happy to simply have somewhere where you can call to book and eat a nice steak. Somewhere with soft lighting, timber-lined walls, and decent Chianti for $20 a glass.
Good to know: D’Elia celebrates the weekend by slow cooking a regionally specific ragu every Sunday.
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Last visited: September 2026
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Some of Sydney’s finest pizza, a stone’s throw from the beach.
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