Review · Restaurant · Modern Italian

Moccione, Villeray

Chef Luca Cianciulli cooks modern Italian with handmade pasta on Saint-Denis, and has built one of the few rooms in Villeray where a long dinner still feels like an occasion.

By Victor · Published March 23, 2026 · Checked October 2026

Is Moccione worth it?

A favourite

Worth the money when the night is the point

The pasta is the reason to come and the room is the reason to stay. Warm, a little buzzy, and loud enough to feel alive without turning dinner into a lip-reading contest. It's expensive enough that you want a reason, so save it for something rather than a Tuesday. Ask for a two-top along the wall.

The essentials

Our take

A favourite

Cuisine: Modern Italian
Neighbourhood: Villeray
Per person: $120 to $200
Can you talk?: Yes, easily
Booking: Plan ahead
Allow: 2 to 2.5 hours
Address: 7495 rue Saint-Denis, Montreal, QC H2R 2E5
Instagram: @moccione.restaurant
Google reviews: 4.8 · 1128 reviewsas of October 13, 2026, not updated since; Their rating on Google, not ours.
Disclosure: Paid

Book Map

Good for

Anniversary
Ideal
Cozy, celebratory, and built for a long dinner. Exactly the room it was made for.
Impressing a cook
Ideal
The caramelle alone will do it. Anyone who cooks will spend the meal trying to reverse-engineer the filling.
Double date
Ideal
Ordering in layers works better with four, and the room carries the noise.
First date
Works, with a caveat
Lovely, but it's a little too special for a low-stakes first meet, and you're in for a real bill before you know if you like each other.
Casual midweek
Better for another night
Nothing here is quick or cheap.
Late night
Better for another night
Dinner here runs two hours or more and wants you ordering in layers, so it's the evening itself rather than the end of one.

The room

Moccione feels special without being stiff. The room is open and welcoming, with a view of the kitchen. You can dress up, but good jeans and a jacket also fit.

The tables along the wall are the ones to ask for. Two-tops, spaced, and they put you side by side with the room instead of staring into someone else's dinner. Lighting is warm and dim in a flattering way. The noise is a happy hum rather than a roar, and service is attentive early then backs off, which is the right instinct for a table of two.

Meet the chef

Luca Cianciulli · Chef and co-owner

Luca Cianciulli is chef and co-owner, with his partner Maxime Landry running front of house. The room sits in the Michelin Guide Québec 2026 as a Selected restaurant, which is a listing rather than a star, and the couple have since opened Moccione Pizza, a separate takeaway a few streets over at 380 rue Villeray.

What you can taste is a kitchen that treats pasta as the centre of the menu rather than a course on the way to a main. The caramelle are shaped like wrapped sweets and filled with ricotta, artichoke and rabbit; the cappelletti come perfumed with saffron and bergamot. Both are doing something more particular than the room's price bracket demands.

What to drink at Moccione

Order the first drink before you open the menu.

To start

A cocktail

Dialled in and not overly sweet, which is what you want ahead of Italian food.

With the meal

Wine with acidity and grip

Ask for it by those words. It keeps the meal bright even when the pasta gets rich.

To finish, an amaro. It makes sense after the richer pasta and dessert.

What to order at Moccione

Order in layers so the table keeps changing while you talk. For two: one crudo or tartare, one fried bite, one pasta, one main, one dessert, two digestifs.

Scallop crudo
Order this
Scallops with an icy apple and grapefruit granita. Silky scallop, crunchy cold granita, clean finish. The one to start with.
Caramelle
Order this
Candy-shaped stuffed pasta with ricotta, artichoke and rabbit, finished with tomato-sage sauce. Tender pasta, creamy filling, bright sauce. If you order one thing, this.
Cappelletti
Order this
Delicate stuffed pasta with beef, saffron, bergamot and Parmigiano. Pillowy, rich, with a perfumed citrus finish.
Stracciatella di bufala
Worth it
Creamy buffalo stracciatella with braised cabbage, roasted cipollini, hazelnuts and olive oil. Lush and soft, sweet onion, nutty crunch.
Baba tiramisu
Worth it
Airy sponge soaked in syrup under silky cream. Boozy, coffee and cocoa forward. Dessert is a closer here.
Sorbet
Worth it
A clean palate reset after the richer pastas. Does its job, no more.
Beef
Maybe skip
Beef with topinambour, trompette mushrooms and sea-asparagus salsa verde. Tender and earthy, but mine came under-seasoned. I'd pick another protein next time.

How much does dinner at Moccione cost?

Budget $120 to $200 per person with wine and tip.

Food only, per person: $60 to $80
Cocktails, wine, digestifs: the rest of it
Per person, all in: $120 to $200

One cocktail each, then a bottle or a couple of sommelier picks instead of multiple rounds. That keeps the total down without changing the meal.

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Before or after dinner

What to do before or after dinner in Villeray

Close by, for before or after.

Activities and Sports

Stade IGA and parc Jarry

Before · Free to walk the park

Thirty-six hectares to arrive hungry through. Note the new stadium project is contested locally.

Arts and Culture

TOHU

Before · bus · $$$

Contemporary circus in a converted quarry. Check the calendar, the season has gaps.

Games and Entertainment

Cinéma Public

Before · $

Repertory film in the Casa d'Italia.

Nature and Scenic

Parc Frédéric-Back

Before · bus · Free

The reclaimed landfill with the spheres. Golden hour, and bring a bag because there are no bins.

Before you book

How far ahead do I need to book?

Strongly recommended, especially Thursday to Saturday.