Verdict: Rugantino has survived for more than four decades by doing the thing old family restaurants often do better than new ones: feeding a very broad range of people without losing its identity.
The restaurant makes pasta and pizza dough in-house and sits directly by Cathedral Green. The menu spans pasta, pizza, meat and fish with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices, so it works particularly well for groups.
This is not modern minimalist Italian cooking. Expect a fuller, old-school restaurant experience with a proper dining room, familiar dishes and a location that does half the atmospheric work before the food arrives.
Best for: families, mixed groups, pre- or post-Cathedral dinner and anybody nostalgic for an Italian restaurant that still behaves like one.
Worth knowing: the menu is broad, which inevitably means less laser focus than a tiny specialist kitchen. We would lean toward the homemade pasta and simpler Italian classics.
GW&B rating: 4/5. Character, longevity and a sense of place count for a lot here.