Meal starts to really excel with endless Italian food (6)
I believe the answer is:
repast
'meal' is the definition.
(repast can mean a meal)
'starts to really excel with endless italian food' is the wordplay.
'starts to' indicates taking the first letters.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'endless' means to remove the last letter.
'italian food' becomes 'pasta' (type of Italian food).
The first letters of 'really excel' is 're'.
'pasta' with its last letter removed is 'past'.
're'+'past'='REPAST'
(Other definitions for repast that I've seen before include "A meal concerning time gone by" , "Something to eat" , "Banquet" , "Prates about meal" , "Feast, meal" .)