My post about a Japanese couple’s bad experience in a Rome restaurant sparked some discussion, and also led to Blog from Italy reader David suggesting a few places in Rome which serve good food at reasonable prices.
So, after writing about the bad, here is a little post based on David’s recommendations on some good places to try in Rome. His advice is all the more valid in that it is also based on some insider knowledge, in that an Italian friend of his pointed him in the direction of some of the places to eat.
Please read on for David’s hot tips, and one from foodie Judith.
Tom Cruise-Gallagher morph David
Tom Cruise-Gallagher morph David
David’s Tips on Places to Eat in Whilst Roaming Rome
By clicking on the maps you will be take to Google maps, from which you can use Street View to get an idea of the surrounding area. Personally, I find Street View very handy. Note that the numbers bear no relation to the quality or price of the restaurants mentioned- they are just there for listing purposes – this is not a ‘Top Ten’ type list.
Number 1 – Gusto, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9, Rome
The first restaurant David mentioned, and gave the thumbs up to is “Gusto” – . David also called Gusto (thanks, David), and was told that they still have a buffet lunch from Monday to Friday at €9, a price which includes a drink or a glass of wine.
Gusto’s food is international/Mediterranean style, but most dishes are cold. Gusto serves some meat dishes and fish later on in the day. On Saturdays and Sundays there is brunch style menu and the cost is apparently based in the weight of the food you choose. I guess this means that a heavy meal will be expensive.
I’ve had a look at the Gusto website, which is in Italian (a good sign, in this case!), and it certainly sounds an interesting place.
Number 2 – Canova, Piazza del Popolo, Rome
Next on David’s list is “Canova” which is a form of self-service, meaning that you choose what you want. Returning customers will get 15% discount card
(which you have to ask for). According to David this place serves good food at fair prices. Canova also has an courtyard which is open during summer, so smokers can do their thing without having to stand on the sidewalk.
Number 3 – Tonino, Via del Governo Vecchio, 18, Rome
“Tonino” is a very small family run trattoria which serves food based on Roman cuisine. David discovered this place a couple of years ago.
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Tonino dishes can be accompanied by the restaurant’s rather good chilled red table wine. The atmosphere is very friendly and informal, and the cost for two is around €30, as long as you do not order too much wine. Having good wine in Italian restaurants can quite easily double, or triple, the end of meal bill if you are not careful, but then wine in restaurants has never been cheap.
Number 4 – Carlo Menta, Via della lungaretta, 101, Rome
The final Rome eatery on David’s Rome restaurant list, which he was taken to by an Italian friend I understand, was the “Carlo Menta” restaurant in Rome’s popular Trastevere area. Prices here are reasonable in David’s opinion, at around €5 for a first course and €9 for something like a lamb dish, plus approximately €3 for side-dishes. The table wine in this restaurant is not up to much and is best avoided, David thinks.
Number 5 – La Carbonara, Piazza Campo de’ Fiori, 23, Rome - 8 July, 2008
This is a tip on a Roman restaurant from choosy foodie, and cooking expert, Judith Greenwood of Think on It, so it should be an excellent place to try. The Carbonara specialises in Roman cuisine, and has an extensive wine cellar too, with over 100 Italian wines to sample. Fresh ingredients are bought daily from selected suppliers, which is something that will help ensure that the dishes served will represent the best of Italian cooking.
This Roman restaurant is also featured in a number of guides, including the Gambero Rosso, a major Italian good restaurants guide. Judith tells me that it is also frequented by Italians, which is always a good sign. Indeed, it goes without saying that if a restaurant is popular with Italians, then it is highly likely to be a good place to eat and well worth trying. If you can recognize spoken Italian, then you are off to a head start when hunting great Italian eateries!
I don’t imagine the prices will be the lowest in Rome, but then quality rarely comes cheap.
This is the restaurant’s website: La Carbonara – English section. Thanks Judith!
Number 6 – Ristorante Federico 1° in Via Colonna Antonnina, Rome - New – 22 August, 2009
Reader Emma and her Italian other half, Luca, ate at the Federico 1° in Rome, and said it was one of the best meals they had ever had. Luca’s family runs a bar, so he knows something about food.
Here is the English version of the Federico 1° restaurant’s website: Federico 1° restaurant, and here is the Federico 1°’s menu, along with prices, which I hope are up to date: Federico 1° Menu
Cuisine at this restaurant is meat and fish based.
There is also a pretty extensive wine list on the Federico 1° site – along with prices too. And the restaurant can be hired for holding private events.
Number 7 – Il Matriciano, Via dei Gracchi, 55, 00192 Roma, (Lazio), Italy
Someone I know, Italian Alessio Baù who, like me, is based in Milan, asked for recommendations on good restaurants Rome via Facebook. I pointed him towards this post, and then read with interest the recommendations of other Italians. Alessio was looking for places that cost around 50 Euros a head.
Il Matriciano is one of the places someone recommended – and there are some good reviews on Google maps too. Not a place that rips people off either by the sounds of things – seeing some of the reviews are written by English speakers.
Location of Il Matriciano Restaurant in Rome – on Google Maps.
Italian Ice Cream – Gelateria al Teatro, Via dei Coronari/ Via di San Simone, 70, Rome
If you are looking to try Italian ice cream, which in my opinion everyone should, David says there is one good gelateria in Rome in near Via dei Coronari called “Gelateria al Teatro”.
Many thanks for your tips, David. They should prove useful.
If you are planning to come to Rome, then City Discovery has extensive details of tours and things to do while in Rome. If you do buy something, Blog from Italy will obtain a small commission, so thank you.
Blog from Italy tip
If you do come across a really good wine whilst dining out in Italy, and you have a camera equipped mobile phone, then take a photograph of the wine bottle’s label. This might help you track down that memorable red or white when you are back home, should you wish to. Such photos could also prove useful when you are confronted with a bewildering wine list in some other Italian restaurant or other, and not just in Rome.
As opposed to a normal camera, your mobile phone is the best place for such photos, mainly because most of us take our cell phones everywhere.
Tell Us Your Experiences
If you do visit any of the places on David’s list, or have already done so, and you have a spare minute, please let us all know how you got on.
Those who know of other good places to eat in Rome are welcome to mention them in a comment or three, and I’ll update this post, or even create a Rome Restaurants category, to which Blog from Italy readers can contribute, and help us all keep up-to-date on the best places to eat in Rome, and elsewhere in Italy.
At least this post might help some avoid this bad Rome eating experience: Rome’s Rip Off Passetto Restaurant?
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All new to me, but seemingly heavy in pre-prepared foods, so not my style. OTH, Carbonara at Campo dei Fiori does a nice antipasto buffet, and it may appeal to tourists and be in a tourist mecca, but I have chatted in Italian with a lot of Romans there, so it can’t be all bad.
Like any great city of the world, Rome costs more than Peoria or Città di Castello, so plan for it and pay up or visit C di C or Peoria!
I’m been at Campo De Fiori and I eat at Baffetto, the Pizza was good but the service not so much, then I eat also at Osteria dei Pontefici near the Vaticn and it was very good.
You could be right on the pre-prepared foods thing, Judith.
And thanks for the tip – I’ll add it to the post above.
As for prices, well, it is the capital, so higher prices are to be expected. Move away from Rome, and head for Peoria or Città di Castello etc, and the food will be good, and well priced.
What are your fave places in Peoria or Città di Castello, by the way. No need to focus solely on Rome.
All the best,
Alex
I’ve never been to Peoria, it just happens to be the US city we mantion when speaking generically.
In C di C, however, you can eat well at any level. Snacky foods are at two bruschettiere, one just off the piazza Gabriotti where the Duomo is and the other in an alley near the movie theater. For inexpensive casalinga food, there is L’osteria just off Piazza Matteotti, Pizzeria Roma– wood coals for cooking hand cut to order Fiorentina, good pizza too and also at lunch– a block off that piazza. Up a small step are ’800, or l’ottocento, look for the sign at P Matteotti, il Buon Gustaiao on via San Florido, Lea at the other end of S Florido– reservations required– il Fiorentino near the walls even further down S Florido and le Logge in Hotel Tifernato at Piazza S Francesco.
These are all in the centro storico.
A step outside the walls are il Postale which has a Michelin star and is the only starred restaurant I have ever been able to afford! There are dozens more that others like but haven’t appealed to me. il Fiore is hard to find but very good. La Pulcinella is in a residential area north of the city and is Neapolitan ways with fish.
In the comune but not in C di C center are Pensiero Stupendo at San Giustino, the REAL Neapolitan pizza and open only at night because of the wood oven stoking that goes on all day. Bar Sasso on the road to Pietralunga makes ciaccia, the local flat bread, filled with salumi of choice, and sauteed spinach which is yummers. In any of the villages that are part of us and nearby you may find a local joint, sometimes really good. There are agriturismi in the countryside which are also restaurants. One is vegetarian.
You can get a sandwich and a cup of coffee at several bars for euro 2.60/both. A typical full meal at most places costs from 15 to 25 euro including wine and water. You will spend towards euro 40 at il Postale but their wine cellar is so great you might be tempted to add a few hundred to that in order to taste wines that are simply no longer available anywhere.
A room in a country B&B costs euro 30-35. The most expensive hotel costs euro 75 for a single, and as you can see, you can eat cheaper than at home.
Thanks for the tips, Judith. I think I’ll fire up a ‘Where to Eat in C di C’ post now.
As for Peoria, did not know about that. Oops! Now I do though, thanks.
Cheers,
Alex
I went to a few good Roman restaurants the last time I was there a couple of years back. I’d like to share a couple;
Est! Est! Est!, Via Genoa 32. This casual and cozy spot is tucked away in the Monti neighborhood. The prices were reasonable for Roman fare such as suppli and fried artichokes. They have great pizza dna good house red as well.
The other one is in Trastevere and is much more formal and expensive, but worth it. It’s on Via dei Genovese, 31 A/B. The interior is more spacious with a modern flair. Visit their website http://www.spiritodivino.com to check out the menu.
Thanks for this Michelle. I’ll be adding your tips to the main post.
Best,
Alex
@ judith
dear Judith, sorry to contradict you, but most of the foods served in a restaurant is pre-prepared foods, expecially sauces which are made 2-3 days ahead if not even bought in a whole sale, meats are always pre-cooked. It is not believable that a low-middle cost menu restaurant with 10 choices per course can prepare your plate on demand right in that time you ask it if it is not an high level/ high cost restaurant. It would be crazy, they would work at least for one month and then shut off. I’m from Umbria and I know my region very well, I had ‘strangozzi with tartufo’ in Orvieto and tartufo sauce was from an industrial jar sauce, i found out a tartufo jar in a whole sell and replied that plate in my kitchen and that was really good better then the restaurant. “Il boccone del prete” at Porano is great including sangiovese orvieto wine bottle, but when I’m there I’m just staring at the eyes of my customer I have in front, and not thinking if the food is just freshly cooked or not. Going to a restaurant is an opportunity to share a convivial moment of your life with someone you really esteem in a nice unforgettable atmopsphere you’ll never forget. The best meal is made at home with just €15, including 2 good wine bottles the total is €29.
cheers
david
David, the bruschetterie are certainly using purchased spreads and the bars are not baking the bread (except for Bar Sasso, and you can watch them do it.) I only mentioned restaurants that I like and that make their own or state on the menu or blackboard that they buy it. That’s very common here.
Anyone can see right into most of these kitchens. I go into them frequently. They really aren’t tourist aimed and have shorter menus than tourist area restaurants often do. Three primi, 3-4 secondi, 3 contorni is typical for the cheaper places. Locals support these places and they know their food. You cannot be Slow Food listed if you use commercially produced foods. Certainly you don’t get a MIchelin star with jarred sauces.
Might some who are not Slow Food places use truffle paste on crostini? Yes, since it is made in our town I bet they might.
Since I am a chef and can cook anything I want to eat, I am pretty picky about where I spend my restaurant euro. I don’t think you will feel sgorted by any of the places I mentioned.
Dear Judith,
sorry, are we misunderstanding each other?
I’m just saying it is not believable that a low-middle cost restaurant is serving
(eg.) amatriciana made on the same day, simply because the day after
the sauce tastes better and you know it, as you’re a chef.
All the sauces are made homely made days ahead: lepre, cinghiale, etc. and also second courses as coniglio alla cacciatora, piccione and all this stuff like that are started at least one day before.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but as you’re a chef I’m saying that you know very well that everything is pre-prepared everywhere and not just sounds in rome restaurants.
thank you
david
Yes, we are misunderstanding each other. I mean purchased pre-prepared foods, not made in house beforehand. You certainly mentioned some at some point. It is that commercially produced food I avoid.
I found a very interesting initiative: Rome low cost. It’s promoted by the city council. This is the article where I red the news (in italian):
http://www.marcopolo.tv/tpl-articolo.asp?idArticolo=45348
Thanks Fabio. Shame this is not in English and other languages. Rome does seem to have something of a bad reputation in the eyes of many tourists.
Best,
Alex
Any recommendations on places to eat in Florence and Venice? My husband and I are planning our trip and would appreciate any suggestions.
Gusto is perfect for brunch on sundays: i love their pancakes!
Hi Laura,
Many thanks for the feedback on Gusto’s brunches and their scrummy pancakes!
Best regards,
Alex
I agree with Laura, I’ve also been to Gusto and they have the tastiest pancakes around.
I eated at ristorante Il Corso on Via del Corso and was very good and good prices, you should add it to the list!