Best off the beaten path restaurants/wine bars/hangouts in Rome

My wife and I just got back from Rome 10 days ago. We found this restaurant around the corner from our hotel and liked it so much we ate there 4 times, twice for lunch and twice for dinner. The salads, especially, were excellent. Tempio di Bacco, Via Lombardia 36 00187

I cannot resist recommending two less-well-known churches very near where you'll be staying.

Closest and most visually impressive is Santa Prassede; street signage spells the church name somewhat differently. It's small (the opposite of Santa Maria Maggiore), so only a minor time commitment. It has stunning 9th-century mosaics. Free entry, but take a couple of 1-euro coins to feed the light boxes for a better view. As of last winter the hours were 10-12 and 2-4.

Just a bit farther away and even older (with a 4th century mosaic) is Santa Pudenziana. Its hours were 9-11:30 AM. You may need light-box coins here, too; I don't remember.

If you get the munchies at an odd time, the Mercato Centrale at Termini Station could be useful. It's far better than the typical US food court, that's for sure. However, it was very crowded at the time of my visit, so you might want to avoid it if you're worried about picking up COVID. I bought something to eat and carried it outside the market area to eat it.

I liked the Gelateria Santa Maria Maggiore, located at the fork in the road where Via S. M. Maggiore/Via Panisperna branches off Via Cavour. This would be quite close to your lodging. They don't have a particularly wide selection of flavors, but Google shows a rating of 4.7, so I'm not the only one who likes it.

Your visit is short enough that you probably won't need to branch out from Italian food, but if you want something different, I can recommend Restobar Saaz, an Indian place on Via Cavour.

Although I didn't take full advantage of the restaurants in the area, Monti has some very nice, gentrified streets with many restaurants to explore. It's the area north of Via Cavour (SW of where you're staying).

I was exceptionally lucky with the weather; I don't think it was ever colder than the monthly averages shown in the temperature charts. However, it was quite chilly on February mornings, not climbing to 40F until close to noon. You'll probably need a warm layer (and maybe rain gear); you might want to have a bag with you for stashing your outer garment if/when it really warms up in the afternoon.

While they are close to major attractions, the two places below are great to sit, snack, drink, and eat.

Close to the Spanish Steps there is a place at 105 Via della Croce. It's a pink building on a corner by the name of D'angelo (I think) with outdoor seating on two sides.

Close to the Pantheon is a place named Miscellanea. It's on a side street off the street that runs along the right side of the Pantheon as one is facing it.

Nothing fancy, but both of them offer good food (and a lot of it) at reasonable prices. You should be able to check them out on Google and use the map feature to locate them before you leave home.

For the best dining experience with locals, take a bus or train to a location far away from the old town. Then, use Google Maps to select a restaurant that has high ratings from reviews written in Italian.

Do look into the websites of Elizabeth Mincilli https://www.elizabethminchilli.com/restaurants/ and Katie Parla https://katieparla.com/city-guides/rome/ We found great choices in Rome through them both.

Last September, we had a memorable, off-the-beaten-path experience at L’Angolo Divino located at Via Dei Balestrari 12-14. We enjoyed the cozy, local ambiance and lingered over the cheese plate, the gravlax, beef cannoli and a lovely bottle of wine. Wonderful!

We found a very quirky, long-established wine bar in Prati last May, a bit northeast of the Vatican and behind Castel Sant'Angelo. Since you have 8 days, you may actually get away from the major sights. I recommend some time in Castel Sant'Angelo and then a wander around the area. We ended up there after a long day of shopping (not my idea!) with a number of shopping bags and very tired feet. The proprietor was a lot of fun and the shop is full of random things to look at. Huge wine selection, which he expertly narrowed down for us, served with some snacks. It was a great place to take a break. Here's the location and you can click through to a bunch of Google photos. Enoteca Casareale It's on a side street near an indoor vegetable market (Mercato dell'Unita') and you enter by going down a few steps.