Food Budget

I am budgeting about $100-$120 for two of us per day; planning on inexpensive lunches (sandwich and glass of wine or piece of pizza and wine going where locals go) and nicer dinners and gelato daily :)

Depends - this has been asked before so you might search boards.

Yesterday I spent 33 euros on lunch for me and my 2 daughters at Rusty near Piazza Navona. They each had pasta and I had chicken breast with french fries (thought it would be regular potatoes). It was 10 euros and pastas around 7. We also had big 2 euro bottle of water and I had wine. Food was good

At dinner they split pizza and water, I had salad and pasta and wine near the Spanish steps -under 40 euros. Awesome food, staff and atmosphere.

today we got ripped off - not by my choice we ate at a place very close to Vatican and our not so good lunch of 2 pastas, plate of over-cooked vegetables, wine, 2 waters and soda was 60 euros.

Be careful where you go - a walk of a block or two from a major site can make a huge difference in what you pay. Also look at prices first - we met friends at the overpriced place, which they chose and I was foolish not to check $$$ after eating so well for so little.

Hoping to do better for my last 3 meals here in Rome!

We are very moderate diners - no upscale dinners. I would say that a meal budget of about $130 U.S. ($106E) will cover modest lunch and dinner for two with water/house wine. Remember that food looks reasonably priced because it is listed in euros, not dollars. The $33 meal mentioned earlier actually ran $40 U.S. Also, we were told by our American in Rome guide that a Euro per person at the table is a very much appreciated tip. We usually left $2E on the table. While the tip isn't mandatory as in the U.S. It is appreciated.

Hey Amy - Don't feel too badly about the near-Vatican rip-off -- I think we ended up in the same place! We were so exhausted and starved from walking miles through the museums and St. Peter's that we just went in the first place we saw. UGH -- as you say, not very good, but very expensive. Our godson got a cannoli that was 8 euro - !!!

That said, as the above posters have wisely advised, you can eat well reasonably in Rome and Paris, too - haven't been to Florence in too long to comment. The way to manage this is to figure out restaurants in your preferred budget near the sites you'll be visiting BEFORE you set out for the day. If you Google "best cheap eats in City X" for your destinations, you'll find some good mag/newspaper articles that will help you out. Buona vacanza!

This might just be my wife and me, but we don't need to eat the enormous amounts of food at some of these restaurants. It probably didn't make the waiters too happy, but we frequently shared one prix fixe between the two of us, with maybe a small salad or appetizer added on. Antipasti, primi, secondi, dessert... it's a lot of food. Also, while you do want to enjoy yourself, you don't want to eat too much rich food, if you're doing a lot of walking and sight-seeing. My feeling is that the two us of kept under 50 euros per day for everything... including gelato!

Reasonable 8-10 euro for pasta and 12-15 euro for meats 5-5 euro for an mixed salad 8-9 euro for pizza, 18-24 euro for a decent bottle of wine 3 euro for a bottle of water. But read a menu before you go in as the prices above include tip while a few locations in Rome addeed another 10-15% for a service charge and another added 1.5 euro per person for a basket of bread OUCH