Rome has lots of great restaurants, and lots of mediocre tourist traps, and it is hard to tell the difference online.
We’re going this Winter and all the places Tucci and Bourdain featured are full or closed.
Can anybody recommend a good not-very-expensive place (preferably near Trevi area) for quality authentic pasta?
Armando al Pantheon, an excellent trattoria.
If you don't know these other two food writers, they both had good suggestions for our last visit to Rome:
https://katieparla.com/city-guides/rome/
https://www.elizabethminchilli.com/category/rome-restaurants/
Thanks, but that was one of Tucci’s places, and it is full.
hey hey sberry
with the prices of produce and ingredients climbing up everywhere, curious as to your not-very-expensive cost means. we used to walk down alleyways from piazza navona area away from tourists sights with people standing in front of restaurants trying to “reel” you in, stay away.
mercatocentral.com
near termini train station, click artisans and see what they serve
airbnb/experiences/rome
check what they offer, a trastevere and jewish ghetto street food tour
eatingeurope.com
see what they offer in rome with discount buying gift card
even though not sit down dinner and how many people in your group, so much different items to try and guide may give you places to check out. you can always catch taxi at a legal stand that is not much. have address handy.
eatwith.com/rome
some residents offer dinner in their homes
many places at tourists areas think we all can spend big bucks while on vacation.
have fun and enjoy. GO RAIDERS,!
aloha
It is possible to get a reservation at Armando from their website, but it fills up extremely quickly thanks to the attention from the Tucci episode. Reservations appear 30 days in advance at midnight Italian time, which is 6pm Eastern time, or 3pm Pacific time. I reserved a table for 4 a couple months ago right after they were available, but within a half hour, they were gone. (Pro tip: practice getting a reservation for a different day without actually pulling the trigger, just so you are primed on the day you actually want it.)
Armando is a very good restaurant, but honestly, there are plenty of other really good ones in the Centro Storico. Our most recent trip we also really liked Il Falchetto, La Pollarolla, Renato e Luisa, and Pipero. All of those are great quality and are much easier to get into than Armando.
I like Cul De Sac, near Piazza Navona, and Grappolo d'Oro, which is off Campo de Fiori but not touristy despite the location. Both mid-price, have classic Roman dishes such as carbonara, and frequented by Romans.
Thanks all! Did not know about the 30-day rule,
Tempio di Bacco has been highly recommended. It is only about 1 km from Trevi.
I always have all these great restaurants picked out and never get to them because we tend to lose ourselves in the day and don't want to be stuck having to be at a restaurant at a certain time (with the exception of must eat places in certain cities) so I will pull up google map for the area we find ourselves at when we get hungry, search "restaurants" and just read some reviews on places close by and we have found absolute gems this way. If it is further out than walking distance, we grab a cab or Uber it.
