restaurants - Rome

Linda, Rome can be expensive but there are gems for reasonable-to-budget dining. Wine is reasonable, hard liquor expensive. We loved Cul de Sac near Piazza Navona (about € 60 for two with a bottle of wine), and Antica Taverna also near P. Navona (about €53) is a bargain. RomaSparita in Trastevere was about €62 and we had dessert, too. Roma Sparita is a delight, and the cacio e pepe to die for. We tend to split an antipasto and a salad, order one pasta and one secondi (for the two of us). Sometimes we make it to dessert; we always have wine and mineral water. :-) Katie Parla did a blog post on budget dining in Rome just a couple of days ago. Find it at www.parlafood.com. She has several I am going to try next trip. Of course pizza is considered a night-time food in Italy and make for a good budget dinner. OK, now I'm hungry!

Linda, Do yourself a favor and get the RS guidebook. Sure bets on restaurants and the self guided walking tours are great. We enjoyed Al Bric and then did the Nighttime Walk.

RS's book and translation book is the only way to go. I hope you love pizza, really love pizza. It took me about six months after getting back from Rome to order another pizza. Too much pizza. But all kidding aside most restaurants in Rome and all EU post a menu with prices outside. You can get a good idea of how much you're going to spend and what your going to eat without walking in and sitting down. House wine is usually good and pastas if you're not too sure about what the menu says. My favorite restaurant in Rome was Filetti di Bacala, it's of the Campo de Fiori. It's an experience to eat with locals for a change and cheap. It looks like a dump, but it was good. Just go for it!!!

Ditirambo(near Campo Fiori) and Armando (near Pantheon) are excellent and moderate in price.

You have asked for very subjective responses to your question. I have traveled in Italy for 31 years and have never had a bad meal nor have I eaten in the temples of gastronomy, All restaurants will have their menus posted outside the establishment, so you can check the prices before entering. Italians, generally, eat their dinner later than we do, so we are usually the first ones to arrive. The Italians are entering as we are leaving. We go out of our way to avoid places that advertise that many languages are spoken inside. One recommended place from the RS guide is a place called Ristorante Target on Via Torino off of Via Nazionale just down from Piazza Repubblica. We have eaten there many times and enjoyed our experiences many times. Buon viaggio,

I was in Rome for a week in July. We went to a handful of restaurants in Rome (moderate, not expensive). Primi Piatti (pasta courses) cost generally from as little as 8 euro to roughly 14 euro. Unfortunately, at most places the pasta course was not large enough for a meal. We found portions small all over Italy. The secondo (second, meat or fish course) usually cost more and are even smaller than the pasta course, generally cost from 12 euro to 18 euro. A glass of soda is outrageous at 3 euro a small glass. Bottled water costs as much as the soda. You are better off getting wine. House wine generally costs no more than soda or water, hence my drink of choice! FYI, a small Gelato in Rome cost from 2.5 euro to 3.5 euro for the most part. Don't forget, restaurants also charge a cover charge. I think it was roughly 2 to 3 euro per person. In Rome the best restaurant we ate in for the price was "Da Tonino" near Piazza Navona. The pasta portion made a nice meal all by itself.

Hope this helps:
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