M’s Adventures Recommends Ten Restaurants in Rome

***Updated June 2023***

Osteria del Rione

With the return of visitors to Rome, people are asking me for advice on where to eat. I tend to use Google reviews to look for places to eat. I try to avoid those that have under 4.5 stars.

First, my recommendations out of the famous places:

Pierluigi, Piazza de Ricci 144 (downtown Rome): it is on its own piazza and you can enjoy the people watching. It is a seafood restaurant, but it has the most delicious vegetarian pasta and tiramisu. You will need to make a reservation.

The tiramisu at Pierluigi is a creamy cloud.

Colline Emiliane, Via degli Avignonesi 22 (near Piazza Barbarini): This place makes delicious food. It is the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Modena, Parma, etc.). Small and with no outdoor seating. But, they have a window where you can watch the pasta being made fresh every day. You have to call to make a reservation.

Tonnorello (several locations in Trastevere): I thought it was a zoo eating there, way overcrowded and the same food you can get most places. If you go at 12:30 pm, you can probably get in to one of the locations.

La Matriciana (across from the opera house, near the Termini train station), Via del Viminale, 44: Classic place from 1870.

Then the less famous places:

Fuoco Lento, Via Flavia 63/65 (in Ludovisi/Sallustiano): Old school waiters, outdoor seating as well, never had anything bad here. It’s my “go-to” place. Open on Sunday night as well. Outside the touristy area so much easier to get a table.

Da Bucatino, Via Luca della Robbia 84/86 (in Testaccio): outside the tourist areas, has outdoor seating, and is an old school place.

Tratteria Valentino (not to be confused with Trattoria da Valentino on Via Cavour, which is also fine.), Via del Boschetto 37 (in Monti): great local place on a side street in Monti. Near Quirinale palace. Hidden in plain sight because they kept the old facade from when the space was a ice shop.

Trattoria Valentino has kept the old “ice shop” signage on the building.

And the not famous:

Osteria del Rione, Via Basento 20 (near Villa Borghese): Just north of the Via Veneto neighborhood, this place is a real local place located in a basement. There is almost no other business on the street, an extremely limited menu (basically what Bruno, the owner, tells you he has), and a set menu for 10 euro.

Il Simposio wine restaurant, corner of Piazza Cavour, in Prati, but just across the river: They serve chocolate as a palate cleanser to desert. They also make good food and can also make all the old fashioned dishes. Actually, all restaurants can actually make the old fashioned dishes. 

MiVa, Via Ezio 23: In Prati, away from the hordes. Modern Italian-American (in the sense that it’s like a place you would find in the USA) but of course does the classics as well. I like that they have chicken breast and avocado. Their semifreddi is excellent as is their apple pie.

Ristorante Pinseria Da Massi, Via della Scala 34: At the end or beginning of Trastevere. This is one of many good classic eateries in Trastevere. This places makes possibly the best spaghetti carbonara in existence… also, you can get fresh white (nothing but oil and salt) pizza fresh from the oven as your “bread.” Yum.

PRATI Rione Gastronomico, Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini 5: It’s far from the tourists but it’s a large space with plenty of room between tables, and the tiramisu presentation is a form for entertainment.

Forno Monteforte, Via del Pellegrino 129: Cafe, bakery, and oh so cute. Open all day and in a cute street. This is north of Campo di’ Fiore, and a whole world away. Grab breakfast, or sandwiches, or cocktails.

L’officina della pizza, Via Cicerone 22: One of the best places for pizza al taglio (by the slice). Located near a bus stop near Piazza Cavour, this place is open from around 10 (different on weekends) until 11 pm, or so. The most abundant variety, and homemade potato chips, sandwiches, and deep fried suppli (the Roman arancini), is around 1 pm. This is a must visit from many of my guests. The mushroom pizza and the fresh zucchini with stracciatella (the soft stringy creamy part of a mozzarella) are popular, but I like the ham and cheese.

The entrance of Osteria del Rione.
The carbonara at Osteria del Rione is one of the best, if not THE best.

Lastly, I recommend one place outside Rome (near the airport) Osteria dell’elefante, which I wrote about before.

Trendy Places Frequented by the Upper Class and Locals

It so transpired that I got an insiders’ list of a different kind. Through a cousin of a former colleague’s colleague, I was sent a list of recommendations of, “names of restaurants and trendy places attended by upper class and local inhabitants.” Not all these places are upscale.

APERITIVO (drinks/happy hour)

Terrazza Borromini, Piazza Navona – needs booking.

Without booking Hotel De La Ville, Piazza di Spagna.

Hotel de la Ville is on the left. This is at the top of the Spanish Steps.

COFFEE

Colbert Ristorante, caffè bistrot all’interno di Villa Medici. It’s the cafe inside the Medici Villa.

Caffè Ciampini at trinità dei Monti. At the Spanish Steps.

Caffetteria delle Arti alla Galleria Nazionale delle Arti Moderne. The museum of modern art’s cafe.

LUNCH/DINNER

For food tasting of marzapane, Bistró 64.

For lunch from 200€ to 20€: Iside, il tempio del pesce (temple of fish).

La Pariolina.

Il Ceppo, Parioli: If you like stockfish (bacalao, or dried cod, reconstituted)

L’Oste Matto.

Fascetteria Marini, Largo dei Librai.

Filettaro. This is the only one I had heard of. It’s on ALL the lists. The line is usually out the door so I have not been yet.

Ginger. I actually tried to go here one day, but they were closed.

Da Nerone, Via Conca d’Oro.

For carbonara: Roscioli. This is a super famous restaurant.

Perilli, at Piramide. The pyramid is a landmark.

Sugo or Cuccuruccu, Ponte Milvio. Near the river.

Osteria Coppelle, Piazza Coppelle.

Sora Margherita, Piazza 5 Scole (The square of five schools).

At the restaurant Quinto Roma, you can eat in igloos.

Il Datterino Giallo, Piazza Ledro: “Il Datterino Giallo, vi propone una cucina genuina e verace, al contempo sana e molto attuale, in un ambiente sofisticato ma non troppo, un mix di arredo tra il provenzale e l’industriale in una ‘location’ prestigiosa come quella del quartiere romano…” translates to: … offers traditional Italian cuisine, Mediterranean, at the same time innovative, in a welcoming location, inspired by a hybrid style between Provencal and industrial… in a prestigious location of Rome.



I have not been to any of these places. If you go, let me know how it was.

Restaurant Recommendations from a Roman

These recommendations are from a Roman friend (hence why the plural forms are in Italian), including emoticons. I am working my way through this list so only have comments for those places that I have tried so far.

A maritozzo, a brioche bun stuffed with whipped cream. This one from Forno Monteforte was decorated with berries.

BAKERY Panella – Via Merulana, 53   and   Via dei Gracchi, 262 😋😋very ancient bakery in Rome, bread, pizza, cakes, dishes, bio, biscuits … yes, I agree. They had lots of variety and items that I had never seen before.

Campo de’ Fiori – Piazza Campo de’ Fiori, 22  😋😋👌very nice and noisy bakery to buy warm pizza alla pala, bread, cakes, biscuits … it’s so so so so famous. It does have lots of stuff and they are accustomed to tourists so don’t even try to speak Italian in there.

Forno Monteforte – Via del Pellegrino, 29 😋😋bread, bar, enoteca, cakes –  very friendly  … my favorite so far. It’s elegant, recently featured in Vogue Italia, and quite delicious.

Monteforte bakery.


DELI

Natura Sì – Piazza Farnese, 99 -100 only  Bio  food   the store is ok,  but people are  😔😞 … It is the organic store for Rome.

Castroni – Via Cola di Rienzo, 196/198  😀👌plenty of delicatessen, and  sweets, best in Rome … this is an emporium, a treasure land for ingredients and products from all over the world.

Le Sicilianedde – Viale Parioli, 35  all food is typical from Sicily and next door there is  the Gelateria the ice creams and pastries are……😍🙊


GELATERIE 

Ciampini -Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, 29 😋😋
DaRe – Via Bisagno, 19  5 mn from my home very, very tasty icecream 😋😋😋

Gelateria dei Gracchi – Via dei Gracchi, 272 … They do have real vanilla flavor. It’s not glamorous and I wish they would make fresh gelato for the evening.


Pizzerie

Emma – Via Monte della Farina,28 😋😋😋  the best pizza in Rome … I don’t know. The pizza was thin which is the Roman style. The restaurant is a large, but light, cavern underground. Very touristy as it is a stone’s throw from the Roscioli bakery.

Mora – Piazza Crati, 13   pizza and  tuscany restaurant 😋


Trattorie

Da Bucatino – Via Luca della Robbia, 84 – very noisy restaurant but the food is fine, typical roman cuisine … I liked this place. The waiter was a bit too fast and not so good at upselling but the food was good. Because the location is in Testaccio away from the tourist center, the crowds are not quite as bad here.

Hosteria Grappolo D’oro – Piazza della Cancelleria, 80   food and fantasy😋😋👌… right near the Campo de’ Fiori. Food was fine but nothing I would go in search of.


Enoteche

Il Goccetto – Via dei Banchi Vecchi, 14 wine, wine and very friendly place 😋😋

Del Frate – Via degli Scipioni, 122  excellent enoteca and very nice restaurant 👌😋😋😋

The place of my heart:

Hotel Locarno – Via della Penna, 22   Beautiful liberty hotel from 1922,   with original furnishings, there is small nice garden and lovely roof garden,  the cocktails are super😍😍 and in winter they light the fireplace, also the restaurant is quite nice 😋😋


And in the end: Hotel de Russie – Via del Babuino, 9  very luxury hotel,  but don’t  miss visiting the garden is absolutely beautiful and maybe to take a coffee, or cappuccino or even a cocktail, with credit card……🙈

I have other lists so I will publish them later. Eventually, I’ll have my own list of top restaurants, but for now, I’m not sure…

A Restauranteur’s Recommendations in Bogota

On a sunny Saturday, Mike of Gringo Cantina, told us where he eats. I was going to try all his recommendations but I’m not sure that I’m that motivated. So here is his list.

12711000_10153887735189618_6178588179453468448_oSalvo patria, Calle 54A, #4-13

El Chato, Diagonal 68, #11 a-29

Bandido, Calle 79B, #7-12

Bruto, Carrera 10A, #70-50: I’ve been here and it was so so. But, many other people like it.

Tomodachi, Diagonal 70A, No. 4-66: This place is so cute, like an authentic ramen shop in Tokyo. If only they had Tokyo Ramen’s broth and the other guy’s noodles.

12698519_10153887740754618_5789744926502575402_oLa condessa, Calle 85 (and other location): I hoped it would be great. They have fancy beer… But, the Florentine salad was a revelation. The lettuce was delicious. Completely undressed.

Les Amis – 86 – 14. A bakery.

(in La Candelaria) only open at lunch. I can’t recall the name but it’s also owned by an American.