Taste of Rome: Food, Restaurants, and a Guide to What and Where to Eat

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Before setting off for Rome (Roma) for the first time, many people warned us to be careful with the local food because “Rome is not Italy”. And generally, not to get our hopes up for delicious, traditional Italian dishes like pizza and pasta in Roman restaurants, as they supposedly weren’t up to scratch. To our foodie souls, it sounded far too unlikely and absurd that a major world capital wouldn’t have places where you could enjoy fabulous food, so we completely ignored the doubts. Instead, we set about researching places to eat in Rome to avoid wasting time and falling into random tourist traps. After all, food and wine are our passion, and we cannot leave them to chance. What’s more, our first trip to Rome coincided with Andrey’s 40th birthday, and we had to celebrate it properly.

A few years after that first trip, and following two more visits to Rome and the surrounding region, we can boast a rather good list of recommendations for food in Rome, all without having fallen into any tourist traps. These include fine dining restaurants, more casual eateries, and, of course, brilliant wine spots.

💡 If you would like to find out more about our wanders through the Eternal City, have a look at our experiences here: Three Days in Rome, Italy

What to eat in Rome: a short list

• Saltimbocca alla Romana
• Artichokes
• Carbonara
• Cacio e Pepe
• Meatballs in tomato sauce (Polpette al Sugo)
• Amatriciana sauce (Sugo all’amatriciana)
• Pinsa
• Trapizzino
• Gelato
• Wine

How we choose where to eat in Rome

Rule 1: We leave nothing to chance

Our golden rule when travelling to Rome, and indeed to most other places, is to have a restaurant reservation for every day of our stay. We usually lock in our dinners with an advance booking, but occasionally lunch is the highlight of the day, so we book that and leave dinner flexible, having a few places in mind beforehand. Our experience so far has shown that searching for a random restaurant just isn’t for us and only causes stress. Also, we always have the idea of writing about the food in Rome, and we selected places based on different criteria, hoping that at least one or two would impress us. As it turned out, we fell in love with all of them.

Tales from Rome: The Museum City and Its Baroque Splendour

Desires and limitations

Apart from the type of food and restaurant, we mostly consider our company. We usually choose a place near our hotel for the first evening, especially if we are arriving on a late flight. If we are travelling with children and grandmothers, we carefully check whether the venues are child-friendly and if they cater to their tastes. The budget of the other members of our party is also important. Mimi and I are happy to spend more than average on restaurants, but if we are travelling with others, we consult them beforehand to ensure our chosen places suit their budget and dietary preferences. Therefore, the restaurants we visited in Rome during our two separate recent trips differ somewhat, but they perfectly complement this colourful list.

So, we usually start with an ambitious plan. We need restaurants with different concepts and budgets, but all boasting excellent recommendations and reviews. On our first trip, we insisted on having one Michelin-starred venue, one from the Michelin recommended list (without a star), one outside the most prestigious rankings but popular with the local community, and one with a strong focus on wine. On our second trip, we were there for four days again, but with two children and an aunt over 65, so we stuck to more traditional places that offered something for everyone.

If you have breakfast included at your hotel, you will probably skip the morning visits to patisseries and bakeries, but bear in mind that there are some fantastic finds among them too. It is worth thinking about when booking your accommodation.

A Michelin experience in Rome

You might think us a bit snobbish or fussy for insisting on a Michelin guide restaurant, but to us, this requirement means a few specific things. On the one hand, when looking for something truly special and different from an ordinary dinner, starred restaurants are a surefire way to find it. On the other hand, the list of recommended restaurants (without stars) is a guarantee that you will genuinely enjoy excellent food and superb service. Generally, this list features restaurants with a more standard menu that is executed flawlessly. Or, perhaps, restaurants with grander ambitions and creativity that are yet to prove they deserve stars. In any case, you cannot go wrong with Michelin.

There are over 60 restaurants in the Rome Michelin guide. Some have one, two, or three stars, while others are simply recommended or marked as Bib Gourmand. This is the designation for more unassuming eateries that offer excellent cuisine, often budget-friendly, with great value for money. We will begin our story from the top down, moving from the starred restaurant to the more affordable spots and finally the street food in Rome. Please note that this is not a ranking, and we are not ordering the restaurants by quality or beauty. Every place mentioned in this article is well worth noting and visiting.

Pipero Roma Restaurant*

We have a separate article dedicated to the Pipero Roma* restaurant, which we chose for Andrey’s celebratory birthday dinner. It holds one Michelin star and, as we later discovered, is a favourite haunt for world-renowned chefs when they visit Rome. The heart of the restaurant is the owner, sommelier, and host, Alessandro Pipero, who personally welcomes everyone and works tirelessly to ensure all guests in the dining room are happy.

It is a wonderful place with a friendly atmosphere and exceptional food prepared by the young chef Ciro Scamardella. Have a look at our article on Pipero Roma* if you are curious about what it looks like and what we were served there. Here we had the most amazing carbonara, which is one of the most traditional pasta dishes in Rome and is prepared with guanciale.

💡 If you would like to learn more about our special Michelin experience, check out our story here: A ‘Blind Date’ with Roman Cuisine: Pipero Roma* Restaurant

Armando al Pantheon: our lucky star in Rome

We will never forget that evening in Rome when, feeling dispirited and frustrated, we wandered the city streets, facing unimaginable queues and rejections at the better establishments, having surprisingly been left without a reservation at another place we had high hopes for. It was already past 9:00 pm when we found ourselves next to the Pantheon, standing outside the small, family-run restaurant Armando al Pantheon. This place is an absolute legend in Rome but is usually booked solid for months in advance. As soon as we bought our flights, we had tried to get a table, but it was too late, so we had given up. That is, until that gloomy evening when we saw a group of diners leaving and decided to ask if, by any chance, a table for two had opened up. And so, our lucky star shone brightly, and we squeezed into a small corner table, happier than ever.

Armando al Pantheon is one of the legendary and highly respected venues in Rome for traditional local food, having been open since 1961. They are famous for their Saltimbocca alla Romana, one of the Italian capital’s most typical dishes, which Andrey decided to try. The starter was also traditional, featuring roasted artichoke with buffalo mozzarella. Mimi tried the daily special, which was veal with a porcini and truffle sauce, and for dessert, we ordered from their homemade selection. Their menu also features sweets from other renowned pastry makers in Rome. We will certainly remember this visit for the excellent bottle of wine recommended by their sommelier, a CIRSIUM Cesanese Reserve 2018 from the Damiano Ciolli winery. The only question left is where and how we can order some of this wine for delivery to Bulgaria.

Booking a table at Armando al Pantheon is a genuine challenge, as everything on their website appears fully booked for months ahead. However, we can give you a little tip. Keep an eye on their reservation system for your desired date exactly one month in advance. For example, if you want to book for the 15th of November, check the calendar every day from the 13th and 14th of October onwards, as slots might suddenly appear just for the 15th and 16th. In our case they did, but only for two to four people. As we were a group of five, we could not book it.

Rimessa Roscioli and a story with an unexpected twist

Rimessa Roscioli combines a wine bar with gourmet cuisine and was one of the places we were most eager to visit. It is part of the popular Roscioli family chain of venues in Rome, which also includes another restaurant, a bakery, and a patisserie. One of them, Salumeria Roscioli, is on the Michelin recommended list, but quite apart from not being able to secure a table there, their wine spot appealed to us far more.

Our first visit to the bar was during the pandemic, and our second was in 2024. Both visits confirmed our impression that it is an absolute must-visit, especially if you are a wine lover.

We will briefly share our story about this place here, as there is a separate article about it. Essentially, we arrived on the evening of our reservation to find the venue closed. This severely dampened our spirits for the evening, but we found our salvation at Armando al Pantheon. Over the next two days, the mystery unravelled. It turned out the place had closed due to COVID, but they had been unable to contact us to let us know. Nevertheless, we managed to visit them on our final evening, and they did not disappoint us in the slightest.

The atmosphere at Rimessa Roscioli is wonderfully cosy, friendly, and deeply focused on wine. The food is on par with the high-end restaurants mentioned earlier, and we thoroughly enjoyed the tasting menu format. Each course of the tasting included several wines simultaneously, allowing us to compare them. The approach to the food was similar. This provided a rich tapestry of tastes, aromas, and plenty of inspiration for pleasant and interesting conversations.

💡 If you would like to learn more about this wine fairytale, check out our experience here: Rimessa Roscioli: The Best Wine Bar in Rome and a Journey Through Legendary Italian Wines

Rimessa Roscioli offers several types of food and wine tasting packages, allowing you to choose whatever suits your palate. The bar itself is primarily geared towards international visitors, but this certainly does not make it a tourist trap, and you can learn an immense amount about Italian wine and cuisine from the experience.

Here we also enjoyed a fantastic Cacio e Pepe, one of Rome’s most iconic dishes, consisting of pasta loaded with pecorino cheese and black pepper. While writing our articles about Rome, we noticed that Romans evidently love black pepper, as it features prominently in many of their traditional dishes.

Another very typical Roman dish is meatballs in tomato sauce, which we also tried here, and they were brilliant. You can find them almost everywhere in the city in all sorts of forms, including inside sandwiches.

Spots for a lovely weekday dinner

For a long time, we looked for a little spot in Rome that wasn’t pretentious but offered delicious and interesting food at more affordable prices, while not being overly crowded. Very close to our hotel, there are two neighbourhoods packed with exactly this kind of establishment. One is Trastevere, and the other is the Jewish Ghetto.

Trastevere

Trastevere has a stellar reputation as a food destination in Rome, literally boasting dozens of small restaurants and eateries. In the evening, it is incredibly lively and somewhat reminiscent of the Kapana district in Plovdiv, with its narrow, cobbled streets and scattered small wooden tables filled with young people. It turns out that Trastevere is a favourite social hub for the younger crowd, who do not mind standing outside for an hour, queuing to get into one of the most popular spots here. At these venues, the portions are large, inexpensive, and presumably very tasty, judging by the queues and the happy faces of the diners. The atmosphere is intimate and highly sociable. There is barely any space between the tables and the patrons, and the waiters dash about constantly.

The most famous spot in Trastevere is Tonnarello. We tried to book a table there but couldn’t manage it. If you have the time and patience, you can join the queue that snakes outside the restaurant every day, and they will usually find you a table within forty to fifty minutes. Try the pinsa or carbonara here, or simply soak in the lively noise, the generous portions, and the great cooking.

The ‘Ghetto’ is the area of the former Jewish ghetto, which existed until the end of the nineteenth century. Back then, the district inhabited by the Jewish community was surrounded by fortress walls that were locked at night. Following its demolition, the Jewish population were no longer obliged to live exclusively there, but the Great Synagogue of Rome is located in the area, and it has remained a neighbourhood frequented by the community. That is why there are many eateries offering kosher food in Rome right here. We didn’t sit down for a meal in this area either, but on a Thursday lunchtime, we saw for ourselves that it is clearly a delicious and popular place to eat.

Bottega Tredici

This charming little restaurant is located close to the Ghetto, if not just within its borders. They describe themselves as a “laboratory for good things”, and they certainly hit the mark for us. The restaurant is relatively small, welcoming, modern in style, and also quite convivial. Although it is more of an everyday kind of place, they offered a tasting menu, and we decided to take advantage of it. We ordered a five-course meal. The starter was burrata with parsley foam and breadcrumbs, paired with homemade bread and tomato pesto. That was followed by an egg, poached at 63 degrees, served with a mushroom ragout, artichoke, and Grana Padano. Both starters were superb and beautifully creamy, combining a wonderful array of flavours. Not to sound like culinary critics, but they genuinely came close to some of the dishes we have tasted in Michelin-starred establishments.

Website: bottegatredici.it

The pasta course featured gnocchi with pecorino and Amatriciana sauce, which were actually closer to ravioli. The Amatriciana sauce is another of Rome’s traditional recipes, made with tomatoes, pecorino, guanciale, and occasionally onions.

For our main course, we were served a beef fillet with red potato purée and red cabbage. As we mentioned in our article about Pipero Roma, the combination of beef and cabbage is quite a popular choice across Roman restaurants. The dessert consisted of tiramisu alongside a refreshing pineapple and ginger sorbet.

Another brilliant option we took advantage of at this restaurant was the wine pairing. We ordered a pairing for this menu with three wines of their choice and we were certainly not disappointed.

Traditional food in Rome near the Pantheon: Osteria Da Fortunata

Osteria da Fortunata is a chain of restaurants in Rome focusing on more casual and traditional dishes like pasta, saltimbocca, meatballs in tomato sauce, and so on. Their restaurant situated right on the square in front of the Pantheon was recommended to us by our Roman friend Ilaria, who, among other things, is a professional chef, so we trust her implicitly. The osteria is the kind of place that does not take bookings, meaning you simply join the queue outside at your preferred time and wait. Once a table frees up, they call you in. We were a group of five and managed to get in after about twenty minutes, and the wait was absolutely worth it.

💡 If you would like to find out more about the Pantheon and the beauty of the Eternal City, have a look at our experiences here: Tales from Rome: The Museum City and Its Baroque Splendour

We ordered pasta, saltimbocca, and starters featuring wonderful buffalo mozzarella, and everything was delightful. The restaurant is sociable and noisy, yet incredibly charming, perfectly matching the mood of the Eternal City on a sunny autumn afternoon.

Street food in Rome

Naturally, we didn’t miss out on the pizza and sandwiches in Rome. Great food is by no means confined to starred restaurants. And although we didn’t get to try absolutely everything, we are sharing two very typical Roman fast foods that brought us a lot of joy.

Pinsa Romana

Pinsa is somewhat like pizza, but the dough is left to rise for longer, stretched out by hand, and results in a crispier, airier base. Otherwise, the toppings are just like those on a pizza: mozzarella, tomato or white sauce, ham, or minced meat. In Rome, one of the traditional varieties is the ‘white pizza’, which means it comes without tomato sauce. It usually features cheeses, cured meats, and olive oil on top. If you prefer your pizzas heavily loaded with toppings, it might not be your cup of tea, but the locals absolutely love it. The spot where we tasted an excellent pinsa is just a stone’s throw from the Vatican: Pinsa ‘mpò.

Pizza by the slice and croissants: Antico Forno Roscioli

Following Chef Ilaria’s recommendations once again, we visited Antico Forno Roscioli for pizza (distinct from pinsa). Yes, the place is part of the same Roscioli family business, although each venue is managed independently. This is one of the oldest and most renowned bakeries in central Rome, and its reputation is entirely justified. The pizzas are sold by the slice, priced by weight, and they cut you as much as you like from whatever is freshly baked at that moment. Be prepared for a serious queue if you go at lunchtime.

This is also the best spot for breakfast in Rome if you are staying in the city centre and don’t have breakfast included at your hotel. Their croissants are simply divine, and you can also pick up a variety of other local specialities and baked goods.

Trapizzino

Trapizzino, on the other hand, are highly popular Roman sandwiches. They consist of a fluffy triangular pocket of bread with a crusty exterior, which is then stuffed with all sorts of fillings. The most famous are meatballs in tomato sauce (Polpette al Sugo) and chicken fillet with cheese and cream (Pollo alla Cacciatora). We grabbed a trapizzino at the popular local chain of the same name, Trapizzino, after reading on Taste Atlas that they serve the very best in Rome. Well, we thoroughly enjoyed them!

Gelato: ice cream in Rome

Whenever we are in Italy, we always look out for the local ice cream. In Rome, we can highly recommend two interesting spots.

Gunther Gelato is a chain with several branches in the centre of Rome. Günther hails from Alto Adige (South Tyrol), where he previously worked as a carpenter and later as a ski instructor. Love brought him to Rome, and he has now created some of the finest ice creams here. As far as we know, he believes that the best milk comes from Tyrol and works mainly with dairy products sourced from there. You will find absolutely incredible flavours in his gelato, so do track it down and try some.

Fatamorgana is another family chain with several locations, focusing on the most natural ice cream options possible. Here we discovered various types of fruity gelato, sorbets, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, and other “free-from” varieties, but all were delicious, even if slightly different from your typical dense and creamy Italian gelato.

Cookery class and dinner with a chef in Rome

If you want to do more than just savour superb Roman food and actually learn how to prepare it yourself, we highly recommend setting aside an evening for a cookery class and dinner with a local chef. Ilaria Sparla is a private chef who runs her own event catering company and hosts cooking classes. She runs these small-group sessions (such as a family of up to five or six people) in her own home in Trastevere. We went along with the two children and their aunt, and we can honestly say it was absolutely fantastic. Even though the children and their aunt don’t speak English or Italian, they had no trouble communicating, as Ilaria has a wonderful way with everyone. Together, we made two types of pasta and a brilliant tiramisu. The first dish was spinach and ricotta ravioli, and the second was the classic Roman Cacio e Pepe.

To finish off, we had dinner with Ilaria’s family and shared a glass of wine.

If you fancy booking a class yourself, feel free to drop Ilaria a message. She speaks flawless English, even if her website is only in Italian.

Ilaria’s website: https://www.arialaboratoriodicucina.com/

What to eat in Rome and what you must try?

Try anything that looks tasty! We always do some advance research to track down the most delicious places and dishes, but even if you haven’t, never shy away from giving things a go! You might come across unusual flavour combinations, but we firmly believe that Italians know exactly how to prepare exceptional food.

There really is fabulous food in Rome, and we absolutely shouldn’t be bound by stereotypes. Of course, there is always the risk of tourist traps, so if you haven’t done your homework, it is wise to avoid places with touts persistently inviting you inside. Instead, if you have the time, join a queue outside a popular restaurant. If you are short on time, grab a trapizzino or a slice of pizza (though you might still have to queue there too). If you are in a position to book a table, you have thousands of options. The spots in this article are the ones we visited, but we already have a list just as long for our next trip. Our best advice is not to give up if a dish isn’t quite to your taste or you stumble into a less-than-perfect place. Rome is part of Italy, and brilliant food is always waiting just around the corner!

We stayed very close to the River Tiber (Tevere) and the Sisto Bridge, in an accommodation that kept us within easy reach of all these delicacies. Rome is brimming with fantastic places to stay, and we are certain you will find the perfect one for you.

What to see in Rome?

• Three Days in Rome, Italy
• Tales from Rome: The Museum City and Its Baroque Splendour
• A ‘Blind Date’ with Roman Cuisine: Pipero Roma* Restaurant
• Rimessa Roscioli: The Best Wine Bar in Rome and a Journey Through Legendary Italian Wines

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