Having a delicious dinner or launch in Rome is pretty much easy and this is because almost everywhere you can find amazing dishes. The cheeses, the wines and of course the pizza and the spaghetti are in Italy at their best!
Before going to Italy, I took as much advice from Italian colleagues and friends. As a rule of thumb, do not go to a restaurant that faces an attraction, especially those mentioned in our 10 things to do in Rome post. Walk a little bit, turn right or left in a crossing street and you may find restaurants that mostly locals go and fewer tourists. Rome is not that easy to achieve that as the entire city is an attraction.
As travelers and bloggers, we took our risks and we will present some of the best restaurants in Rome that you should definitely visit and some streets that you should, kindly :-), avoid.
Corallo Pizzeria – Forno a Legna
It was the first restaurant we visited in Rome and we went one more time during our trip. It will be necessary to make a reservation prior to your visit as most of the restaurants are full especially after 20:00 with big qeue lines in the door. The pizzas and the spaghetti are amazing! It will sound stupid but both of the times I ordered the same pizza with mozzarella, truffle, and mushrooms. The mushrooms were my inspiration!
Kate, the first time, ordered Spaghetti Alla Carbonara the original Italian one. Made with egg, hard cheese, bacon, and black pepper. The second time she ordered Spaghetti all‘ Amatriciana with bacon, hard cheese, and tomato. Both of them were delicious and different from what we are used to. The characteristic in Italy on the way they cook the spaghetti is that they always make it Al Dente. This means that they are not that soft – and according to us, they do it good :-).
La Gelateria Frigidarium
After dinner in Rome, you probably look for the desert. If you are ice cream lovers you will love Frigitarium, if you are not you will fell in love with this ice cream! It is close to Piazza Navona and has the rumor of the best ice cream (gelato as the Italians will say) in Rome. Some will even say the best ice-cream in entire Italy! We didn’t taste them all but for sure this ice cream was amazing.
Maybe we didn’t go to Frigitarium Roman baths but we were going almost every night after dinner for the ice-cream (yes it is written in our DIET!!) and we tried almost all the flavors! Pistachio from Bronte, Crema Fiorentina, Mukkotta and Straciatella are some of the flavors that we can recall.
Risotteria Melotti
Many will say “I am bored with the pizza and spaghetti. There is not anything else?”. Well, Italian cuisine is also known for the risottos and we were lucky enough that one day we chose, totally randomly, a restaurant specialized in this kind. Actually not only specialized but everything inside was made of rice. From the delicious bread till the soap in the WC!!
Because we were too hungry we went for one safe choice with pork and veal mince, the so-called Traditional Taste of Isola della Scala, Verona. Just perfect. The best risotto with pork we ever had.
As we are lovers of the blue cheese we were wondering how could be in Risotto. We went for the long shot, for Risotto with Red Beet Root and Gorgonzola cheese. Amazing! Unbelievable! Just do not miss it!
Alongside the above, we also ordered Savoury pie with Pumpkin and Speck on Monte Veronese Cheese Fondue. It costs 9 €, it is a really small portion but our palate was crying from pleasure! Risotterina Melotti IS one of best restaurants in Rome!
We didn’t need to reserve a table as we were there around 6 p.m. If you are planning to go later make a call because as we saw is getting full.
Etablì
A very nice decorated restaurant, located near to Piazza Navona as well, hosted in a 15th-century building. They have a nice cuisine that serves almost the entire day from breakfast and lunch to dinner cocktails depending on what time you will be there.
Nice music, excellent choices of wines and cheeses. We chose to enjoy a glass of wine after a long day of walking and relax on the music. We ordered a variety of cheese which came with instructions from the personnel regarding the sequence that we should follow! 🙂
Grammo Bistro
Are you in the Colosseum area and you want something to eat fast, delicious and not touristic? So we did? Just 5 minutes away from Colosseum you will find Grammo Bistro! Exactly what we needed! You can make an amazing sandwich, big enough to be satisfied, the way you want and with fresh ingredients!
They will make it either for taking away or you can have it there in the really unique decorated place. We tried also a local lager draft beer but unfortunately, we cannot recall the name! But was really delicious! If you go and get to know you can leave us a comment! 🙂
What restaurants to avoid in Rome?
Avoid highly touristy places for restaurants. By this phrase we mean those that face directly the most known attractions of Rome. We visited some and we have to say that the prices are going extraordinarily up while the quality is questionable. In a coffee shop facing Piazza del Popolo, we had to pay 17 € for one espresso and one cappuccino!
In Piazza del Risorgimento we paid 50 € for the same quantity with the above-mentioned restaurants but the quality was not even half!
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