Ristorante restaurants in Rome
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La Buca di Ripetta
Popular with actors and directors from the district, who know a good thing when they see it, this value-for-money foodie destination offers robust Roman cuisine. Try the zuppa rustica con crostini do pane aromatizzati (country-style soup with rosemary-scented bread) or the matolino dolatte al forno alle erbe conpatate (baked suckling pork with potatoes) and you’ll be fuelled either for more sightseeing or for a lie down.
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Il Bacaro
Book ahead, as Il Bacaro, tucked away on a bijou piazza, is the size of a postage stamp and always busy. It might be small but it’s perfectly formed. The meat dishes are hearty, the wine list ample and the primi imaginative – try the spaghetti con gamberi, porcini, pecorino e tartufo (spaghetti with prawns, porcini mushrooms, cheese and truffles). Summer seating spills out under a vine-covered pergola.
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Agata e Romeo
A match made in heaven: Agata’s food and Romeo’s wine cellar. This pioneering restaurant nowadays has more rivals, but still wields culinary clout. Agata specialises in innovating around traditional dishes, and presentation is sumptuous. Frequent crowd-pleasers include a delicate take on coda alla vaccinara (oxtail) and filetto di tonnocon semi di sesamo (tuna fillet with sesame seeds). Her millefoglie ( millefueilles; literally ‘thousand leaves’, small iced cakes made of puff pastry, filled with jam and cream) are legendary.
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Piperno
Veritable Roman-Jewish Piperno is formal without being stuffy, a wood-panelled restaurant of the old school, where white-clad waiters serve some of Rome’s best deep-fried food, including filetti di baccalà,carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style artichokes) or fiori di zucca ripieni e fritti (cheese-and-anchovy-stuffed courgette flowers). It might feel odd to ask the waiter for palle del Nonno (‘grandpa’s balls’), but cast aside your qualms and try the delicious ricotta and chocolate puffs. Booking is essential for Sunday.
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Paris
Nothing to do with Paris (it’s the name of the founder), this is an old-school Roman restaurant set in a 17th-century building, and it’s the best place outside the Ghetto to sample Roman-Jewish cuisine, such as delicate fritto misto con baccalà (deep-fried vegetables with salt cod) and carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style artichokes), as well as Roman dishes such as just-right rigatoni alla carbonara (pasta with egg and bacon sauce). There’s a sunshaded terrace.
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Checchino dal 1887
A pig’s whisker from the city’s former slaughterhouse, Checchino is a Roman institution, one of the grander restaurants specialising in offal, from calf heads to pig trotters. Run by the fifth generation of the Mariani family, it has risen from humble roots to become one of the city’s most vaunted eateries, attracting a well-to-do clientele of local regulars and curious foreigners. For those who can’t stomach the Roman soul food there’s more standard seasonal fare.
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La Carbonara
Favoured by the infamous Ragazzi di Panisperna, a group of young physicists, including Enrico Fermi, who constructed the first nuclear reactor and atomic bomb. He was probably inspired by La Carbonara’s delicious fried potato. Another speciality is the eponymous carbonara, though the restaurant is so-named because the first owner married a coal seller. The interior is covered in graffiti – tradition dictates that diners should leave their mark in a message on the wall.
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La Veranda de l’Hotel Columbus
It’s worth eating here if only for the setting, a wonderful hall frescoed by Pinturicchio, but the food is spectacular too, the product of creative takes on Italian ingredients by the Italo-Argentinian chef. It’s an ideal place for an extravagant lunch (think beef fillet with foie gras) between all that high-calibre sightseeing, especially as they offer a lunch menu ( primo, secondo, half bottle mineral water, a glass of wine and coffee) for €35.
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Said
To experience San Lorenzo at its chicest, head to Said, housed in a 1920s chocolate factory. It includes a glorious chocolate shop, selling delights like Japanese pink-tea pralines, and a stylish restaurant-bar specialising in chocolate-tinged dishes, like sformatino B-Said di cavolfiore e cioccolato (cauliflower mousse with chocolate) – great talking points, if not always entirely successful. There’s aperitivo from 7pm to 9pm.
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Glass Hostaria
In quaint Trastevere, the modernist modishness of this place stands out. But it’s about content, not just style – Glass offers Trastevere’s most sophisticated dining. The wine list and creative Italian cuisine are impressive – with imaginative dishes such as pesce bianco arrosto su piselli, asparagi bianchi, daikon e aria di sale (white fish roasted with pea sauce, white asparagus, salmon eggs and salt cloud).
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Campana
Venerable neighbourhood Campana is apparently the oldest trattoria in Rome, and features gleaming white linen tablecloths, wooden, bottle-laden counters and inviting arrays of antipasti. Local families out for a treat are here to be served fresh fish and traditional Roman dishes such as saltimbocca alla Romana con funghi (‘leap in the mouth’ veal Roman style) by proficient, black-waistcoated waiters.
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Zigaetana
A huge, arched cellar, this has a funky contemporary feel, but has been family run since early last century. The paintings on the walls and inscription around the fireplace were painted by impecunious artists in exchange for food during the 1930s, and the owner has poems written by Trilussa that were given as payment for meals. And you can see why, as the food is good, including great antipasti, pizzas and pastas.
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L’Altro Mastai
A graceful, special-occasion place, L’Altro Mastai has an interior that manages to be both grand and intimate. Service is fabulous and Fabio Baldassare’s cooking is innovative yet always well balanced, with dishes such as filetto di merluzzo nero con litchi, mostarda di limone e cipolla di Tropea glassata (fillet of black cod with lychees, lemon mustard and glazed Tropea onion).
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Sora Lella
You can’t beat the romance of Sora Lella’s setting, on the River Tiber’s tiny island. Ring the doorbell to gain entrance to this timeless institution, named after the much-loved Roman TV star (the owner’s mother), and family-run since 1940. The classic Roman menu has some twists, such as an amazing aubergine parmigiana with added nuts, ricotta and honey.
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La Gensola
Tucked away close to Isola Tiberina, this tranquil, classy, yet unpretentious trattoria thrills foodies with food that has a Sicilian slant and emphasis on seafood, including an excellent tuna tartare, linguine with fresh anchovies and divine zuccherini (tiny fish) with fresh mint. Waiters are knowledgeable and quirky, and divine liqueurs mean you finish on a high.
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Dal Bolognese
The moneyed and models mingle at this historically chic restaurant. Dine inside surrounded by wood panelling and exotic flowers, or outside, people-watching with views over Piazza del Popolo. As the name suggests, Emilia-Romagna dishes are the name of the game; everything is good, but try the tagliatelle with truffles, tuna tartare, or the damn fine fillet steak.
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La Piazzetta
Molto simpatico, on a tiny medieval lane, this tucked-away, informal yet classy restaurant has a fabulous antipasti buffet and equally impressive primi (first courses) and secondi (second courses) – try the yolky carbonara. A dessert-sampler buffet means you don’t have to face a difficult decision between puddings.
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Vecchia Roma
On a picturebook cobbled corner, impeccably groomed waiters sport white jackets, the antipasti buffet wows, candles light the outdoor terrace, celebrities sparkle and politicians scheme. The menu changes with the season, offering fabulous salads in summer, 101 things to do with polenta in winter and lots of top-drawer pastas and risottos year-round.
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Santopadre
Plastered with photos of horses and jockeys, this little neighbourhood restaurant is a local favourite that’s been cooking up Roman faves such as pasta alla gricia,involtini and trippa alla Romana since 1946. The antipasti is delicious – think delicate marinated vegetables and melt-in-the-mouth meatballs.
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Colline Emiliane
This welcoming, tucked-away restaurant just off Piazza Barberini flies the flag for Emilia-Romagna, the well-fed Italian province that has gifted the world Parmesan, balsamic vinegar, bolognese sauce and Parma ham. On offer here are delicious meats, homemade pasta, rich ragùs, and desserts worthy of a moment’s silence.
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San Teodoro
Upmarket San Teodoro has a welcoming, arched interior, but eating outside is best. The restaurant offers sophisticated takes on traditional dishes, and is known for its tasty seafood creations, including baked sea bass coated in artichokes. Chocolate, ricotta and ice cream appear in various guises for dessert. The wine list is impressive.
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Ristorante Cecilia Metella
Near the catacombs of San Callisto, the outside seating here is great, set on a low hill under a vine canopy and with glimpses of the jewel-green countryside. Inside resembles a wedding-reception room, but it’s attractive enough, and the food is reasonable too – the grilled meats are recommended.
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La Cantina di Ninco Nanco
This rustic cellar specialises in cooking from Lucania – the Basilicata region in the south of Italy, a mountainous area that produces delicious salami and cheeses, as well as dishes such as baccalà in guazzetto di cipolla pomodori e patate (cod with onion, tomato and potato sauce).
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Le Mani in Pasta
Popular and lively, this rustic place has an open kitchen that serves up delicious fresh pasta dishes such as fettucine con ricotta e pancetta. The grilled meats are great too.
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Ristorante Settimio
Near Osteria Sostegno, and run by the same family, is the similarly splendid Ristorante Settimio.
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