Eating in Rome

Overview

Roman food is the cooking of shepherds, butchers and the city's 2,000-year-old Jewish community: pecorino, cured pork cheek, artichokes, offal, salt cod and dried pasta, done simply and very well. It is less refined than Florence's or Bologna's, saltier and richer, and Romans are fiercely loyal to the classics.

The good news is that you can eat superbly in Rome at modest prices. A plate of pasta in a real trattoria costs about what a sandwich does at a US airport. The bad news is that the streets around the big sights are lined with places that serve tired versions to people who will never come back. This page shows you how to tell them apart. For Italian food and meal customs across the country, see food in Italy; for wine, wine.

How Romans eat

• Breakfast is a cornetto (a croissant-like pastry) and a cappuccino, standing at the bar, in five minutes.
• Lunch runs from about 1 to 3 pm. On weekdays many Romans eat a single pasta or a salad; Sunday lunch is the long family meal.
• Dinner starts late. Restaurants open around 7:30 pm, mostly to tourists; the Roman crowd arrives from 8:30 pm on. Kitchens often stop taking orders by 10:30 or 11 pm.
• Courses. A full menu goes antipasto (starter), primo (pasta or soup), secondo (meat or fish) with a contorno (vegetable side, ordered separately), then dolce (dessert). Nobody expects you to order all of them. A starter to share and a pasta each is normal.
• Closing days. Many trattorias close one day a week, often Sunday evening or Monday, and many close for two or three weeks in August. Check before you cross town.

The four Roman pastas

Every trattoria in Rome serves the same four pastas, built on the same few ingredients: guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano (sharp sheep's cheese) and black pepper. Order all four over your trip and compare.

Other Roman dishes to know

Meat and the "fifth quarter"

Testaccio's slaughterhouse workers were partly paid in offal, the quinto quarto (fifth quarter), and Rome built a cuisine on it. Try coda alla vaccinara (oxtail braised with tomato and celery), trippa alla romana (tripe with tomato, mint and pecorino), and, if you are brave, rigatoni con la pajata (with milk-fed veal intestines). Gentler options: saltimbocca alla romana (veal with prosciutto and sage), abbacchio (milk-fed lamb, roasted or as grilled chops called scottadito, "finger-burners"), and polpette al sugo (meatballs in tomato sauce, served as a main without pasta).

Roman-Jewish cooking

In the Ghetto and beyond, look for carciofi alla giudia (whole artichokes deep-fried until the leaves crisp like chips), filetti di baccalà (battered salt cod), fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, and concia (marinated fried zucchini). The Ghetto's kosher bakery on Via del Portico d'Ottavia sells a dense, slightly charred fruit-and-nut cake Romans line up for.

Vegetables by season

• Winter to spring: carciofi alla romana (artichokes braised with mint and garlic), roughly February to April; puntarelle (crunchy chicory shoots with anchovy dressing), November to March.
• Spring: raw fava beans with pecorino, a May Day tradition; vignarola (stew of artichokes, peas and fava).
• Year-round: cicoria ripassata (bitter greens sautéed with garlic and chili), a good contorno with any meat.

Pizza and street food

Three kinds of Roman pizza

• Pizza tonda (round pizza): Rome's version is thin, flat and crackly, called scrocchiarella. Pizzerias serving it are dinner-only and cheap.
• Pizza al taglio (by the slice): baked in big rectangular trays, cut with scissors and sold by weight. Point, show the width you want with your hands, and say così ("like this"). It is reheated, folded or boxed, and eaten standing.
• Pizza bianca: a long, flat bread brushed with olive oil and salt, sold by the piece at bakeries. Romans split it and fill it with mortadella. It costs very little and is one of the city's best snacks.

On the go

• Supplì: fried rice croquettes with tomato and a mozzarella center that stretches when you bite (supplì al telefono, after the cord). Sold at pizza al taglio shops and served as starters in pizzerias.
• Trapizzino: a triangle of pizza dough pocket stuffed with a Roman stew such as chicken cacciatora or meatballs. A modern invention from Testaccio that has spread across the city.
• Porchetta: herb-roasted pork from the hill town of Ariccia, sliced into a roll.
• Maritozzo: a soft sweet bun split and stuffed with a mound of whipped cream, a breakfast classic.

Where to eat, by neighborhood

These are long-running places with a strong local following. Fame brings crowds, so book where you can and arrive at opening where you cannot. Hours and closing days change, so check each restaurant's own site or listing before you go. Prices use the main-course tiers: $ under €15, $$ €15–25, $$$ €25–40.

Centro Storico and Campo de' Fiori

Jewish Ghetto

Trastevere and Monteverde

Testaccio

Monti, Esquilino and Prati

Coffee and gelato

Coffee rules

Order at the bar. In most Roman bars you pay at the register first, take the receipt to the counter and order there; in others you order first and pay on the way out. Drink standing, at the banco (counter). Sitting at a table means table service, which costs more, sometimes several times more on Piazza Navona or near the Pantheon. A caffè is an espresso; a caffè americano is espresso with hot water; a latte is a glass of milk. Romans drink cappuccino in the morning, though nobody will refuse you one later.

Gelato

Good gelato is stored in covered metal tins or in low, flat trays, and the colors look natural: pistachio is a dusty olive-brown, banana is grayish-white. Mountains of gelato piled high and decorated with fruit are made for photos and usually taste of sugar and air. A coppetta is a cup, a cono a cone; you can usually get two or three flavors in the smallest size.

Markets

• Mercato di Testaccio: the best all-round food market for visitors, in a modern covered hall, open mornings into the afternoon Monday to Saturday. Produce, cheese and butchers sit alongside lunch stalls; Mordi e Vai serves Roman stews such as tripe and oxtail in sandwiches.
• Mercato Trionfale: Rome's largest covered market, in Prati near the Vatican, where locals do their weekly shopping. Monday to Saturday mornings.
• Campo de' Fiori: a historic morning market Monday to Saturday, now mostly souvenir pasta and spice mixes for tourists, though a few produce stands hold on. Go for the scene, not the shopping.
• Mercato Centrale Roma: a food hall inside Termini station with stalls run by well-known Roman food makers. Handy for a decent meal before a train, open long hours daily.

Aperitivo and wine bars

Aperitivo is the early-evening drink, roughly 6:30 to 8:30 pm, served with snacks. In Rome it is usually a spritz, a glass of wine or a Negroni with chips, olives and small bites; some bars put out a buffet for the price of a drink. It is a pre-dinner ritual, and getting drunk is frowned on.

• Il Goccetto (Via dei Banchi Vecchi, near Campo de' Fiori): a wood-paneled wine bar with a long list by the glass and cheese and salumi plates.
• Bar San Calisto (Piazza di San Calisto, Trastevere): a scruffy, cheap neighborhood bar where Romans of every age drink beer on the square.
• Freni e Frizioni (Trastevere, by the river): a converted garage known for cocktails and an aperitivo buffet, packed with a young crowd.
• Ai Tre Scalini (Via Panisperna, Monti): an ivy-covered wine bar with good small plates, ideal before dinner in Monti.

House wine (vino della casa) comes by the quarter, half or full liter and is usually fine in a good trattoria. Lazio's own wines include white Frascati from the hills south of Rome and red Cesanese. See wine for ordering and regions.

Booking a table

1. Famous places, weeks ahead. Armando al Pantheon, Roscioli, Da Felice and Piperno all book through their own websites (Armando online only); Da Cesare al Casaletto books by phone. Do it as soon as your dates are set, especially for Friday and Saturday dinner, and use the restaurant's own site rather than a third-party reseller.
2. Neighborhood trattorias, a day or two ahead. Most take bookings by phone, many through TheFork app or their website, and some by WhatsApp. Your hotel's front desk will gladly call for you.
3. No-booking places, arrive early. Da Enzo, Da Remo and many pizzerias only take walk-ins. Show up at opening, give your name, and wait nearby.
4. Cancel if plans change. Small restaurants have few tables and a no-show hurts. Some take a card to hold a booking and charge for no-shows.

Tourist traps and how to spot them

• Touts at the door waving menus and calling out to you. Good restaurants do not need to.
• Menus with photos and flags for five languages, and a "tourist menu" with fixed courses.
• Dishes no Roman orders: spaghetti bolognese, fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, pizza with pineapple, cappuccino with dinner on offer.
• Prime real estate: restaurants with a full view of the Pantheon, Piazza Navona or the Trevi Fountain charge for the view.
• Fish priced by weight: a price per etto (100 g, about 3.5 oz) or marked "s.q." can turn a whole fish into a €60 (about $67) surprise. Ask the price before they cook it.
• Extra charges: read the menu's small print for the coperto and any servizio, and check the bill. Bottled water is charged; ask for naturale (still) or frizzante (sparkling).

Allergies, gluten-free and vegetarians

Italy is good for celiacs: awareness is high, many restaurants and pizzerias offer senza glutine (gluten-free) pasta and pizza, and pharmacies sell gluten-free food. Say sono celiaco (or celiaca for women) and confirm the kitchen avoids cross-contamination. Italy's celiac association lists accredited restaurants. For other allergies, restaurants must provide allergen information on request; carry a card in Italian listing yours. See food in Italy and useful Italian.

Vegetarians eat well in Rome: cacio e pepe, simple tomato pastas, artichokes, greens, supplì and pizza. Vegans have a harder time in old trattorias, though many contorni are plant-based. Watch for guanciale, anchovies and lard in dishes that sound vegetarian, and ask.