The 25 best restaurants in Rome according to the locals themselves (and conveniently organized by neighborhood)

Going to Rome without a plan is fantastic; going to Rome without a food plan, slightly less so. There are so dizzyingly many restaurants that you’ll keel over before you’ve even chosen one – at least if, like our colleague Sophie from Italiamo, you’re afraid of tourist traps and your worst nightmare is bad food. That’s why Sophie decided to conduct an enormous survey into the best restaurants in Rome that locals also visit, a benchmark she—and we—like to use abroad.

Modern Italian or authentic at a trattoria; be sure to save this list of restaurants in Rome, because it means you’ll be well prepared in every central neighborhood when hunger strikes. These are the 25 best restaurants in Rome by neighborhood.

Restaurants in Rome’s Centro Storico

1. Retrobottega

The place for fine dining in Rome right now. The chefs, with experience at Michelin-starred restaurants, cook modern, refined, seasonal food and want to get you thinking with their minimalist dishes. The changing menu is packed with foraged ingredients, the wine list is enormous, and vegetarians are well catered for too. A contemporary restaurant where the open kitchen takes center stage and you retrieve your cutlery from your own drawer.
Retrobottega – Via della Stelletta 4, Rome

2. Pianostrada Laboratorio di Cucina

A hip spot run by four women (two friends, two daughters). You’ll eat homemade focaccia, traditional supplì all’amatriciana, and now-famous cod burgers. The bar around the kitchen is perfect for a solo dinner, while the charming garden is a wonderful place to sit with company.
Pianostrada Laboratorio di Cucina – Via delle Zoccolette 22, Rome

3. La Rosetta

While chef Massimo Riccioli was laughed at in the 1960s for his idea of opening a restaurant in Rome serving only fish, La Rosetta is now considered by many to be the best fish restaurant in the city. The fish is delivered fresh every day from ports in the region. Also the place to go for oysters and champagne.
La Rosetta – Via della Rosetta 8, Rome

4. Ristorante La Campana

Down a side street in Rome, you’ll find this restaurant that has blown out more than five hundred candles. It is now applying to officially call itself the oldest restaurant in the world. This is where you go for an authentic step back into Roman times.
Ristorante La Campana – Vicolo della Campana 18, Rome

5. Matricianella

A Roman family restaurant with a passionate chef and three qualified sommeliers who can tell you everything about the more than one thousand bottles of wine stored in the cellar. It is regularly mentioned among the search results for the best cacio e pepe in Rome.
Matricianella – Via del Leone 4, Rome

6. Ristorante Nino

At Ristorante Nino, Tuscan cuisine is well represented, accompanied by a touch of Roman flair. You’ll eat specialties featuring plenty of fagioli (beans), famous bistecca, and castagnaccio (a typical Tuscan chestnut cake).
Ristorante Nino – Via Borgognona 11, Rome

7. Colline Emiliane

A small place serving centuries-old regional dishes from Emilia, a region in northern Italy. The pasta dough is rolled out by hand, the ingredients are carefully selected by the owners, and the desserts are homemade too. Why Colline Emiliane decided to go from a cozy yet charming trattoria with a terracotta floor to a monochrome modern interior with brightly colored chairs is a mystery to me, but that shouldn’t spoil the fun.
Colline Emiliane – Via degli Avignonesi 22, Rome

8. L’Orso 80

Another hidden old favorite in the heart of Rome, where the antipasti alone are a celebration.
L’Orso – Via dell’Orso 33, Rome

9. Gino al Parlamento

Its official name is Trattoria Dal Cavalier Gino, but it is commonly known by this name because of its central location next to the parliament building. At this trattoria in Rome, you eat typical Roman food at a very reasonable price, with the guanciale, pancetta, and olive oil coming straight from the farmer. A rather poorly painted pergola of grapevines and flowers is meant to give the impression that you’re dining under the sky in the countryside—so wildly kitsch that it becomes beautiful again.
Gino al Parlamento – Vicolo Rosini 4, Rome

10. La Fiaschetta

I absolutely love being surrounded by wine bottles. Here, they line the walls and ceiling, with the demijohns the restaurant is named after dangling above your head. A tiny place with classic dishes on a chalkboard menu at reasonable prices, which you can’t help but fall a little in love with.
La Fiaschetta – Via dei Cappellari 64, Rome

11. Maccarone

It looks like a (perhaps overly) trendy place for a quick pasta, but according to my ancient, thoroughly Italian Airbnb host, it served the best homemade pasta in central Rome. It had just closed its doors when I wandered in around ten, but I believed that gentleman on his long gray beard. And with prices like these (eight euros for a pasta), it’s definitely worth trying if you’re looking for a cheap restaurant in Rome.
Maccarone – Via del Pellegrino 116, Rome

12. Taverna Lucifero

A small Italian restaurant that, if you’re not paying attention, you’ll walk straight past. Don’t, because the cooking is delicious, with everything truffle and cheese fondue as the specialties.
Taverna Lucifero – Via del Monte della Farina 43, Rome

13. Giggetto

Famous for years for its carciofi alla giudìa, deep-fried Jewish-style artichokes. A classic dish that holds a prominent place among Roman classics, and one best eaten in this part of central Rome: the old Jewish ghetto.
Giggetto – Via del Portico d’Ottavia 21/a, Rome

Restaurants in Trastevere

14. Santo

You can immediately tell from Santo’s interior that the cooking isn’t traditional. The Italian tradition is respected, though, with an international twist. That means a delicious balance of fish, meat, and vegetarian dishes, plus cocktail pairings by the mixology experts behind the bar.
Santo – Via della Paglia 40, Rome

15. Da Enzo Al 29

Enzo is no longer with us, but the restaurant’s current team honors the culinary legacy of the great man, who was a local celebrity. In the tiny restaurant, you eat classics prepared in true Roman style: beautiful ingredients, costing next to nothing. And there is wine—lots of wine.
Da Enzo Al 29 – Via dei Vascellari 29, Rome

Restaurants in Monti

16. Broccoletti

At Broccoletti, the bread and focaccia are made fresh every morning, seasonal dishes are prepared with wild ingredients, and the wines come from the Lazio region. On a street where restaurants are everywhere, this is one worth stopping at.
Broccoletti – Via Urbana 104, Rome

17. La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali

Nothing particularly special, just reliably good. The Roman lineup of classics is on the menu, along with a wide selection of other pasta dishes, fish, and meat. What to order? The polenta and burrata ravioli.
La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali – Via della Madonna dei Monti 9, Rome

Restaurants in Testaccio

18. Piatto Romano

At Piatto Romano, very little attention has been paid to the interior and much more to the kitchen. Perfect classics, lots of (forgotten) seasonal vegetables, and herbs feature on the menu. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the Roman classic pajata here.
Piatto Romano – Via Giovanni Battista Bodoni, 62, Testaccio, Rome

19. Perilli a Testaccio

Three generations ago, Perilli a Testaccio’s simple menu was built around butcher-shop offcuts. Coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew), trippa alla romana (tripe), and lamb sweetbreads are still on the menu, but vegetarians can now also sit down here with complete confidence for a traditional Roman dinner.
Perilli a Testaccio – Via Marmorata 39, Rome

20. Velavevodetto

Chef Flavio is known as the king of carbonara. The restaurant on Monte di Testaccio (a hill made from shards of ancient amphorae) became an institution in a relatively short time, serving not only perfect carbonara but also excellent cacio e pepe and good seasonal vegetable dishes.
Velavevodetto – Via Festa del Perdono 1, Rome

21. Fratelli Mori

Papa Ambrogio founded the restaurant, sons Alessandro and Francesco now run the place, and mama—now grandmother—Giuliana bakes and safeguards the family recipes for the dolci. Signature dishes include the well-known Roman pastas, boiled meatballs, slow-cooked pork cheek, and Ambrogio’s ricotta cake.
Fratelli Mori – Via dei Conciatori 10, Rome

22. Pennestri

Sommelier Valeria Payero and chef Tommaso Pennestri make a golden duo as restaurateurs. There’s an extensive wine list and a menu that changes with the seasons, on which Tommaso always manages to give grandma’s recipes an unexpected twist. Save room for the chocolate mousse served between layers of Sardinian pane carasau, with a little olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary.
Pennestri – Via Giovanni da Empoli 5, Rome

23. Felice a Testaccio

Because of the modern interior at Felice, you don’t immediately realize that you’re entering a classic. Grandfather Felice’s famous cacio e pepe is now made by his son Franco and has even found its way to Milan, where sister restaurant Giulia is located.
Felice a Testaccio – Via Mastro Giorgio 29, Rome

Restaurants in other neighborhoods of Rome

24. La Matriciana dal 1870

Legend has it that the famous bucatini all’amatriciana was born at La Matriciana. When a woman from the village of Amatrice, farther north, arrived in Rome in 1870, she began preparing her version of the village pasta at a market near Termini station. Her success grew into the restaurant you can still find in the same place today. The woman herself, of course, is no longer there.
La Matriciana dal 1870 – Via del Viminale 44, Rome

25. La Tavernaccia

Simple, natural, and an ode to tradition—that is family restaurant La Tavernaccia. In this restaurant just below the Trastevere neighborhood, you can enjoy an extensive selection of cheeses and cured meats, sauces simmer for hours on the stove as they should, and the wood-fired oven is always blazing hot for everything from homemade focaccia to authentic secondi. A beloved home-style restaurant among many city residents.
La Tavernaccia – Via del Tempio degli Arvali 27, Rome

Read also:

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• Appeal: can people just stop eating on trains?
• Why you really shouldn’t reuse restaurant takeaway containers anymore

Source: Italiamo