I love going to the restaurant in Rome. The good restaurants are family owned and have been run by the family on the premises for decades. The owner is always present and he keeps an eye on the room, will come and talk to the regular customers or to new comers. The other family members either cook, wash dishes and serve food, they may also hire someone to wait on tables usually someone they have known for years. The decor is eclectic, very personal to the family who owns the place, you will see family photos.
Someone won a trophy for sportsmanship or the owner support a soccer club or some famous person came or several of them for that matter and they get their picture taken with the owner and his wife. Many restaurants have pictures of late Popes, John XXIII is popular, Jean-Paul II also, a few have the current Pope though mostly in the Borgo which is the neighborhood next to the Vatican and frequented by the Officials of the Holy See. The tables and chairs are comfortable but simple, dishes are good restaurant quality white china and the table cloth is a checkered pattern. You will find some good olive oil also a white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar bottle on your table. The bread is a whole grain with thick crust bread, sort of country style bread which is used to mop up your plate or the flat crusty thin wafer type bread eaten with a bit of olive oil. No butter and no ashtrays, no fake flowers on the table or other items not related to the experience of eating. A bottle of mineral water is the first thing brought with the wine list, you will not find beer on the menu, this is reserved for the home or for the Cafe.
The menu will reflect the Paese (village) the owner comes from, the Abbruzzo, Tuscany, Puglia, Sardinia or Sicilia. Per example Sardinian restaurants will offer fish and seafood, Tuscany, steaks and grilled meats, Abruzzo will be a mix of meat and other dishes typical of that mountain region. Pasta is always on the menu in central and southern Italy as a first course and the sauce will reflect if the restaurants specialize in fish or meat, in Northern Italy pasta is not part of the habits of the region mostly because of the proximity with Austria and the Balkans. Though pizza is a southern food creation in Italy it is not always on the menu, pizza is a fast food to be eaten on the go, so it is not restaurant fare. There is also no kids menu, they eat like the adults.
Today we are going out for dinner with a good friend of ours who has been living in Rome for 25 yrs. He knows quite a few very good restaurants and we have discovered with him some very nice places.
Here are some restaurants I really like in Rome, some are very elegant and some are more family neighborhood like in decor and atmosphere.
The first one, Ristorante Vecchia Rome www.ristoranteviecchiarome.com on Piazza Campitelli is a truly beautiful place, very elegant and in the old centre of Rome, owned by the Palladino family since 1870.
La Limonaia at Villa Torlonia on Via Spallanzani 1, is located in the old orangerie of this princely estate, it was once between 1923-43, the home of dictator Benito Mussolini. It offers a menu of pasta, salads and pizzas in the beautiful gardens of the estate. It is next door to our home. They have a play area for small children.
Da Franco ar vicoletto is a fish place, excellent food, on Via Dei Falisci 1a. They do not take reservations but it is always packed, very simple decor, family owned and operated for decades by Franco and his wife. Extremely good value and their seafood lasagna is so good.
Ristorante la Scala on Viale Parioli 79 is located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Rome, Parioli, excellent food in an elegant restaurant. A restaurant where French and Italian cuisine marry.
I limoncini on Via del Giuba 12, is family owned and is open for dinner even in August when everything else is closed. A menu of Roman cuisine, with a mixture of fish and pasta dishes. Offering of lobster and oysters and veal and chicken dishes.
Ristorante Stella Maris, is a Sardinian restaurant offering specialty of the island which is seafood on Viale Regina Margherita 225 at the corner with Via Nomentana. Mauro and Giorgio run the place with other relatives. They served at the end of the meal a digestif of ice cold Myrtle liquor and home made jam cookies.
A new addition is Hell's Kitchen which offers a break from Italian cuisine, gay owned it has a beautiful steak house decor with exposed brick and a decidedly American accent. on Via Alessandria 150. It has excellent Tex-Mex food, great nachos and make a very good Mojito cocktail. Open only for dinner. See www.hellsgrill.it
If you happen to be in the Roman Forum area and wish to avoid all the tourist traps of cheaply made pizzas and other horrors served any which way for terrible prices go to Trattoria Valentino on Via Cavour 293. An old fashion Roman style cuisine restaurant owned by Vincenzo and Luciano, good food and honest prices.
Remember in Rome and in Italy in general dinner is never before 8:30 pm unless you want to eat lunch left-overs reheated.
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