Today after a tour at the Colosseum, some clients asked me what the best restaurants in the city were. I get this question a lot and my answers constantly change, but right now, these are some favorites. Discuss.
Cucina Romana
Da Danilo (Via Petrarca 13; Esquilino)
Pizza & Fritti
Da Remo (Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice, 44; Testaccio
La Gatta Mangiona (Via Federico Ozanam 30; Monteverde)
Sforno (Via Statilio Ottato 110/116; Subaugusta)
Pizza by the Slice
00100 (Via Giovanni Branca 88; Testaccio)
Forno Campo de’ Fiori (Campo de’ Fiori 22; Centro Storico)
Marco Roscioli (Via Chiavari 34; Centro Storico)
Pietro Roscioli (Via Buonarotti 48; Esquilino)
Kosher
Nonna Betta (Via del Portico d’Ottavia 16; Ghetto)
Nouvelle
Il Pagliaccio (Via dei Banchi Vecchi 130; Centro Storico)
Regional
Colline Emiliane – Emilia Romagna (Via degli Avignonesi 22; Barberini)
Filippo La Mantia -Sicilia (Via Liguria 1; Veneto)
L’Asino d’Oro – Umbria (Via Valsavaranche 81; Prati Fiscali)
Palatium -Lazio (Via Frattina 94; Spagna)
Fish
Tempio di Iside (Via Pietro Verri 11; Colosseo)
Tuna (Via Veneto 11; Veneto)
Ethnic
Enqutatash – Ethiopian (Viale della Stazione Prenestina 55; Prenestina)
Wine Bar
Al Vino Al Vino (Via dei Serpenti 19; Monti)
Casa Bleve (Via del Teatro Valle 46; Centro Storico)
Il Goccetto (Via dei Banchi Vecchi 14 ; Centro Storico)
L’Angolo Divino (Via dei Balestrari 12; Centro Storico)
La Vecchia Bottega (Via di Santa Maria del Pianto 9; Ghetto)
erica
May 11th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
My additions are:
Enoteca: il Gocetto, via Banchi Vecchi!
Pizzeria: I am partial to Monte Carlo (vicolo Savelli) thin pizza, cute waiter with green-blue eyes
I love Colline Emiliane, so happy to see it made the list.
Katie
May 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Yes! Montecarlo is a favorite of mine as well. I recently posted about it here. Il Goccetto is great as well. They have a stellar wines by the glass list. I wish it wasnt so far from my house!!!
Tom
May 11th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
My partner Jim and I really like Colline Emiliane. We went there on our first trip to Rome and have been back a few times since. Although the atmosphere is nothing to write home about and the service can be abrupt at times, the food is always good and satisfying.
Like many other restaurants in Rome, I feel Colline Emiliane is a restaurant where Americans have to “prove” themselves. The first time we were there we were given the choice of the usual dolce at the end of the meal; nothing I hadn’t had before. Throughout the whole meal though, I was eying what I knew was a bavarese in a refrigerated case. After the waiter recited the usual suspects of dolce to us, I meandered over to the refrigerated case to make sure it was actually a bavarese I spied. I then went back to my table and asked the waiter, “What about those desserts,” and pointed to the case, asking about the bavarese in particular. You would have though I told the waiter I was his long lost son! He immediately warmed up to us, brought me the Bavarese, and I believe we even got “due bicchieri di digestivi complimenti della casa!” I live for these kinds of experiences!
ciaochowlinda
May 11th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
OMG For the best pizza, how could you leave out La Renella bakery on via del moro in Trastevere?
I’m still dreaming about that pizza there – with anchovies and olives, with potatoes and sausage and squash blossoms, etc. etc.
Katie
May 11th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
@Tom that was exactly my impression when I started going to CE at first. Then I realized they treat everyone who is not a regular that way. The only way to get “in” with them is to eat there at least once a week. Im working on it…
@ciaochowlinda i like Renella for bread but their pizza is pretty weak recently. For pizza by the slice in centro I go to Roscioli.
Jessica
May 11th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I’m putting in a second vote for Il Goccetto. For ethnic I would say Sahara for Ethiopian and Sala Thai (via Topino 33 – off of Corso Trieste). Montecarlo is good pizza. Bisteak either on the via Pietralata or near Piramide is the best steak I’ve had while here. (I know that’s not one of your categories but I don’t care).
Marcie
May 11th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Two of my favorites: the pizza at Gusto, at Piazza Augusto Imperatore, and La Scalla, at Vialle Parioli.
Katie
May 11th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
@jessica Since you have begun a steak category, I am going to throw in Dal Toscano and Lucifero
Go Thai near the Caffarella wasnt bad…we should try it someday
@Marcie Gusto…hmmm…no comment
puntarella rossa
May 12th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
here my favourites for you. you can find the others on my blog puntarella rossa. Ciao! Buon Appetito!
PESCE – FISH
Mamma Angelina – Quartiere Trieste
Osteria della Gensola – Piazza della Gensola – Trastevere
TRATTORIE ROMANE CHEAP
Da Enzo – Via Ostiense
Quinto Quarto – zona ponte Milvio
RISTORANTI ROMANI
Da Danilo – via Petrarca (zona Merulana)
Taverna Trilussa – Trastevere
REGIONALI
Trattoria Monti (marchigiano) – via di San Vito (Esquilino)
PIZZERIE
Sforno – Cinecittà
Pizzarium – Via della Meloria – Trionfale
CUCINA CREATIVA
Le Tre Zucche (Portuense)
Giuda Ballerino – Tuscolano (expensive)
L’arcangelo – Prati (expensive)
VEGETARIANO
Locanda dell’Interprete (Pigneto)
IN CENTRO – DOWNTOWN
Da Renato e Luisa – Largo di Torre Argentina
Grappolo D’Oro – Campo De Fiori
Ditirambo – Campo de Fiori
ROMANTICI
Antico Arco – Gianicolo
WINE BAR ENOTECHE
Roscioli – Campo de Fiori
Trimani – via Goito
I tre scalini – via Panisperna – Monti
PER APERITIVI
Baretto – via Garibaldi – Trastevere
Katie
May 12th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
@puntarella rossa great list thanks! id throw in Tempio di Iside for fish. It is simply the best. I was torn over Trattoria Monti because, while they have amazing antipasti and primi, their meat and game bird second courses are always so dry!
Aaron
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I agree 100% with…
PIZZERIE
Sforno – Cinecittà
Pizzarium – Via della Meloria – Trionfale
Katie
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
After 2 very good meals last week at La Gensola, its at the top of my list for fish.
Miss Expatria
October 30th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I like Cantina Cantarini for seafood Thurs-Sun on Piazza Sallustio, right below P.za Fiume. Perfectly fried fritto misto.
I also love Kilimanjaro for Ethiopian food, Via Calatafimi right above Termini.
Katie
November 1st, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I havent tried either of these. I’ll check them out. thanks!
A Few of My Favorite Restaurants
June 28th, 2010 at 12:10 am
[...] while since I updated the list of my favorite restaurants in Rome. Way back in May 2009 I published this post. A handful of these places are still valid, but others have closed or changed. Enjoy the new round [...]
Oliver W Douglass
March 27th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Had a great lunch at Il Pagliaccio, truly innovative takes on Roman cuisine, and then took some friends a few months later and it was very bad. I don’t know what happened. Love Antico Arco, but when they try to be too innovative, watch out! The restaurant I most dislike in Rome: Camponeschi … it’s what my father used to call a “clip joint”
Ana Reis
June 2nd, 2011 at 12:26 am
I like Est Est Est in via genova 32… the food cute waiters also, what else…
everything even the price! 
Melissa Santos
July 1st, 2011 at 11:17 am
Is Roma Sparita still as good as it used to be? As it, should it be my cacio e pepe destination?
Katie
July 1st, 2011 at 12:33 pm
well, their cacio e pepe is still great and the carciofi alla giudia were really good this year –in season:). however, i dont think their other dishes are as good as they used to be. i have taken it off of my app due to the decline in food quality and their treatment of tourists of late. several clients to whom i recommended it were treated very poorly and pressured to leave a big tip by the server(s). i would say it is a great spot if you want to go for cacio e pepe at 10 pm on a roman summer night (i really like the atmosphere on the patio at that hour!). otherwise, give it a pass and get cacio e pepe at roscioli or da danilo
Sean
September 11th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Any update to this list? I am heading to Rome next week and cannot wait!!!
Katie
September 11th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
check out this page: http://www.parlafood.com/my-rome/ and the web based app as well: http://www.parlafood.com/mobile-apps/. there is also loads in the rome archives. enjoy!