Rome restaurant guide
The menu
Most meals consist of a "primo" - pasta
or cereal course -; "secondo" (meat or fish
for those who eat it, if not other dishes): and "contorno",
side dish made by cooked vegetables or salad, served
separately. Meals can include "antipasto"
- hors d'oeuvre", "dolce" - dessert -
and "frutta" (fruit). Unfortunately, the nutritional
culture of Northern and wealthy countries is taking
over, and there is more and more meat in the menu. Although
vegetarians find many dishes to eat, and things are
better here than in Northern European countries, because
the culture of the latter is becoming popular, sometimes
a first course followed by a simple salad or "contorno"
(side dish) and cheese / omelet is the only option for
vegetarians.
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Drinks
While top-range restaurants generally have adequate wine
lists, "trattorie" and "osterie" generally
have a limited selection, and you will see the same five -
six brands mostly of white wine wherever you go. Most people
ask for "vino locale", or "vino della casa"
(the wine of the house), generally white wine. The most popular
white wine in Rome comes from the Alban Hills, or Castelli
Romani, and is called "Vino dei Castelli" in Italian.
There are several brands, very similar, the best perhaps are
Marino and Grottaferrata, and especially "Gotto d'Oro".
They must be served chilled.
Mineral water - acqua minerale - is "frizzante/gassata/con
gas" (sparkling, fizzy, with bubbles), or "naturale/senza
gas" (still, without bubbles).
Usually after the meal Italians have an "amaro"
or "digestivo" (digestive, a bitter liqueur), after
coffee. If you have a complete meal, and if you are friendly,
the owners of the restaurant might offer it to you as a treat.
Criteria used to select the restaurants
Our intention is not to make a comprehensive list of restaurants,
nor to report the most famous, fancy (and expensive) ones,
but to report about restaurants that we think offer quality
for the food, atmosphere and service, and which also give
value to money spent. Some of them offer a 10% discount to
Roman Homes customers, for which you need to show your rental
contract or our business card. Many of these restaurants are
hence off the beaten tracks. As soon as we will discover new
ones, we will inspect and report about them, trying also to
make the owners apply a discount for our customers. So if
you have any suggestions about a special restaurant that you
have discovered, please let us know about it at our usual
e-mail address: [email protected]. Also restaurant owners
following the above criteria can write to us asking to be
included in the list. We will contact them and we will inspect
their service, and possibly included them.
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