Naturally it’s pizza and pasta that form the main part of the menus around town, so it’s probably a good idea for you to know your neapolitana from your calzone, and your rigatoni from your gnocchi.
See our guide below to getting the best out of your food and drink while you're in the Eternal City.
You should be looking to pay around €15 per person for a meal consisting of bruschetta or other starters, pizza/pasta and a drink or two. There are plenty of reasonably priced restaurants around, so it shouldn’t be too hard to look after the pennes. The house wines are usually of a pretty good standard, too – after all, no self-respecting Roman restaurant owner would want to be known for serving poor quality wine. Prices start from around €5 a bottle.
Our advice? ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’. If the restaurant you find yourself in is packed with locals, chances are you’ve stumbled upon somewhere worth dining. A general rule of thumb for finding the best in Roman cuisine is not to eat in the immediate vicinity of the major tourist-traps. The food is likely to be both of a poorer standard and a higher price – not the best combination. If you see a menu translated into 5 or 6 languages, with lots of pictures of the dishes on offer, we’d advise you to swerve it.
When it comes to drinking, there are plenty of Irish bars dotted throughout the city, with a number of them within walking distance of each other in the city centre (Centro Storico). Experience tells us that these will all do a roaring trade when the English are in town!
Finnegan’s Irish Pub (on Via Leonina), along with Mulligans (which is located just off the main road Via Nazionale) and The Fiddler’s Elbow (on Via dell Olmata) are all within a couple of minutes walk of Cavour metro, about 10 minutes to the north of the Colosseum, in an area that’s dotted with other smaller bars and restaurants.
Elsewhere, Piazza Navona, to the west of the Pantheon, also has a great reputation for its nightlife, with the streets around it packed with bars, restaurants and even a McDonald’s. The Via di Monte Testaccio and the area around it (a couple of minutes walk west of Piramide metro) boasts just about the highest concentration of bars, music venues and restaurants in Rome. The Trastevere district (west of the river) in particular is noted for its nightlife, and is home to some of the best, and cheapest, trattorie and ristoranti. There’s really no need to worry, though - you’re never likely to be far away from some good food and drink wherever you are in the city.
If you’re looking to grab some grub on the hoof during the day, then there are plenty of small outlets around the city selling pizza by the slice, and you should be able to grab some decent takeaway with prices starting from around €2. If you’re looking to save some cash, then Rome is full of public drinking fountains, from the famous springs beneath the city. The water is perfectly safe to drink, and carrying round a bottle to fill up throughout the day is a good way of avoiding paying for plenty of soft drinks to keep you hydrated.
