Housing Italy: Rome - Restaurants

Restaurants

Near Piazza Navona

Il Convivio
Address: Via dell'Orso 44
Price: 70,000-120,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-686-9432
Don't be intimidated by the opaque glass, closed door, and doorbell at the entrance. This, as its name suggests, is a convivial little restaurant, and it is earning a reputation as one of Rome's best. Reservations are essential, for it accommodates only 30 diners. The food is what it's all about: classic Italian (and Roman) dishes prepared with flair and a brilliant use of herbs, as in shellfish with tarragon and lamb with thyme. The menù degustazione (tasting menu) is a good value. Reservations essential.

Passetto
Address: Via Zanardelli 14
Price: 70,000-120,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-654-0569
Benefiting from a choice location near Piazza Navona, Passetto has been a favorite with Italians and tourists for many years: It's a place you can rely on for classic Italian food and courteous service. If you can, eat on the terrace--it's especially memorable at night. The mirrored dining room is more staid. Roman specialties, such as cannelloni and abbacchio, are featured. Jacket and tie.

Costanza
Address: Piazza del Paradiso 65
Price: 40,000-70,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-686-1717
In Rome, one man's archaeological site can be another man's eatery. As its ancient Roman brickwork reveals, this fashionable trattoria occupies a small part of the Theater of Pompey, where Julius Caesar met his end. Serious gourmands rave about this spot, which has become a meeting place for artists, actors, and politicos. The mixed hot and cold antipasto is a specialty, as are crepes with mushrooms and risotto with zucchini flowers.

La Campana
Address: Vicolo della Campana 18
Price: 40,000-70,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-686-7820
This inconspicuous trattoria off Via della Scrofa has a venerable history: There has been an inn on this spot since the 15th century, and the two plain dining rooms occupy what were once stables. It's a homey place, with friendly waiters, snowy white linens on close-set tables, and good Roman food at reasonable prices. The menu offers specialties like vignarola (sautéed fava beans, peas, and artichokes), rigatoni with prosciutto and tomato sauce, and olivette di vitello con purée (tiny veal rolls with mashed potatoes).

Le Maschere
Address: Via Monte della Farina 29
Price: 40,000-70,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-687-9444
For a taste of southern Italian (Calabrian) fare, look for this cellar restaurant hidden away between Largo Argentina and Piazza Campo dei Fiori. A couple of planters, with a few outdoor tables in summer, mark this informal spot. Downstairs you pass an impressive antipasto buffet, and a pizza oven glows in a corner of the dining room. Dark rustic walls are hung with everything from paper garlands to old utensils; there are pottery wine jugs and rush-bottom chairs. Order spicy Calabria salami to start and then go on to pizza or southern favorites such as pasta with broccoli or with tomato and eggplant sauce. Grilled meat and seafood make up the list of second courses. Music on weekends and efficient service make for a pleasant evening.

Orso 80
Address: Via dell'Orso 33
Price: 40,000-70,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-686-4904
This bright and bustling trattoria is in Old Rome, on a street famed for artisans' workshops. It has both a Roman and an international following and is known, above all, for a fabulous antipasto table. Try the homemade egg pasta or the bucatini all'amatriciana; there's plenty of seafood on the menu, too. For dessert, the ricotta cake, a genuine Roman specialty, is always good.

Pierluigi
Address: Piazza dei Ricci 144
Price: 40,000-70,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, V.
Phone: 06-686-8717
Pierluigi, in the heart of Old Rome, is a longtime favorite with foreign residents of Rome and Italians in the entertainment field. On busy evenings it's almost impossible to find a table, so make sure you reserve well in advance. Seafood dominates (if you're in the mood to splurge, try the lobster), but traditional Roman dishes are offered, too, including orecchiette (ear-shape pasta) con broccoli and simple spaghetti. Eat in the pretty piazza in summer.

Baffetto
Address: Via del Governo Vecchio 114
Price: Under 40,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: No credit cards.
Phone: 06-686-1617
The emphasis here is on good old-fashioned value: Baffetto is Rome's best-known inexpensive pizza restaurant, plainly decorated and very popular. You'll probably have to wait in line outside on the cobblestones and then share your table once inside. The interior is mostly given over to the ovens, the tiny cash desk, and the simple, paper-covered tables. Bruschetta (toast) and crostini (mozzarella toast) are the only variations on the pizza theme. Turnover is fast: This is not the place to linger over your meal. Reservations not accepted.

Grappolo d'Oro
Address: Piazza della Cancelleria 80
Price: Under 40,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, MC, V.
Phone: 06-686-4118
This centrally located trattoria off Campo dei Fiori has been a favorite for decades with locals and foreign residents, one of whom wrote it up in the New Yorker some years ago. This measure of notoriety has not induced the graying, courteous owners to change their two half-paneled dining rooms or menu, which features pasta all'amatriciana and scaloppine any way you want them. Inquire about the day's special.

Polese
Address: Piazza Sforza Cesarini 40
Price: Under 40,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, DC, MC, V.
Phone: 06-686-1709
It's best to come here in good weather, when you can sit outdoors under trees and look out on the charming square off Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Old Rome. Like most centrally located inexpensive eateries in Rome, it is crowded on weekends and weekday evenings in the summer. Straightforward Roman specialties include fettuccine alla Polese (with cream and mushrooms) and vitello alla fornara (roast brisket of veal with potatoes).

Pollarola
Address: Piazza della Pollarola 24 (Campo dei Fiori)
Price: Under 40,000 lire - CURRENCY CONVERTER
Credit cards accepted: AE, V.
Phone: 06-6880-1654
This typical Roman trattoria, near Piazza Navona and Campo dei Fiori, has artificial flowers on the tables but--as a special feature--it also has an ancient, authentic Roman column embedded in the rear wall. You can eat outdoors in fair weather. Try a pasta specialty such as fettuccine with creamy gorgonzola sauce and a mixed plate from the array of fresh antipasti. The house wines, white or red, are good.

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