In Rome for a few days. Have never been. Know nothing. Staying in the Piazza Navona area.
And the recco I need most is a dinner where I can seat nine people. (Another family happens to be visiting same day and we hope to rendezvous for dinner that one evening. Someone recommended Roscioli but we couldn’t get in there at a reasonable hour.)
Will be very pleased to leave with new benchmarks for cacio e pepe, amatriciana and carbonara.
As for things to do… imagine we’re going to hit the postcard spots – Vatican, Colosseum, Steps, Fountain, Maybe the Borghese, and the aforementioned plaza.
Great wine bar/restaurant right next to Piazza Nirvana called Cul du Sac. I also like Armando de Pantheon near the Pantheon. Then get Gellato nearby at a place called Gilotti
Armando may be able to do 9 if you book far enough in advance. No way for Cul de Sac…it’s a fun casual place with a cool list but it would be like putting 9 folks in booth at Denny’s. Not what you asked for, but the best wine bar I found in that hood was Enoteca Il Goccetto. If they had one of those in my neighborhood I’d engrave my name on a seat.
Our favorite place to eat is right near Navona — Hosteria Costanza. You should be able to get in with the group. It is in a great historic spot. https://www.hostariacostanza.it/
We are huge fans of Vinando a Tor Margana at Piazza Margana, 23 (very short walk from Piazza Navona). We were able to walk right in with a party of 7 on two different nights during our visit last summer. Food is excellent - between the two visits we must have tried half of the menu and everything was great. The wine list is not for trophy hunting but offers many strong options in the more affordable realm. They do have a sister restaurant a bit closer to Piazza Navona (Vinando a Campo Marzio) which we have also tried but didn’t care for quite as much (room is a bit more modern/sterile and the food and service just a bit below the Tor Margana location).
We’ve tried many of the board favorites in the area and Vinando is at the top of our list.
Thanks for this. For posterity wanted to come back to this thread to say Ragno d’Oro was indeed terrific. We got to a couple of places on the Eater Essential list, but against some well publicized competition Ragno was probably the best all around meal of our visit. Highly recommended for future inquiring berserkers who might search this up.
Really glad it worked out well for you. When we went, we just put ourselves in the hands of the owner re what to order. We were so stuffed after the first 2 “warm up/nibble” courses that we could hardly manage any of the mains!
Great thread and tagging for any updates.
We’re going in Sept as part of our trip to Italy. We’ll be in Rome for 3 days. I’m trying to break up the restaurants by some classic options listed here and work in some modern options as well. So far have Armando Al Pantheon, DaFrancesco for lunch options and Ragna D’ Oro for one of the dinners.
Still searching the threads for some modern options as well for 2 other nights. My buddy is a big Michelin fan so looking for suggestions.
https://www.bistrot64.it/- this Chef and bistro was the last restaurant featured for the Rome Stanley Tucci episode- single star w/o the fuss. Looks like a nice option.
Il Pagliaccio- 2 stars. Our friends will probably want to have dinner here. Any feedback ? Looks outstanding.
Anyone else going to Rome or Italy ? It looks like the new travel update is no quarantine with a CDC vacc card or negative test.
I’ve posted about my love for all things Roscioli here in the past, so I’ll do so again. For fine dining, I’ll go to Il Sanlorenzo, which is modern, lovely, and can be pricey, but their fish/shellfish can’t be beat. My favorite traditional restaurant since our first trip to Rome in 1975 remains Al Moro. Katie mentions that the service for tourists at Al Moro can be ‘kinda not the nicest,’ but I find the waiters’ abrupt weariness to be shtick more than rudeness, and the menu is endless.
Not too far from Piazza Navona, highly recommend Pianostrada Laboratorio. We love to sit in the winter garden, but the bar area is more lively. Their deconstructed gazpacho is one of my favorites.
We like Rimessa well enough, but we love Roscioli. So much so that after our first meal there almost 15 years ago, we cancelled our reservation for the following night at La Pergola and returned to Roscioli. We go every time we visit Rome, at least once.
