Rome Rest. Recommendations

[Marshall_Gelb]

@Howard Cooper

@Andrew Gelb

Rome – Salumeria Roscioli – Okay, if we lived in Rome, we would eat here … a lot. From what I read, “450 different kinds of cheese, more than 100 different types of cured meat, a wine list of 2200 labels, 20 different homemade breads.” I believe it. Crowded, popular, and an immediate sensory overload of sights and smells, let alone tastes once you are seated and served. This is probably the most expensive deli we’ve been in, but we believe it is worth it. We walked through the shop in front and past the few tables located nearby and headed downstairs to the wine cellar and our table. Here, amongst a staggering collection of Italian and French wine bottles, I had the single greatest plate of cheese in my life, a huge serving of burrata, probably intended for a group to share. And not just any luscious, creamy, delicious burrata, no! This was “Burrata from Andria with Black Pepper from Malesia and semi-dried cherry tomatoes from Pachino,” with some drops of amazing EVOO. It was fantastic, and I am not embarrassed to say I killed it. Roscioli also is famed for its pasta dishes, called some of the finest in Rome. I do not disagree. Here, I had simply fabulous spaghetti alla carbonara, with an egg yolk and guanciale to make you weep; followed by the unanimous winner of “the second greatest pasta in my life” award, tonnarello al sugo di coda vaccinara (a slightly thick, squarish spaghetti with an oxtail ragu). So good, we came back on our final day in Rome for another plate for lunch, along with an insanely good linguine porri e gambero (leeks and shrimp). With our dinner, another 2006 Le Trame Chianti Classico; with lunch a very nice 2009 Conte Zandotti Rumon Malvasia del Lazio. If we return to Rome, we will return, several times. (Related to the famed and wonderful Antico Forno Roscioli bakery down the street and across the Campo dei Fiore.)

We are now taking a cruise out of Rome later this summer (mostly going to Greece) and have a Saturday night to eat dinner in Rome (plane lands Saturday morning and cruise leaves Sunday afternoon). We had been thinking about repeating one of the restaurants we enjoyed when we visited Rome a couple of years ago, but this place seemed interesting both from descriptions here and from their web site. Of particular interest, they seem to have a couple of wine tasting dinners. http://www.winetastingrome.com/booking/ Has anyone done the wine and food dinner or the private tasting dinner and if so did you like them. What are they like? How much flexibility is there on the food (we don’t eat pork products so a lot of the cured meat is out and my wife needs gluten free foods). Are there any hotels near there (walking distance) that you recommend?

Thanks for any help.

Howard; We are also cruising out of Rome (soon) but are spending a week in Rome prior. Not to be presumptuous, but please realize the port is a long way from Rome. Try to arrange transport, if your cruise line does not provide it, in advance. Landing Saturday, having a nice dinner, sleeping and getting to the ship the next morning can be pretty hectic. Personally, I would just stick to a restaurant relatively close to your hotel.

Cheers!
Marshall

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

My lineup for the upcoming weekend:

Roscioli
La Pergola
Al Ceppo

[Marshall_Gelb]

Nice Barry: I will miss you by a bit. So far we have only two bookings but lots of ideas.

\

1. Armando al Pantheon
2. Ditirambo

Both seem right up our alley and are quite close to our hotel. I will be adding quite a bit to these two.


Cheers!
Marshall

[Jeff_Loftus]

Armando al Pantheon was a big disappointment for me and the wife. We stopped by on a thursday, so we had the gnocchi, and it was pretty bad even by any restaurants standards without the hype.

I’m not that picky about my wine when dining out, especially in Italy. I just prefer to always drink something local. I asked out of curiosity what the house red was made out of, and the waitress couldn’t understand what I was asking. She kept answering its a red. When she finally understood, I could tell she didnt know, and she answered a blend with Cesanese. So I order a half bottle and it was a blend of mainly Merlot and a little Sanviogese. I really didn’t care about it, I just found it strange for a place with a very well reputation. What I did care about was the very bad Gnocchi on Gnocchi day.

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

Well, after hearing about La Pergola for years, I can report it is 1* food in 3* clothing at 2* prices. Only one dish was a wow (and that was a truly amazing dish; ravioli filled with liquid carbonara: am inside out carbonara);one was bad (and exchanged) , the other two were solid 1* items. Not disappointed I went but unless I’m staying at that hotel, would not go back.

[Tom_Moore]

Rome seems like a foodie land mine - just when you think you have it figured out…
I have come to the conclusion it is VERY easy to find bad food in Rome. The 40 million tourists roaming the streets can’t help.

Keep the reviews coming so we can figure out where to get some decent grub!

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

Confirming that both Roscioli and Al Ceppo are still super.

Also Flavio Al Velavevodetto in Testaccio is awesome for traditional Roman food. Best Ravioli I ever had, As well as outstanding carbonara.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Marshall Gelb

@Howard Cooper

@Andrew Gelb

Rome – Salumeria Roscioli – Okay, if we lived in Rome, we would eat here … a lot. From what I read, “450 different kinds of cheese, more than 100 different types of cured meat, a wine list of 2200 labels, 20 different homemade breads.” I believe it. Crowded, popular, and an immediate sensory overload of sights and smells, let alone tastes once you are seated and served. This is probably the most expensive deli we’ve been in, but we believe it is worth it. We walked through the shop in front and past the few tables located nearby and headed downstairs to the wine cellar and our table. Here, amongst a staggering collection of Italian and French wine bottles, I had the single greatest plate of cheese in my life, a huge serving of burrata, probably intended for a group to share. And not just any luscious, creamy, delicious burrata, no! This was “Burrata from Andria with Black Pepper from Malesia and semi-dried cherry tomatoes from Pachino,” with some drops of amazing EVOO. It was fantastic, and I am not embarrassed to say I killed it. Roscioli also is famed for its pasta dishes, called some of the finest in Rome. I do not disagree. Here, I had simply fabulous spaghetti alla carbonara, with an egg yolk and guanciale to make you weep; followed by the unanimous winner of “the second greatest pasta in my life” award, tonnarello al sugo di coda vaccinara (a slightly thick, squarish spaghetti with an oxtail ragu). So good, we came back on our final day in Rome for another plate for lunch, along with an insanely good linguine porri e gambero (leeks and shrimp). With our dinner, another 2006 Le Trame Chianti Classico; with lunch a very nice 2009 Conte Zandotti Rumon Malvasia del Lazio. If we return to Rome, we will return, several times. (Related to the famed and wonderful Antico Forno Roscioli bakery down the street and across the Campo dei Fiore.)

We are now taking a cruise out of Rome later this summer (mostly going to Greece) and have a Saturday night to eat dinner in Rome (plane lands Saturday morning and cruise leaves Sunday afternoon). We had been thinking about repeating one of the restaurants we enjoyed when we visited Rome a couple of years ago, but this place seemed interesting both from descriptions here and from their web site. Of particular interest, they seem to have a couple of wine tasting dinners. http://www.winetastingrome.com/booking/ Has anyone done the wine and food dinner or the private tasting dinner and if so did you like them. What are they like? How much flexibility is there on the food (we don’t eat pork products so a lot of the cured meat is out and my wife needs gluten free foods). Are there any hotels near there (walking distance) that you recommend?

Thanks for any help.

Howard; We are also cruising out of Rome (soon) but are spending a week in Rome prior. Not to be presumptuous, but please realize the port is a long way from Rome. Try to arrange transport, if your cruise line does not provide it, in advance. Landing Saturday, having a nice dinner, sleeping and getting to the ship the next morning can be pretty hectic. Personally, I would just stick to a restaurant relatively close to your hotel.

Cheers!
Marshall

Marshall,

Thanks for the thoughts. We are landing early Saturday morning. We have arranged for transportation (a bus) with Royal Caribbean to the port on Sunday. We have a sea day on Monday. My thinking is we try to do what we can on Saturday. Probably tour until mid afternoon. Take a nap. Then go to dinner and get a good night sleep. Take a cab Sunday morning to where the bus picks us up. Bus ride should be 1 1/2 to 2 hours on Sunday, but once I hit Royal Caribbean bus all the responsibility for getting there on time, etc., is with them. Rest Sunday and Monday and be ready to start touring Greek places on Tuesday.

I don’t disagree with not being too far from the hotel. That is why I am trying to figure out where to eat two months in advance - so I can find a hotel near where we are eating. Given we are staying at the hotel only one night, hotel seems less important than restaurant.

[Marshall_Gelb]

Howard: I might have mentioned this before but we are staying near the Pantheon. It seems to be a good location with lots of restaurants in the vicinity. Also near excellent coffee and gelato!


Cheers!
Marshall

[Howard_Cooper]

@Marshall Gelb

Howard: I might have mentioned this before but we are staying near the Pantheon. It seems to be a good location with lots of restaurants in the vicinity. Also near excellent coffee and gelato!


Cheers!
Marshall

Thanks Marshall. I agree. We stayed last time at the Hotel Nazzionale, which is right next to the Parliament building and a couple of minutes walk to the Pantheon. We ate most of our meals around there and had a wonderful time. See post 56 Rome Questions - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers We may stay at the Nazzionale again.

Have a great time and let us know what you find. I will not be going until after you come back so am very interested in obtaining intelligence on your visit.

[Ken_Rudman]

Such good timing, this thread. We will be in Rome in late August (I know, the heat) on the front-end of 10 days in Italy for our 25th. We have three days Rome, three days Florence (just outside), a night in Siena and three nights in Venice before jumping over to London for two nights.

As we are normally very casual travellers who tend to go to a single destination, this is by far the most ambitious trip we’ve ever done together, with all the hotels and trains.

So, I will be looking at all of the restaurant recs, but am wondering if anyone can recommend a driver/car service that would take us out to Villa d’Este for a day? We’re not keen to join one of the organized bus tours as they seem too structured, and usually include Hadrian’s Villa, which we have heard is more of a ruin than a site to explore. Public transport is possible, but seems like it would take extra hours to get there with little added value to the experience.

[Marshall_Gelb]

@Jeff Loftus

Armando al Pantheon was a big disappointment for me and the wife. We stopped by on a thursday, so we had the gnocchi, and it was pretty bad even by any restaurants standards without the hype.

I’m not that picky about my wine when dining out, especially in Italy. I just prefer to always drink something local. I asked out of curiosity what the house red was made out of, and the waitress couldn’t understand what I was asking. She kept answering its a red. When she finally understood, I could tell she didnt know, and she answered a blend with Cesanese. So I order a half bottle and it was a blend of mainly Merlot and a little Sanviogese. I really didn’t care about it, I just found it strange for a place with a very well reputation. What I did care about was the very bad Gnocchi on Gnocchi day.

We have a rezzie for Armando al Pantheon and plan on keeping it. I checked the prior thread on Rome and it got nice reviews from a few folks. Hopefully, we have a better experience. Any restaurant can have an off night but it is certainly unfortunate when it happens. I will certainly post on our experience.


Cheers!
Marshall

[Howard_Cooper]

@Marshall Gelb

Nice Barry: I will miss you by a bit. So far we have only two bookings but lots of ideas.

\

1. Armando al Pantheon
2. Ditirambo

Both seem right up our alley and are quite close to our hotel. I will be adding quite a bit to these two.


Cheers!
Marshall

Armando is a really small place. The food is quite good. Great location. I think you will enjoy this a lot.

[Marshall_Gelb]

Jeff and Howard; Jeff, there is not much to say about your experience and I do not doubt you. However, Armando al Pantheon more than lived up to its reputation. Our server was quite knowledgeable and very friendly. We stayed mainly with specials and had a wonderful meal. I think we ate more than any other couple in the entire restaurant. The special buffala mozzarella was fabulous and was a shared starter. I then had the carbonara I was craving and it was wonderful. Diana had the special fettuccine with fresh porchinis. It was even better than the carbonara. Naturally, I finished mine and tried to finish hers as well. Luckily, she saved me from myself. The secondi were both specials and outstanding. Diana had the oxtails…which she finished and I had wonderful sausages over greens. I was going to try the saltimbocca but our server steered me away by explaining…" Everyone makes saltimbocca but these are special pigs." Glad I listened. I thought we might be done but we had to have one dessert…strawberry jam cake literally baked to order. Delicious! The wine list was relatively extensive and fairly priced. Simply put…Armando al Pantheon was excellent and we would certainly go back.

Cheers!
Marshall

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

Good to know about Armando.

How was Ditrambo? Used to go a lot in the old days but the clients were 100% Americans so I started going elsewhere

[Steven_Pumilia]

@Ken Rudman

So, I will be looking at all of the restaurant recs, but am wondering if anyone can recommend a driver/car service that would take us out to Villa d’Este for a day? We’re not keen to join one of the organized bus tours as they seem too structured, and usually include Hadrian’s Villa, which we have heard is more of a ruin than a site to explore. Public transport is possible, but seems like it would take extra hours to get there with little added value to the experience.

My wife and I are going to be in Rome in late August also (timing driven by cheap airfare deal), so I appreciate this thread.
As for Tivoli, I was thinking about using these guys: Tivoli Tour - Day Trip from Rome to Tivoli with Historian - Context Tours - Context Travel
I have not personally used context travel, but have heard very good things.

[Ken_Rudman]

@Steven Pumilia

@Ken Rudman

So, I will be looking at all of the restaurant recs, but am wondering if anyone can recommend a driver/car service that would take us out to Villa d’Este for a day? We’re not keen to join one of the organized bus tours as they seem too structured, and usually include Hadrian’s Villa, which we have heard is more of a ruin than a site to explore. Public transport is possible, but seems like it would take extra hours to get there with little added value to the experience.

My wife and I are going to be in Rome in late August also (timing driven by cheap airfare deal), so I appreciate this thread.
As for Tivoli, I was thinking about using these guys: Tivoli Tour - Day Trip from Rome to Tivoli with Historian - Context Tours - Context Travel
I have not personally used context travel, but have heard very good things.

Cool, I’ll take a look.

[Marshall_Gelb]

@Barry L i p t o n

Good to know about Armando.

How was Ditrambo? Used to go a lot in the old days but the clients were 100% Americans so I started going elsewhere

Barry; Have not been yet…I think it is tomorrow.

Tonight is Osteria del Sostegno…about 200 meters from hotel. Great for drinking too much wine!


Cheers!
Marshall

[Howard_Cooper]

@Marshall Gelb

Jeff and Howard; Jeff, there is not much to say about your experience and I do not doubt you. However, Armando al Pantheon more than lived up to its reputation. Our server was quite knowledgeable and very friendly. We stayed mainly with specials and had a wonderful meal. I think we ate more than any other couple in the entire restaurant. The special buffala mozzarella was fabulous and was a shared starter. I then had the carbonara I was craving and it was wonderful. Diana had the special fettuccine with fresh porchinis. It was even better than the carbonara. Naturally, I finished mine and tried to finish hers as well. Luckily, she saved me from myself. The secondi were both specials and outstanding. Diana had the oxtails…which she finished and I had wonderful sausages over greens. I was going to try the saltimbocca but our server steered me away by explaining…" Everyone makes saltimbocca but these are special pigs." Glad I listened. I thought we might be done but we had to have one dessert…strawberry jam cake literally baked to order. Delicious! The wine list was relatively extensive and fairly priced. Simply put…Armando al Pantheon was excellent and we would certainly go back.

Cheers!
Marshall

One problem with Armando - they are closed in August.

[Marshall_Gelb]

@Howard Cooper

@Marshall Gelb

Jeff and Howard; Jeff, there is not much to say about your experience and I do not doubt you. However, Armando al Pantheon more than lived up to its reputation. Our server was quite knowledgeable and very friendly. We stayed mainly with specials and had a wonderful meal. I think we ate more than any other couple in the entire restaurant. The special buffala mozzarella was fabulous and was a shared starter. I then had the carbonara I was craving and it was wonderful. Diana had the special fettuccine with fresh porchinis. It was even better than the carbonara. Naturally, I finished mine and tried to finish hers as well. Luckily, she saved me from myself. The secondi were both specials and outstanding. Diana had the oxtails…which she finished and I had wonderful sausages over greens. I was going to try the saltimbocca but our server steered me away by explaining…" Everyone makes saltimbocca but these are special pigs." Glad I listened. I thought we might be done but we had to have one dessert…strawberry jam cake literally baked to order. Delicious! The wine list was relatively extensive and fairly priced. Simply put…Armando al Pantheon was excellent and we would certainly go back.

Cheers!
Marshall

One problem with Armando - they are closed in August.

Bongiorno; Without going into too much detail " Osteria del Sostegno" was excellent! Very nice wine list, gracious and friendly service, and hidden down an alley about 200 meters from the Parthenon.

Cheers!
Marshall