Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$$

Colombian chef Roy Caceres is a veteran of Roman fine dining. His landmark, Michelin-starred restaurant, Metamorfosi, didn’t survive the pandemic, but his signature dishes have found a place at Orma (an anagram of Roma) just a few blocks southeast of the Galleria Borghese. Orma is home to a number of distinct concepts: The bistrot is a power-lunch spot set on a shaded terrace, the cocktail bar specializes in tropical fruit- and herb-forward drinks, and the restaurant offers tasting menus and a la carte dishes that blend Caceres’s Colombian heritage with Italian flavors and ingredients. Fans of the chef’s Uovo 65° Carbonara (a soft-cooked egg floating in Parmigiano-Reggiano foam, served with a side of puffed pasta and tender strips of guanciale) will find it in the bistrot, while the restaurant serves his renowned lacquered eel with pickled onions.

Best for: The business lunch is a great deal for anyone into fine dining but not keen to linger.

Open for: All day

Price range: $$

Gabriele Bonci’s landmark pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) shop near the Vatican Museums has become a globally acclaimed landmark where cold-fermented, heirloom wheat-based dough is topped with exquisite produce from biodynamic farms and artisanal cured meats and cheeses. Most toppings change from day to day, or even hour to hour, but Pizzarium’s signatures (tomato-oregano and potato-mozzarella) are nearly always available. There are only a few high-top tables outside and no seating, so don’t wear yourself out too much wandering the museums before stopping by.

Know before you go: Avoid peak lunch hours; go after 3 p.m. (or 5 on Sundays) to skip the line.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

Residents and visitors desperate for spice don’t have many options in Rome, where locals often lament that even black pepper is too piquant. It’s a small miracle, therefore, that Tianci Chongqing Farm Hot Pot has opened — and thrived — in the chile-averse Italian capital. A short walk from the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, the restaurant treats diners to bubbling cauldrons of broth (served as garlic and chile-laden as you’d like) for cooking vegetables, seafood, noodles, meat, and offal.

Best for: A meal with a group to sample as much as possible.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$

Just 100 feet from Rome’s most intact ancient monument, Armando al Pantheon champions local food traditions. For more than five decades, the Gargioli family has been dutifully producing Roman classics like fettuccine con le rigaglie di pollo (fettuccine with chicken innards) and coda alla vaccinara (oxtail braised in tomato and celery). Among the seasonal side dishes, look for puntarelle (Catalonian chicory) with anchovy sauce and carciofi alla romana (simmered artichokes) in the cooler months. Save room for the torta antica Roma, a ricotta and strawberry jam pie. The lovingly curated wine list gets better every year.

Know before you go: Book online exactly one month ahead to secure a spot — it fills up fast.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$

After Settimio al Pellegrino, a cult favorite featured on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, shuttered in 2022, Leonardo Vignoli and Maria Pia Cicconi (of Cesare al Casaletto fame) resurrected the restaurant. They’ve retained the institution’s signature tiled floors, midcentury furniture, and infamous doorbell required for customers to gain access. The trattoria near Campo dei Fiori serves a succinct menu, including minestra con broccoli e arzilla (romanesco and skate soup) and former chef-owner Teresa Zazza’s legendary pan-fried meatballs.

Best for: A dinner (or lunch) when you’re ready to drink from the incredibly affordable wine list.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

In the southwest corner of one of Rome’s most touristy squares, Forno Campo de’ Fiori bakes sweet and savory Roman specialties like jam tarts and flatbreads. Look for pizza alla pala (long slabs baked directly in a deep electric deck oven), which is sold in slices by weight; the unctuous toppings and crispy bases make a surprisingly balanced pair.

Must-try dish: The pizza con mortadella is one of the best bites in town.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$$

Culinary power couple Francesca Barreca and Marco Baccannelli reopened their landmark restaurant Mazzo after a five year hiatus, and this time around, a relatively central location in San Lorenzo makes it considerably more accessible to many residents. The dining room has also grown from a single 12-seat communal table to full-fledged restaurant seating complete with a massive porthole peering into the brightly lit kitchen. Just like the original, the new Mazzo plays with nostalgic forms in dishes like wagon wheel pasta with braised beef and onions, which joins Barreca and Baccannelli’s classics like fried tripe with grated pecorino Romano in a pool of tomato sauce, a retooling of Rome’s signature offal dish, trippa alla romana.

Must-try dishes: The fried tripe, and the wagon wheels with an oniony braised beef sauce.

Open for: Lunch and dinner
Price range: $$$
The Camerucci family’s well-loved trattoria is not actually in Monti, but rather the adjacent multicultural Esquilino district near Stazione Termini. The cuisine is heavily Marchigiano — from the Italian region of Le Marche — so expect lots of game like braised rabbit and roasted duck, meat-filled fried olives, and fresh pasta like the legendary raviolo filled with a runny egg yolk and dressed with butter and sage.
Must-try dish: The runny-yolk raviolo is not to be missed.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$$

Founded in the Historic Center in 2004 by Rome’s premier baking family, Salumeria Roscioli does triple duty as a deli, wine bar, and restaurant. Though the menu is extensive, the real stars are the cheeses (burrata with semi-dried tomatoes is spectacular), cured meats (Culaccia and mortadella with Parmigiano-Reggiano are both stellar), and pasta classics (get the gricia, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, or carbonara). If you dine at lunch or on the early side at dinner, the bread basket will include warm bread from nearby Antico Forno Roscioli. The wine list is wide-ranging, and don’t miss the distilled spirits before closing out the meal.

Vibe check: Request a table upstairs or outside to avoid getting seated in the basement.

Open for: All day

Price range: $$

After more than a decade of selling Italian and French cheeses and wine at the edge of the historic Ghetto of Rome, Beppe e I Suoi Formaggi renovated and considerably downsized its space and menu. Now the single dining room is mostly occupied by an incredible array of cheeses made by, among others, owner Beppe Giovale. The menu is predictably dairy focused with cheese plates, as well as butter and ricotta, which are paired with salted anchovies and honey, respectively, alongside natural vino. The wine list features collaborations with wine makers like Sicily’s Nino Barraco.

Must-try dish: A selection of cheeses made by Beppe and his family.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

For more than three centuries, Rome’s Jewish community was confined to a walled ghetto along the Tiber River. The squalid buildings are long gone, but a historic ghetto-era bakery survives on what has become the transformed neighborhood’s main thoroughfare. The pizza ebraica — an almond flour-based fruit cake studded with nuts, raisins, and candied fruits — is an easy specialty to eat on the go, but it’s worth seeking out a bench to get messy with a slice of tart. Also try the amaretti and biscotti made with heaps of cinnamon and a generous smattering of whole almonds.

Must-try dish: The ricotta and sour-cherry tart — grab it before it sells out.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

Routinely named among the best places to drink in Europe, this long-established craft beer pub in Trastevere pours around a dozen draft beers from Italy, the U.S., Belgium, Germany, and the U.K., in addition to a small but well-curated assortment of bottles. The staff is passionate and knowledgeable, and can guide you to the right choice for your palate. It’s worth waiting for the few tables on the street outside, set up during the pandemic, which offer a front row seat to Trastevere’s lively nightlife.

Best for: Trastevere people-watching, 365 days a year (it’s even open on holidays).

Open for: Lunch to late night

Price range: $

Trapizzino is a small street food chain with locations throughout Italy (and an outpost in New York). The concept is based on the trapizzino, a combination of the popular triangular tramezzino sandwich with long, slowly leavened pizza dough, invented by pizzaiolo Stefano Callegari in 2009. Callegari fills his tricornered creations with Roman classics like oxtail simmered with tomato and celery, chicken cacciatore, and tripe cooked with tomato, each going for just 5 euros or less.

Know before you go: Visit the Trastevere branch for table service and a full bar with Lazio wines.

Open for: Dinner to late night

Price range: $$

Latteria Trastevere is a wine bar and bistro in Rome’s nightlife epicenter focused on natural vino, cheeses, and cured meats culled from tiny, sought-after producers across Italy. There are some hot dishes too, and Sardinian owner Antonio Cossu brings in island specialties like sa fregola (pearl couscous) with crab and bottles from Barbagia, one of Sardinia’s most delicious wine regions. As a bonus, Latteria is open nearly every day of the year.

Must-try pairing: The Sardinian prosciutto and wines from small producers from the Barbagia.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$

Few restaurants in Rome are as deeply tied to the city’s culinary identity as Sora Lella. Founded in 1959 by Elena Fabrizi — actor, cook, and icon — this trattoria in a medieval tower on the Tiber Island has long been a standard bearer for the hearty cucina romana. While there was a period when the restaurant seemed to coast on its reputation, the third generation has brought it back to top form. Today, Sora Lella is once again a satisfying place to experience traditional Roman dishes executed with care. The wine list leans local, highlighting Lazio’s underappreciated labels. With its rustic wood-paneled dining rooms and medieval tower setting, Sora Lella is a nostalgic but enduring pillar of Roman dining.

Must-try dish: Go in spring for the coratella d’abbacchio (sauteed sucking lamb offal) with artichokes, or try the coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stewed in a rich tomato and celery sauce).

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$$

A short walk from the Colosseum, Tempio di Iside is an elegant fish restaurant known for its crudi (raw dishes) like fish carpaccio, sea urchin roe, langoustines, and oysters. The pasta with sweet red shrimp, cherry tomatoes, and fresh pecorino is excellent (and proof there are valid exceptions to the “no cheese with seafood” rule), as are the spaghetti with clams, whole roasted fish, and pasta with spiny lobster. Book ahead, especially to secure an outdoor table for dinner in the summer, and expect to pay a premium for access to some of the freshest fish around.

Know before you go: Book ahead for a coveted outdoor table in summer.

Open for: All day

Price range: $$

After a career working in Roman gourmet temples like Salumeria Roscioli, Pasquale Borriello struck out on his own in 2022. His small shop in Trastevere near the church of San Francesco a Ripa has a few high-top tables where you can sip natural wine or craft beer alongside Italy’s greatest cheeses. All the big names are on the menu — Parmigiano-Reggiano, gorgonzola, and mozzarella di bufala among them — but Borriello favors the smallest and most artisanal producers of these famous styles. In addition to formaggio, Forme sells cured meats, sandwiches, and pantry items like jars of obscure marinated vegetables.

Best for: Sit at a high-top table and try blue cheese from celebrated affineur Andrea Magi.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

Marco Radicioni trained with Rome’s gelato maestro Claudio Torcè, embracing his sensibility of all-natural flavors, meticulous sourcing, and restrained sweetness. Since launching his own gelateria, Radicioni has grown into a maestro in his own right, churning some of the most exquisite gelato in Italy. His newest location in Monteverde Vecchio serves more than just Otaleg’s rich and creamy gelato made from the world’s best pistachios and chocolates. There are specialty coffee and artisanal pastries too, which have transformed Otaleg into a point of reference for third-wave coffee drinkers.

Know before you go: Try the Monteverde location for gelato and coffee; Trastevere for pure gelato bliss.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$

Located in Testaccio, Rome’s undisputed offal capital, Piatto Romano focuses on classics like rigatoni con la pajata (pasta with milk-fed veal intestines cooked in tomato sauce) and fettuccine con le rigaglie di pollo (fettuccine with chicken innards). There are plenty of pescatarian options as well, like the outstanding cod baked with onions, pine nuts, apricots, and prunes, and pan-fried anchovies spiked with vinegar and chile pepper, and the vegetable dishes are incredible.

Must-try dishes: Vegetable sides like the braised zucchini greens and foraged greens salad are showstoppers.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$

Following careers in fine dining in Italy and abroad, Leonardo Vignoli and Maria Pia Cicconi went back to basics with Cesare al Casaletto, a straightforward trattoria the husband-and-wife duo took over in 2009. The menu features Roman classics with a few restrained twists, like fried gnocchi served on a pool of cacio e pepe sauce. The pasta alla gricia has achieved cult status, the suckling lamb mains are exceptional, and the beverage list spotlights stunningly affordable natural wines from Italy, France, and Slovenia.

If you take public transit: Take tram 8 for easy access, and stroll back to the center through Villa Pamphili park after lunch.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$

Pizzaiolo Sami El Sabawy first made a name in the Roman pizza world at the iconic slice joint Pizzarium (also on this list). But it’s the thin crust, wood-fired personal pizzas he makes today that attract diners to Torpignattara in eastern Rome. Named after the Roman phrase meaning “to do something continuously,” A Rota lives up to its name; once you try the impeccably crisp pizza and golden fritti, like supplì and battered squash blossoms, you’ll keep coming back for more. El Sabawy specializes in a hyper-thin, low-hydration dough that he rolls out with a pin before baking at a lower temperature for longer than its Neapolitan counterpart. The result is a shatteringly crisp base, sturdy enough to support both classic and creative toppings without losing its integrity. The traditional margherita is a lesson in balance, with bright tomato sauce, fior di latte, and fragrant basil, but don’t skip Sami’s specials, like April’s stuffed pizza filled with chard, potato, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and ham. 

Must-try dish: Try the classic margherita to understand Sami’s style, then go for the  seasonal special.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

Located a short distance from Stazione Trastevere, C’è Pasta… e Pasta (translation: “There’s pasta… and pasta”) serves delicious kosher meals to eat in or take away. Order at the counter and don’t miss Roman Jewish classics like carciofi alla giudia (fried artichokes), filetti di baccala (battered fried cod), aliciotti con l’indivia (layered anchovy and frisee casserole), and concia (fried and marinated zucchini). As the name promises, they also serve pasta dishes and sell fresh pasta to cook at home.

Must-try dishes: The Roman Jewish concia and baccala are particularly special.

Open for: Dinner and late night

Price range: $$

Latta Fermenti e Miscele is the standout among several bars and restaurants that share a complex. Find friendly service and a bar program celebrating Italy’s bittersweet and botanical flavors in the form of cocktails, natural wines, and craft beer.

Vibe check: Find it down a steel ramp, below street level in a repurposed industrial complex.

Open for: Lunch

Price range: $

When the shutters go up at Pantera in Garbatella, there’s already a crowd queuing on the sidewalk in anticipation of the shop’s sheet pan-baked pizza and stringy supplì. The popularity is in part due to the reputation of owners Nicolò and Manuel Trecastelli, who have established themselves as talented ambassadors of Roman flavors at Circoletto and Trecca (also on the list). Beyond the names involved, the small space packs people in for utterly satisfying, crispy and chewy slices sold by weight.

Know before you go: Opening hours change frequently, so check social media to confirm.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

The spartan decor of Triticum, an artisanal bakery in Rome’s Marconi district, focuses visitors’ attention immediately on the counter, which displays a selection of savory and sweet baked goods. Options include thick and spongy tomato and olive focaccia, pizza alla pala (flatbread baked on the oven stone and sold by the slice), cinnamon rolls, and laminated pastries. Behind the counter, there’s a wall of sourdough breads that pair brilliantly with spreads from Marco Colzani and honey from Miele Thun.

Know before you go: Eat the tomato focaccia in the shop, and pick up jars of local honey and spreads to eat with seeded sourdough at home.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

After nearly 30 years at the helm of Rome’s first Thai restaurant, Beijing-born chef Ge Jing Hua opened Sinosteria in 2020 to serve a blend of Chinese regional cuisines featuring dishes like Beijing-style tripe with chile oil and cilantro, and Shandong-inspired squid with peppers, ginger, and bamboo. There are also signature creations like basmati rice with coconut milk, shrimp, capers, and oregano from Pantelleria. The front of house is expertly managed by Ge’s gregarious sommelier son Jun, whose natural wine list and coffee menu are outstanding.

Must-try pairing: Ask Jun to recommend a natural wine or tea.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$$

Trecca is, for lack of a better term, a neo-trattoria. It delivers everything a Roman trattoria should: an informal setting, rigorously seasonal comfort food, and an offal-forward menu. But there’s also a natural wine list, an Instagram page, and two young brothers at the helm. Manuel and Nicolò Trecastelli lean into Rome’s powerful flavors and rich ingredients. Their carbonara and amatriciana are as loaded with pepper-spiked guanciale as any in the city, and tomato and vinegar are employed in the meaty mains to offset their unctuousness.

Must-try dish: Try the pajata in any and every way the restaurant serves it.

Open for: Lunch and dinner
Price range: $$$
At Da Michele, two generations of the Pignotta family have perfected an incredibly high-level wine and seafood experience, presented without pretense. Since opening in the residential San Paolo district in 1991, this spot has become a neighborhood institution, drawing back regulars with its consistently fresh catch from local fish markets in Fiumicino and Anzio, and attracting wine connoisseurs from across the city eager to taste through the exceptional cellar. Pair mineral-driven white wines from across Europe — including older vintages — with al dente linguine with telline (wedge clams) and fried or roasted fish.
Must-try pairing: Pair linguine with telline or roasted fish with older vintage white Burgundy from the cellar.