Rome

Pipero Roma, Rome (update), 4/14/18

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building
building

Pipero has moved to a new location since we were last there.  This new place covers 3 levels and is quite elegant and modern looking.  Lots of art and photos decorate the spaces and classical music plays in the background.  Spot lighting makes the area for food well lit and arty light fixtures add additional lighting.  There are a couple of small windows.  The large tables are widely spaced and set with long white clothes and large white napkins.  Service is attentive and helpful and makes you feel like they are glad to have you in their one star Michelin restaurant.  We sat upstairs where we could see some of the main floor action and look out the window to the night lights.  The floor below street level contains the bathroom, a room with a large table and some wine storage.  I saw Chef Luciano Monosilio come out of the kitchen to observe the floor but he didn’t make the rounds of the tables.   That is left to owner Alessandro Pipero and he is the consummate host.  The menu contains 6 or 10 course surprise tasting options and a la carte options.  Pipero invited us to put our meal in his hands and we did just that.  This place should be on your list to visit when in Rome.   Continue reading →

La Tavernaccia, Rome, 4/14/18

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exterior
exterior

La Tavernaccia is a medium sized place with a small but well chosen menu.  It has been in the same family’s hands for 50 years and the main dining room was refurbished about 5 years ago.  Two walls have windows facing the street so there is lots of natural light in the daytime.  Exposed brick and stone cover the other walls and the floor is tile.  Background music plays and the small tables have a double cloth with matching napkins. The ceiling must have been made of some sound dampening material because even with the room full, and several large parties, the noise level was just fine.   There is a second smaller room but the ambiance didn’t feel the same when I peeked in, so request the front room with your reservation.  The super friendly waiter spoke great English and was helpful in making choices.  Service was efficient, prices are reasonable and the quality of ingredients in the dishes seemed to be high.  I would recommend this as a good place for a casual meal when in Rome.   Continue reading →

Restaurant Il San Lorenzo, Rome, 4/13/18

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exterior
exterior

Il San Lorenzo is a larger place made up of several rooms.  Lots of modern art is on the walls and music plays in the background.  White tableclothes and napkins add to the brightness of the room which eliminates any chance of being cozy.  The menu contains one tasting menu as well as lots of a la carte items.  Their specialty is seafood and a bar with iced seafood greets you at the entry.   Service people speak good English but are arrogant and aloof.  After the first set of rapid fire courses they seemed to forget we were there.  Pacing was way off with plates being picked up prematurely and then the immediate arrival of the next course.  They really had no sense of timing.  Some of the food was really good but the setting was too uncomfortable to make the meal enjoyable.  They also tried the old scam used in tacky places on foreign tourists where the waiter who leaves the bill lets you know that no service charge was included.  This put the final nail in this place’s coffin, in my book.  A nice looking place but I couldn’t recommend going. Continue reading →

Trattoria Dal Cavalier Gino, Rome, 4/13/18

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exterior
exterior

Trattoria Gino covers two rooms packed with small tables and a happy vibe throughout.  The ceilings are painted with flowers and stones and the walls are decorated with memorabilia giving the place a cozy feeling.  The place appeared to have way more Italians than tourists, and many seemed to be regulars.   No music plays in the background but the hum of conversation surrounds you.  Our waiter was exceptionally friendly and helpful and spoke fine English.  He really made the meal fun.  They offer a good sized menu with lots of traditional Roman dishes.  One caution is that they don’t take credit cards, it’s cash only, but everything is pretty reasonable.  I highly recommend this place be on your list if you have the time and can get a reservation.   Continue reading →

Ristorante Antonello Colonna, Rome, 4/12/18

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building
building

Ristorante Antonello Colonna is an unhandy location to get to, located on top of a building that has its entrance below street level.  There is a sign outside the building entrance but then you have to go up an elevator and then up another flight of stairs.  The level below is the large room where they serve lunch and it’s a nice room but huge with a high ceiling.  The evening dining room has part of it set with lounge and bar seating.   There is also a adjacent outside patio that would be nice when weather permits. Windows surround the large, well spaced tables and instrumental music plays in the background.  Tables are draped with floor length clothes and set with large white napkins.  Purse stools are provided but they are very small and the first thing my purse did was fall off of it and spill its contents.  They also are quite low to the ground.   Continue reading →

Roscioli Ristorante Salumeria (update), Rome, 4/12/18

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IMG_0445
exterior

Roscioli is a good sized place that even has a level below the street.  Where you enter is a large counter that sells meats, cheese and other high quality ingredients.  The tables are small and closely spaced and it’s filled to capacity.  Pop music plays in the background but that competes with the lively crowd noise.  Cloth mats and napkins are set at the table and service is friendly and efficient but they do expect to turn the tables.  They also have a bakery a few doors down that bakes the breads for the restaurant but also sells to the public.  The place started as a shop and the restaurant started 15-20 years ago.  It is an institution and you will find some local folks here but also lots of tourists.   Continue reading →

Per Me Giulio Terrinoni, Rome, 4/11/18

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exterior
exterior

Per Me Giulio Terrinoni is a one star Michelin restaurant with a modern motif that opened in November of 2015.  The front door is locked so you need to ring the bell to get ushered inside.  It is dimly lit with dark wood small tables and dark bench and chair seating.  There were only 7 tables in our room but I saw another room toward the back.  Nice background music plays and small lights are behind the walls with small holes to let light through.  The light walls are sparsely adorned and the only windows are in the front tables.  The nicely spaced tables have a drawer on the sides that contain the good sized cloth napkin and an extra utensil but these were not replenished during the evening.  A single bloom flower decorates each table.  There is a large a la carte menu or 2 tasting options.  The four course is your choice and the 10 course is determined by the chef.  Both have wine pairings offered.  We chose the longer tasting and ordered our own bottles of wine.   Continue reading →

Armando Al Pantheon, 4/11/18, Rome

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exterior
exterior

Armando Al Pantheon is a medium sized place with small cloth covered tables.  Bench seating lines one wall and old art decorates the upper walls, above the wood paneling.  Wood beams are part of the ceiling and may help absorb sound as it was a low noise level.  Lights jut out from the sides and it felt pretty bright.  It has a big menu, specializing in traditional local food, and also offered daily specials.  Our helpful server also spoke good English and was willing to make suggestions.  It was crazy busy and it would seem that a reservation is a must.  Those of us with lunch reservations were lined up before it even opened and it did appear that one no-res couple were given a table.  They do turn the tables at lunch.  It is run by the Gargioli family.  Opened by Armando Gargioli in 1961, his son Claudio (his daughter is in the front of the house) still works in the kitchen and son Fabrizio runs the front of the house.   Continue reading →

Antico Arco, Rome, 12/15/15

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exterior
exterior

The restaurant has a couple different small rooms for dining, all well adorned for the holidays.  They offer a la carte as well as a tasting menu, which we chose. There is a large wine list and the staff are most helpful in making choices. There is a casual vibe but the service pace is a bit on the fast side, but then they did turn the tables during the evening. Continue reading →

Cecchino Dal 1887, Rome, 12/15/15

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Exterior
Exterior

With a capacity for 55 guests plus a private room indoors and additional seasonal seating on a patio, I’d call this a medium sized place. Their speciality is in cooking offal.  Their ancestors started a wineshop across from a slaughter house where a portion of the  workers’ pay was in “lesser” animal parts. These workers brought the parts to the shop and family cooked them and thus the cuisine for pajata and other organs was born. Continue reading →

Il Convivio-Troiani, Rome, 12/14/15

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front door
front door

 

A medium sized place composed of 3 well lit rooms rather starkly decorated, but there is a feel of elegance to the place. It is run by 3 brothers and the night we were there Massimo Troiani, who is over the wine selection, was there but his brother Angelo who runs the kitchen and Giuseppe, who is over the dining rooms, were not. They want to be known for their healthy cuisine and are open about their suppliers as well as content of the dishes. Continue reading →

Cesare al Casaletto, Rome, 12/14/15

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exterior
exterior

A medium sized place located on the first floor of an apartment building in a residential neighborhood. It would seem to be populated with lots of regular guests.  The friendly and helpful waiter helped us make selections from the huge menu and did tell us we had ordered too much and helped adjust to what he thought we’d want. Continue reading →

Marzapane Roma, Rome, 12/13/15

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Exterior
Exterior

 

A small place with a see-through kitchen run by Chef Alba Esteve Ruiz. She’s just in her mid-twenties but making quite a splash on the Rome dining scene. She is taking some of the standards and putting a nice twist on them as well as coming up with some completely new combinations. They offer several tasting menu options as well as a la carte options. Continue reading →

Perilli a Testaccio dal 1911, Rome, 12/13/15

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exterior
exterior

A fairly large place serving food typical of Rome since 1911! The day we were there the place was filled with families and groups of friends. The waiters are helpful but busy. We tried a couple of their specialty pastas that seemed to be going to lots of tables, as were the artichokes.  The meat portions were quite generous with sides of delicious potatoes. Nothing ground breaking here, but a perfect place if you want a ‘home cooked’ meal of traditional food done well. Continue reading →

Il Pagliaccio, Rome, 12/12/15

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exterior
exterior

A smaller place with less than 12 tables and divided into several rooms. Some of the servers were a bit aloof. It is one of the places that serves women a menu with no prices. We sat in a room of 2-tops that were occupied by a number of other English speaking guests. They offer 8 or 10 course tasting menus as well as a la carte. A nice touch was the warm wet cloth before you started your meal. Continue reading →

Ristorante Piperno, Rome, 12/12/15

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exterior
exterior

A relatively large place but cozy and filled with lots of noise dampening items.  The waiters are “old school” – friendly and opinionated. It seems to specialize in dishes typical of Rome and attracted a number of family groups. We wanted to try their fried artichokes but the waiter insisted we also order their fried squash blossoms, as they are a star of the menu. Continue reading →

Settimio Al Pellegrino, Rome, 2/8/14

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Exterior of Settimio al Pellegrino
Exterior of Settimio al Pellegrino

This is a funny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you feel like you’re eating in a friend’s home. Very little in the way of atmosphere or decorative touches and yet they have embroidered linens at each table. The food is tasty and smaller portions than we encountered at most places but prices are very reasonable.

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All’Oro, Rome, 2/8/14

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Hotel entrance to where All'Orois located
Hotel entrance to where All’Orois located

A most friendly couple runs this place and Chef is very excited about his food. They offer tasting menus of different sizes but he really wanted to guide our choices. The food was decorative but also tasty, which way too many “pretty” places neglect. The cappelletti were divine with a burst of broth inside each piece.

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