Best Restaurants in Rome - Where to Eat Like a Local

Forget the tourist traps. The best restaurants in Rome aren’t on the main piazzas.

You’ve seen the photos: couples laughing over plates of cacio e pepe under string lights, steam rising from fresh pasta, gelato dripping onto cobblestones. But if you’ve eaten at the same three places near the Trevi Fountain, you’ve only tasted the surface. Real Roman food doesn’t wait for tourists. It’s served in tiny kitchens behind unmarked doors, where nonnas stir sauces for hours and waiters know your name by the third visit.

There are over 5,000 restaurants in Rome. Most are mediocre. A few are magical. Here’s where to find the ones that actually matter.

Trattoria Da Enzo al 29 - The Real Deal in Trastevere

Da Enzo doesn’t have a website. No online reservations. No Instagram page with staged photos. It’s tucked into a narrow alley in Trastevere, marked only by a small wooden sign and a line of locals waiting outside. You show up at 7:30 p.m. sharp, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a table by the window.

What you get: handmade tonnarelli with guanciale and black pepper, so perfectly al dente it snaps when you bite. The carbonara? No cream. Just eggs, pecorino, guanciale, and heat. The kitchen doesn’t even use a whisk - they stir it with a wooden spoon until the sauce clings to the pasta like silk.

They serve wine from small Roman vineyards, poured from bottles with no labels. The owner, Enzo, will ask where you’re from. If you say you’re from the U.S., he’ll smile and say, “Ah, you’ve been to the wrong restaurants.” He’s not rude. He’s just right.

Flavio al Velavevodetto - Pasta Under the Ruins

Down a steep staircase near the Colosseum, hidden beneath a hillside, lies Flavio al Velavevodetto. The entrance looks like a basement. Inside, the walls are made of ancient Roman brick. You’re eating above a 2,000-year-old sewer system - the Velabrum - now preserved as part of the restaurant’s foundation.

Here, the pasta is made fresh every day with semola di grano duro, the same flour used in the 1950s. Their amatriciana is the gold standard: guanciale from local pigs, San Marzano tomatoes, and a hint of chili. No onions. No garlic. Just pure, sharp flavor.

They also serve rigatoni alla pajata - a dish so traditional, most Romans won’t even try it. It’s made with the intestines of unweaned calves, cooked with tomato sauce until tender. It sounds wild. But once you taste it, you’ll understand why Romans call it “the soul of the city.”

La Pergola - When You Want Luxury Without the Fuss

If you’re looking for fine dining with a view, La Pergola at the Rome Cavalieri Hotel is the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the city. But don’t assume it’s stuffy. Chef Heinz Beck doesn’t serve food to impress. He serves it to honor Roman ingredients.

His signature dish? Duck breast with black truffle and chestnut puree, served with a sauce made from Roman wine reduced for 12 hours. The truffles are hand-harvested in the hills outside Orvieto. The duck is raised in Lazio, fed on acorns and barley.

It’s expensive - around €350 per person with wine pairing. But it’s not a spectacle. It’s a quiet celebration of what the land around Rome can do. You won’t find foie gras or truffle oil here. Just pure, precise, regional flavor.

Supplizio - The Best Supplì in Rome

Supplì are Rome’s answer to arancini. Deep-fried rice balls stuffed with mozzarella and ragù. Most places serve them cold and soggy. Supplizio gets it right.

They fry each one fresh to order. The crust shatters like glass. Inside, the rice is still warm, the mozzarella stretches like a golden thread. They serve them with a side of house-made tomato sauce - thick, sweet, and just a little smoky.

There are only five tables. You order at the counter. They hand you a paper cone with two supplì and a napkin. Eat them standing up. That’s how Romans do it.

Antico Arco - Modern Roman, Zero Pretense

Opened in 2023, Antico Arco is the new kid on the block - and already one of the most talked-about spots in the city. Chef Daniele Usai takes traditional dishes and gives them a clean, modern twist.

Try the spaghetti alla gricia with smoked pecorino and wild fennel pollen. Or the lamb chops with rosemary and roasted figs, served with a side of mashed Jerusalem artichokes. The wine list is entirely Italian, with a focus on lesser-known regions like Abruzzo and Molise.

What makes it special? No one here is dressed up. The staff wear jeans. The tables are wood. The music is low jazz. It feels like dinner at a friend’s house - if your friend happens to be a trained chef who studied under Massimo Bottura.

What to Avoid in Rome

There are some traps. Avoid restaurants with menus in five languages. Avoid places with photos of food on the menu. Avoid “Italian restaurants” that serve pizza with pineapple. And never, ever order “spaghetti Bolognese” in Rome - it doesn’t exist here. The closest thing is tagliatelle al ragù, and even that’s more common in Bologna.

Also skip the “tourist menus” that promise 3 courses for €15. The food is frozen. The wine is in a box. And the waiters? They’ve been trained to rush you out by 8:30 p.m.

How to Eat Like a Roman

• Start with antipasti - cured meats, fried artichokes, or marinated vegetables.
• Always order pasta as a primo, not the main course.
• Don’t ask for cheese on seafood pasta. Romans will side-eye you.
• Drink water: acqua naturale (still) or acqua frizzante (sparkling). No soda with meals.
• Save room for dessert. Tiramisu here is made with mascarpone, not whipped cream. Gelato is denser, less sweet, and never served in a cone.

When to Go

Reservations are essential at Da Enzo, Flavio, and La Pergola - book at least two weeks ahead. For Supplizio and Antico Arco, show up at 7 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. to avoid the rush. Weekends are packed. Weekdays are better.

Don’t eat between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Most places close. Romans nap. You should too.

Final Tip: Walk Away from the Crowds

The best meal you’ll have in Rome won’t be in a place with a sign. It’ll be in a backstreet where the only sign is a flickering light above a door. Ask the barista at your morning espresso where they eat. Ask the taxi driver. Ask the old man selling tomatoes at the market.

They’ll tell you. And you’ll find it.