Rome report - early May 2010 - long
Rome reviews & costs ~ all costs include wine, usually starting with Prosecco followed by a house red or white. All wines were excellent and very reasonably priced.
Pierluigi ~ 11 people ~ 578 Euro
http://www.pierluigi.it/
First night in Rome and we have a wonderful meal. Highlights include bresaola, puntarella (seasonal bitter green), several different veal dishes ~ one with capers, one with pepper, one with mushrooms, fettuccini con funghi porcini, tagliolini with prosciutto and zucchini flowers. Spring is a great time to be eating our way thru Italy. We dined outside on a cool evening. Service was excellent – especially if you know how rowdy a big group can get when well lubricated with wine.
L’Osteria de “Memmo” I “Santori” ~ 11 people ~ 620 Euro
http://www.osteriadememmo.it/
This isn’t a restaurant – this is a party! We arrive and the food started coming. Maybe 12 or 14 antipasti including grilled vegetables, many different salumi, beans, potatoes and tuna, melons, tomatoes, cheese…..it didn’t seem to stop. Then on to the pasta – the two winners were cacio e pepe and all’amatriciana. We should have stopped there, but didn’t – meat was on the way. An enormous pork roast (porchetta?) was presented, crackling skin, glistening with fat and meltingly tender. Once again, we should have stopped, but didn’t. Strawberries with cream and chocolate cake arrived with bottles of after dinner drinks – anise, orange, etc…..
During all this feasting, the owner and servers are flying around keeping people happy and looking like they are having a great time. This is definitely not the restaurant for a romantic dinner, but if you just want to have fun (especially a group), you won’t go wrong.
Enoteca Lavio ~ 8 people ~ 150 Euro
http://www.enotecapalatium.it/2010/02/04/nasce-provincia-romana-lenoteca-della-provincia-di-roma
After a morning in the Forum we stopped here for lunch. It’s a combo wine/regional products retail store and café. Everything comes from the Lazio region, so you get a true taste of that area in Italy. We shared antipasti of cured meats and local cheeses, then pizzas. The pizzas’ were thick, almost like a foccacia. Not what we were expecting, but very good. The wines…..delicious.
Ditirambo ~ 8 people ~ 321 Euro
http://www.ristoranteditirambo.it/
This is not your typical Roman restaurant – dishes all seemed to have a slight “twist” with ingredients that made them delicious, but different. Highlights included the octopus salad, broiled shellfish antipasto, tonnarelli cacio e pepe (this was traditional and probably one of the very best we had in Rome), and the sea bass. The veal with ginger was absolutely yummy. The only downside was that it was a warm evening, the restaurant is composed of two very small rooms that were packed – it was hot!
Armando al Pantheon ~ 8 people ~ 375 Euro
http://www.armandoalpantheon.it/home.php
This is your typical Roman restaurant and a perfect place for our last meal in Rome. By this time, we are addicted to the three pasta dishes of Rome ~ cacio e pepe, all’amatriciana and carbonara. We had them all and they were all delicious. Main courses of chicken with white wine, saltimbocca and roasted lamb were our favorites.
Wine bar we liked (a lot!) ~
Cul de Sac ~ http://web.tiscali.it/culdesac/
We received excellent, caring service at every single restaurant and bar. Language was never a barrier, a smile and frequent use of grazie mille always helped.
The group’s favorites? L’Osteria de “Memmo” I “Santori” and Armando di Pantheon. “Memmo” was like going to a feast at your crazy Italian uncle’s house and Armando just felt like Rome should.
