Best Restaurants in Rome: What to Order and Where

The best restaurants in Rome: how to choose

The best restaurants in Rome are the ones that cook one Roman dish well, not the ones with the longest menu. Pick the dish you want, then look for a trattoria, a pizzeria or a gelateria that does it.

We do not rank single restaurants here. No official source ranks them, and a list of names would age fast. Instead, each entry below says what to order, what the place looks like and what to watch for.

Published guides put a mid-range meal in Rome at €12 to €40 per person, a range collected for the 2026 Rome Travel Cost Study. The oldest source behind that range is from 2020, so treat it as a guide, not a quote.

1. Carbonara: the dish most visitors come for

Carbonara is the classic Roman pasta made with pork cheek, pecorino, black pepper and eggs. The Rome tourism office lists exactly those four ingredients, plus the pasta.

Look for a short menu on a side street. A good trattoria makes it to order. The tourism office points to Trastevere and Testaccio for trattorias that cook traditional Roman recipes. If the menu adds cream, ask for the dish without it. No official source defines a tourist-trap restaurant, so this is our advice, not a rule: a very long menu, a place that does not list prices and a host who pulls you in from the pavement are reasons to walk on. A short menu with prices on it is the safer sign.

If you want to learn it, the pasta and tiramisu class near the Vatican is run by Cooking Italy. It takes 2.5 to 3 hours, is from €24.5 per person, and is rated 4.9 from 8,798 reviews. It includes wine, prosecco, soft drinks and water, has free cancellation as the listing states, and is not suitable for vegans or for people with gluten or lactose intolerance. Hotel pick-up and drop-off are not included. The listing shows six meeting points, and yours depends on the option you select. No group size is listed. The price is per person and food is part of it, so it replaces a restaurant dinner that evening.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026.

2. Cacio e pepe, gricia and amatriciana: the other three pastas

Rome has four classic pastas, and carbonara is only one. Cacio e pepe uses pecorino and black pepper. Gricia adds pork cheek. Amatriciana adds tomato to gricia, according to the city's tourism page, which calls gricia its "tasty ancestor".

The same page says bucatini became the usual shape for amatriciana in the 19th century, because the hollow centre holds the sauce. Order it that way.

Pecorino Romano is the cheese in all four. Its consortium was set up in 1979 by producers from Lazio and Sardinia, so the cheese now comes from both regions.

Many trattorias serve all four, so order two and share. That is the cheapest way to taste more than one. Prices are on the menu, so read the pasta line before you sit down. No official source publishes a typical price for a plate of pasta or a cover charge.

The fresh pasta class with wine and gelato is run by Walks of Italy. It takes 3 hours and is from €47 per person, rated 4.9 from 949 reviews. It includes two pastas, prosecco, wine and gelato, has free cancellation as the listing states, and is not suitable for wheelchair users. It meets at Piazza di San Giovanni della Malva in Trastevere, and no group size is listed. Pick-up and drop-off and tips are not included.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026.

Pro Tip Eating well in Rome does not need a big budget. Order two of the four pastas for the table and swap plates. You taste carbonara and amatriciana for the price of one main course each.

3. Supplì and pizza by the slice: lunch on foot

Supplì is a fried rice ball, and it is the easiest Roman lunch on the move. You eat it standing, from a counter, between two sights.

A guide helps most here, because the best snack counters are small and easy to miss. Both walks cover Trastevere, Campo de' Fiori and the Jewish Quarter, where the tourism office describes traditional trattorias and Jewish-Roman specialities. The exact meeting point and group size are on each GetYourGuide listing, not published here, and we could not confirm them. The Trastevere and Campo de' Fiori street food walk is run by Hili srl. It lasts 2.5 hours, is from €44.1 per person and is rated 4.9 from 4,720 reviews. Food is included, drinks are not, and it is not suitable for vegans or for people with gluten intolerance.

A second route, the street food tour with a local guide, is run by Food Raphael Tours and Events. It lasts 2.5 hours, is from €42.75 per person and is rated 4.8 from 4,237 reviews. It includes five street food tastings, one beer sample and one wine sample, and has free cancellation as the listing states. The price is per person.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026.

4. Starters and mains: zucchini flowers, artichokes, lamb and oxtail

Roman starters are fried or seasonal. The tourism office lists zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies, fried cod fillet, and artichokes in the "alla romana" or "alla giudia" style, served according to season.

For a main course it lists lamb "alla scottadito", eaten hot with your hands, and "coda alla vaccinara", oxtail. It also lists tripe and a pasta sauce made with calf intestine. Skip those if you do not eat offal.

The Roman-Jewish versions of these dishes use no pork and no pecorino, the page says. That is a good reason to try the Jewish Quarter if you avoid pork.

Rome eats by the season, so the best table is the one that cooks what is fresh this month.

5. Gelato and tiramisu: end the meal sweet

Tiramisu is on most trattoria menus, but the tourism office notes that it probably was not born in Rome. Order it anyway, or choose the ricotta and sour cherry jam tart it also lists.

For gelato, walk away from the busiest squares and look for a small shop with a short list of flavours. We found no official source that ranks gelaterias, so we do not name one.

The golf cart tour with gelato tasting is a sightseeing ride, not a food tour. It is run by City Walkers Tours, lasts 2 to 2.5 hours and is from €49 per person, rated 4.8 from 2,910 reviews. It includes an artisanal gelato tasting, has free cancellation as the listing states, and is not suitable for wheelchair users. Meeting point and group size are on the listing, not published here.

Prices and ratings as shown on GetYourGuide on 25 October 2026.

How to choose between a tour, a class and your own table

A tour is worth it when you want guidance, and your own table is better when you want a long, slow dinner. Our verdict: choose a tour or class for your first evening or if you do not know where to start, and your own table once you know what you want to order. None of the five listings states a group size, so ask the operator if that matters to you. Meeting points are fixed: Fontana, Piazza San Simeone for the Trastevere walk, the Giordano Bruno monument in Campo de' Fiori for the second walk, Piazza di San Giovanni della Malva for the Walks of Italy class and Via del Fagutale 2A for the golf cart tour. The Vatican-area class has six, depending on the option. A tour costs more than a street snack but its price includes the food, so compare it with a dinner, not a snack. Read what is left out: drinks on the Trastevere walk, extra drinks and tips on the second walk, tips on the class and the golf cart tour,, and hotel pick-up where the listing names it. Our food tour Rome page lists the walks, classes and tastings in one place, if you want to compare them.

Things to Do in Rome's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found 81 food tours, street food walks, cooking and pasta classes and gelato tours, from €21.

Key Takeaway The best restaurants in Rome are trattorias that cook carbonara, cacio e pepe, gricia and amatriciana well. A street food walk is from €42.75 and includes food, so it can stand in for a dinner.

When a food tour is the wrong choice

A food tour is the wrong choice if you are vegan or avoid gluten, because both street food listings say they are not suitable for those diets. It is also the wrong choice if you want a long dinner at one table, since a walk keeps you moving for 2.5 hours.

A class is the wrong choice if you only want to eat. For that, book a trattoria, order the pasta, and skip the apron.