Hello all,
My husband and I leave for two weeks in Italy on April 2. We're staying 4 nights in Rome, 5 in Montalcino and 4 in Venice. What is the best guide book for restaurants? We've planned our trip with Fodors, Rick Steves and Let's go. I've heard Steve's restaurant recommendations stink. What's the general opinion on the restaurants in other guides? Are there other sources? I did a search on this board and didn't have much luck.
My husband and I like to try a variety of restaurants when we travel, from 5 star to total dives. As long as the food is good and the experience is enjoyable, we're in. We like to stay away from tourist traps.

Since you're staying less than six months in each place, I suggest you do a search on each of the cities here for restaurants. You will probably get enough good recommendations to last you much longer than your stay. Why waste your money buying some published guide, when the suggestions here will probably be better anyway? At least that's been my experience.

Michelin Red is a good place to start.

Patrick

Fewer than six months in each place? Boy, I knew I was a fast traveller compared to some here, now I know I put the Roadrunner to shame....

Hi bugg,

If you do a text search here for "restaurants AND city name" you will get a number of suggestions, even for Montalcino.

The guide most highly respected by those in the industry, i.e. chefs & critics, is the Michelin guide.

For Italy, the Gambero Rosso restuarant guide is very good. For Venice specifically, an excellent restuarant guide is "Chow Venice." Also go to the Slow.trav website and check out the restaurant review pages for Rome, Tuscany and Venice; there are a lot of detailed reviews.

Another vote for Michelin La Guida Rossa.

Thank you all! I will follow your suggestions.
I wish I was staying six months!
Ciao!

Another resource on-line is slowfood. You have to register on their site (it's free) and then you have access to their lists (by region) of restaurants they consider to be a good value (under E30 pp excluding wine) and most typical of that region. The English version (www.slowfood.com) simply lists the recommended restaurants with addresses and phone numbers. The Italian version (www.slowfood.it) contains reviews and recommended dishes for each restaurant. They also publish a book (in Italian)called Osterie d'Italia.

When my husband and I went to Italy we bought the Michelin Red Guide. It was worth every penny. We did not have one bad meal from any restaurant they recommended. If food is very important to you (as it is with us), I wouldn't travel without it.

5 days in Montalcino, I'm very envious. We had a wonderful dinner at the Hotel Giglio. We also did the wine tasting menu which was excellent.

Thank you Pierre. We booked the Giglio because of its location and price, I haven't heard much about the restaurant, so I appreciate your thoughts. It's good to know you had a pleasant experience there. I am counting down the days until we leave April 2. I figured Montalcino would be a wonderful respite after 4 days in Rome.
Cheers

Another vote for Michelin - and it's worth going to the restaurants awarded their bib gourmand as well as the ones with stars.

Even better, you will love the Hotel Giglio. It is wonderfully appointed with magnificent views. We stayed in room #7. I must have shot a half roll of film out the window!
In Rome, Ambasciata d'Abruzzo was a great restaurant, both 30 years ago and last month. We had the tasting menu and couldn't have been happier. Well prepared, presented and delicious.

My favorite webpage for searching for restaurants all over the world is www.chowhound.com. It is a bit of a pain to search the site because it is just a running list, but it is well worth the effort.

I bought both the Osterie d'Italia and Faith Willinger's Eating in Italy books. I have already copied the pages I want for my trip and woud like t sell the books cheaply to another food book addict. If you are interested, email me
[email protected].
Osteriad'Italia is all in Italian and very detailed. The other book (in English) includes lots of recs for local shopping and hotels besides
restaurants. Both have been fun to have but a bit heavy for taking to Italy .
j

I think that Gustafson's "Cheap Eats in Italy" book is very reliable.
If you are interested in the "best",
Zagat has published a 2004 version of
"Europe's Best Restaurants" which has a top 25 for each city, based on food, ambiance, and service.

ttt, Thanks,
j

Michelin Red Guide, undoubtedly.