We love pizza, pasta, bruschetta and memorable experiences. We've discovered a lot of memorable places in Rome that we go to time and time again but would love to get some suggestions for new places.

Can anyone share your memorable (for sites or experience) down to earth meals in Rome?

The search feature will yield many threads on this subject

hi, md,

last easter we rented an apartment in the Monti area near the colosseum, and ate round there every night. there are loads of little restaurants catering mainly to locals which we found excellent, and very good value. for 4 of us, we rarely paid more than E100 for at least 2 courses each plus drinks, and we are not small eaters on holiday.

the only night we went wrong was when we went to one mentioned in a guide - the tourist attention had obviously ruined it.

happy eating,

regards, ann

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34931625

Thank you, sandi. And: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34792415

Sigh....when I visited this place in 1999 it was a little hole-in-the-wall 2 blocks from Trevi Fountain, but when I returned in 2005 it was a big thing hawking to the tourists.

The place is Ristorante Scanderberg, in Piazza Scanderberg, on Vicolo Scanderberg about 2 blocks east of Trevi Fountain heading to Quirinale Hill. Anyway, that was the place where I tried trippa alla romana. Yes, tripe. And it was GOOD. It certainly impressed the waiter and the cook when some yahoo American (yours truly) ordered something distinctly Roman, and had the guts to try trippa. When I went back in 2005, I noticed that trippa was not on the menu, so I asked the cook where it was. After blitzing me with a bunch of Italian, I was able to cobble together the idea, correctly or not, that the EU had prohibited selling tripe because of mad cow disease. I ordered bucatini all'amatriciana instead (another Roman dish). Maybe it was because I had wanted to have their trippa again, but I was underwhelmed by the bucatini. I don't think that the bucatini was bad, but because I had been savoring (can one "savor" tripe????) trippa for 6 years it was such a letdown.

tdyls: You can savor tripe while you're eating it but after 6 years, it won't be too savory anymore! Perhaps you meant craving tripe? Or fantasizing about eating tripe? Sorry you missed it.

mdtravel: We loved Popi-Popi in Tratevere. A very busy pizzeria with a large outdoor seating area. Great fun, lot's of Italian young people having a great time, entertaining, friendly waiters, delicious food (the best tiramisu I've ever eaten as well as fabulous fritti and pizza)and very reasonably priced.

Another gem was Lemani in Pasta, also in Trastevere. No outdoor seating, a tiny hole in the wall, all locals, no English on the menu and fantastic food for very inexpensive prices.

As stated, pizza, pasta and bruschetta. The lamb chop joints don't do it for me frank and sandra but the threads you wrote are well written.

I appreciate the suggestions folks.

One of the best we have found is Da Baffeto for pizza. A (busy) hole in the wall where the diners line up outside the door down the block.

Are there others? Any places to eat in the presence of ruins? Any places with great simple food in the presence of ancient Rome itself?

I read about this place on the blog of an American living in Rome:

http://www.pierluigi.it/EN/home_en/index_en.php

You do *not* want Pierluigi; you want Taverna del Campo. There's a long list of bruschette on the pop-up menu.

Sorry: on the menu of the via del Pellegrino location.