general eating ? -Iltaly
 

Family of 4 (2 teens) going in late Aug-9/2. Rome. Florence, Venice. I was hoping not to make any dinner reservations and just eat where and when we chose at the moment. Is this a dumb idea? Any general advice on chosing a restaurant, and/or ordering would be appreciated. Thanks

1. Don't go to tourist traps--usually along streets busy with travellers, have "tourist menu" in at least five languages.
2. Don't order pasta as a main course
(unless you're ordering an appetiser).
3. Don't order salad as an appetiser. Side dish veggies come AFTER the main course.
4. Default after-dinner coffee is espresso. Latte is for breakfast (or before noon), it's getting easier to get de-caf, but you still get de-caf espresso.
Very general, but it's hard to give more specific advice without knowing how much you want to spend/what your family like eating.

Our family of 5 (kids ages 15, 13 and 10) took the same trip earlier this summer. Amazingly, we were quite disappointed with the food. We had some bad experiences at restaurants that were highly recommended and some bad experiences at places we "happened" upon. Most of these were restaurants where the majority of the guests were Italian. We had a few good meals, but not many. I had studied these boards and knew to avoid the "tourist trap" restaurants, etc., but the food was not as good as I expected.

One thing we finally figured out is that you have to pay quite a bit more for a meal than in the US to get "quality." (Others on this board will passionately dispute this.) I was surprised at the cheap ingredients used at "reasonably" priced restaurants. For example, of the four meals where olives were a part of a salad, appetizer, etc., on three of those were cheap canned black olives. Here we are in a restaurant on the Campo dei Fiori in Rome, being served cheap black olives, where a few feet away in the marketplace, they are selling beautiful olives. On another occasion, at a restaurant that was highly recommended, I ordered veal with mushrooms, and the veal was covered with CANNED mushrooms! I don't remember when I've ever been served canned mushrooms in a restaurant. At the same place, DD13 ordered the roasted 1/4 chicken. The waiter later came and said they'd be serving her a chicken breast. And that is just what they served...a plain chicken breast. However, at the next table 5 minutes later, a lady ordered, and was served, the 1/4 roasted chicken. We never understood that.

Back to the prices...when we were willing to pay in the $130-$150 range (for 5 of us) we got a meal of good quality, for which we'd normally pay in the $80 range at home.

The pizza was pretty good and we ate at quite a few pizzarias, once we were discouraged by other types of resturants. However, we never got that quite right either. When we'd order other courses (appetizer, etc.), all the food would arrive at once. Maybe that is the custom in a pizzaria...again, we never quite figured that out.

Lots of folks will tell you that because the pizza is so thin, you need to order one pizza each. We did that the first time and had WAY too much left over.

I will probably be flamed for not loving the food in Italy. We are not backwoods folks who expected Chef Boyardee spaghetti. I followed all the recommendations posted on this board, and we still had lots of pretty bad meals; few "great" ones. The reason I'm going into this is that I had heard that the food was so good in Italy that you could get a great meal almost anywhere. If I had to do it again, I would pay a lot more attention to where we ate, and to seek out certain restaurants that got universally great reviews.

We were a group of 12 and never made a reservation for a meal (just got back from Italy). We found a great restaurant in Rome - Trattoria Da Giuseppe, via Principe Amedeo, (a few blocks from Termini and off of Via Gioberti). Tell them that Vincenzo from NY sent you. Yellow Bar and Za Za's in Florence were great too. Don't eat anywhere near the Vatican!

My experience (limited) was similar to missypie on two trips to Venice. that even at recommended restaurants i wasn't all that impressed.

That said, what i DID love are the casual meals. There are fantastic sandwiches in the small cafes around Venice. Usually pre-made in a glass case... roasted vegetables, sliced boiled eggs and tomatoes, like that. And pizza by the Grand Canal was one of our favorite meals, honestly.

Missypie -

Not sure where you're from - but that may be the cause of your sticker shock in restauants.

Here in NYC there's no way you would get a dinner for 5 for $80 - unless it was in a coffee shop (ie diner) - and even then you could have only soft drinks - and not order the most expensive items.

In an actual restaurant - casuale neighborhood, definitely nothing fancy - a dinner for 2 adults and 3 kids (salad for each, a chicken dish, soft drink for kids and 1 glass wine for adults) would be in the neighborhood of $150/$160 with tax and tip. Dessert and coffee would be extra.

That said, I have never had a bad meal in Italy (except Venice) including sandwich shops, pizzerias, tavola caldas, etc. We have always had the freshest of ingredients - and sometimes in the least expensive places they would tell you the incredibly delicious tiny strawberries for dessert came from the farm of uncle Guiseppi.

Perhaps you just had bad luck in choosing places. But - for 5 people for a real dinner - and given the pitiful state of the dollar - I would be surprised at anything under $200.

And back to the OP - many times we did not make reservations for dinner. Somtimes during the day we would see a place we liked and go in and ask about dinner - but as often as not we just wandered and found somewhere. We did reservations only for the one night in each city we did a "special" dinner at a highly recommended place.

Yes, I admit that we had sticker shock. We live in Dallas and eat out a lot. A few weeks ago we went to Texas Roadhouse, a Texas-based chain, I believe. I ordered the sirloin brochette, at $8.99. For that price I got (a) unlimited fresh rolls with sweet butter, (b) an okay but fresh salad, and (c) lovely tender chunks of sirloin cooked with fresh peppers, onions and mushrooms, served over rice (in true Texas form, a larger portion than I could finish). I admit that we are spoiled by prices that low, but I would have thought that in Italy, if paying twice as much, the ingredients would be fresh rather than canned.

I'll admit that I'm obsessive about restaurants on vacation; not that I reserve them all in advance, I just do a lot of research and reserve some in advance.

But for those less obsessive people (!), I would suggest that you make some plans in advance. While just eating wherever and whenver can sometimes be easier, it can be very stressed out to be in a group of people (especially one that includes teens or kids) standing in front of a restaurant, staring at the menu, and having that conversation that goes, "Well, what do you think?" "I don't know; what do you think?"

So I would suggest that you collect (from here or guidebooks) some names of restaurants that sound good to you (i.e., if you like seafood, then seafood places), particularly for dinner near where your hotel is. Then you have some possibilities for when the group can't decide. You can ask your hotel to make reservations for you, either the day of the dinner or the day before. Also, if you're walking past a restaurant at 3 pm and it looks like a good place for dinner, just walk in and make a reservation for dinner.

Many restaurants only have one seating a night, and/or won't have a waitlist, unlike in the U.S. If all the tables are full, the restaurant staff will just say, "we're full," and you're off to find another restaurant.

Another bit of advice, many restaurants are closed on Sunday, and a number are closed on Sat and/or Mon. So for Sunday at least, you might want to make a reservation.

For more general advice, if your teens like to drink soda, keep in mind that it's very expensive in Europe. If they drink soda, encourage them to try European or Italian brands. My son now loves limonata!

Missipie, I totally understand and relate to your experience with food, except this is how I felt this summer in Paris. Where was all the fabulous French food, I have no idea, and some of the restaurants raved about on this board, were like 'Emperor's new clothes,' if you know what I mean. We had a few nice meals, but the rest were just passable, regardless of the price of a meal.

We did, however, hit some great restaurants in Italy: Rome, Venice and Florence. Some rather reasonable, or at least they were in 2004.

ccs, if you want to drop me an e-mail at [email protected], I will be happy to provide you with a list of our Italian "winners." I am not really a 'foodie,' but am very demanding in terms of quality of what I eat, so am comfortable recommending places.

Anna Roz

I have had wonderful luck at medium to inexpensive restaurants in Rome, and have never encountered canned olives or mushrooms on my food. I think I'm pretty picky about food and preparation. On the other hand, I doubt very much that I would be at all happy at a Texas Roadhouse eating an $ 8.99 sirloin brochette with a house salad. We all have different tastes and appreciate different things.

Meanwhile, css, if you're in the same area for several days, my favorite thing is scouting out one place one night for the next night. When you go to dinner see what places look particularly busy and if possible how the food looks. If you try to eat at a place and they tell you it is all booked, then consider booking there for the next night. One of the best things about searching in Italy is that the vast majority of restaurants have their menus posted.

I'll also confess to something that I was so stupid about, given what an otherwise obsessive planner I am. I'd read trip reports and restaurant reviews, mostly on this board, and copy them into a Word document, which I put in my beautifully organized trip notebook. Most of us don't put the address of a restaurant in our trip reports (we're doing good to even remember the name!). So I ended up with these pages of recommended restaurants with "addresses" like "two blocks off the Piazza Navona"....well, duh! There are about 10 streets that feed into the Piazza Navona...we could have walked for several hours going to all the locations that were a couple of blocks off the Piazza!

So, don't be like me. If you're interested in a restaurant, get the street address!

Neopolitan, you'd be surprised at the quality of food we have here for a low price. The steak at the lowly Texas Roadhouse is twice as tender and flavorful as sirloin I had in Italy for which I paid well over twice the price. That was really the point of my post. I don't know where css is from, but if he or she is used to paying "Dallas" prices, he or she needs to get over that to have good meals in Rome, Florence and Venice.

Hi C,

Don't be discouraged by Missypie's dining experiences. I've had quite the opposite!

In three trips to Italy I can could the bad meals on one hand -- and 3 out of 2 of those I knew what I was in for since they were directly across from the Vatican museum and in Assisi's main piazza respectively.

I do like hearing the restaurant recommendations on the board, however, I find that once I'm there it's just too much trouble to make reservations and hunt down addresses.

I have had great luck asking for recommendations from my hotels, once I explain that I am looking for authentic, local specialties and would like to dine somewhere where they would go!

I also will choose a restaurant just by walking by and checking out the menu and other diners.

I travel on a somewhat limited budget and my last trip was solo. I tend to spend more on great meals than hotel rooms. Most of my meals on the last trip were 20 - 60E with good wines, not counting a quick panino or pizza lunch/picnic.

Buon viaggio!

Hope this helps!

CSS, are your teens the type who will "eat anything", or are they more particular?

I had never eaten a bad meal in a French speaking country until we took our kids to Paris. One daughter, in particular, is pretty picky. When traveling without kids, we would stop at some little place, populated by locals, and eat there, even if there were only 6 things on the menu and even if we didn't quite know what those 6 things were. The meals were always great. When traveling with a child ho is not a very adventurious eater, we did eat at slightly larger places with larger menus. That may explain some bad food in Paris and more in Italy.

That is why I told the OP to gather some recommendations; they might have the same issues as we did, because they are traveling with kids.

We were in Rome, Florence and Venice this past May. I think you can easily find good food if you look further than the touristy traps, obviously. (We did not see a single canned olive!!)

I posted trip reports for each city, which you can find if you click on my screen name above. My reports include names, addresses, phone numbers, and prices at good restaurants we liked. They were recommended by my daughter, who had lived in Italy the previous semester and had eaten in most of them. (Except in Venice, where we were at the mercy of guide books and our hotel's recommendations, etc.)

I'm not good at this, but I'll try to post my thread links here:
For Rome
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34813272

For Florence
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34813784

For Venice
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34814606

One thing to note, especially since you have two teens along, is that restaurants virtually close down between 3 pm and 7 pm. So, if you want to eat between those hours, you might pay a lot if you can find a tourist joint open. So be aware and stock up on snacks prior to that time-frame.

For the most part, except the special restaurants I note in my reports, we did not have restaurant reservations. I think you'll do fine without them. Have fun!

I find dining out at home fairly expensive. $80 would not buy me much even for two people. Our wine prices are a killer here in Canada. You can only expect house wine at $28-30 a bottle and go up from there.

On my last business trip to Orlando, Florida I found the food terrible. It seems that some restaurants get quantity and quality mixed up. Entrees averaged $12-19 at most places. I know Orlando is a tourist trap so you would not expect any different.

I have been to many touristy places in Europe and find the food quality and prices to be in line with what I would expect to pay for a meal at home. The Euro has increased prices but the price of everything at home has gone up as well.

On my trip to Tuscany and Umbria in May...Tuscany won out on best meals. I had a pasta in Spello, Umbria that was covered in can peas...yuck.

Overall, I have had more good meals than bad in Italy.

I usually stick to the Trattoria type establishments and stay away from formula menus. Eat where the locals eat. If the restaurant looks empty, move on.

In Florence, I'd also recommend Yellow Bar on Via del Proconsolo. Although it's a touristy area and lots of tourists in the restaurant, the food was excellent. House made pastas were really good. Fun atmosphere for your teens, too. They do not take reservations and open at 8pm.
In Venice, I had two really delicious dinners at Restaurant Giorgione which is actually next door to the hotel of the same name in Cannareggio (very close to Strada Nuova at the Ca'd'Oro vap stop). Their linguine con vongle (clams) was made with fresh ginger! a revelation. A warning - in Italy certain foods (fin fish, steak) are charged per "etto" which is 100 grams (I think)so the price on the menu may not be the ultimate cost depending on how many ettos it weighs.

I took my first trip to Italy in March of this year. I have to admit that I too was a little diappointed with some of the meals I had while in Italy. I think that there is a tremendous amount of hype regarding the food in Italy and I'm sure that was part of the disappointment for me. I found that not every trattoria or restaurant serves the freshest ingredients and that was a surprise to me. But that wasn't the norm. I also had some fantastic meals. Perhaps because I come from an Italian family that was in the restaurant business and is very into cooking I may be a little harder to please. I'm not a Foodie, I'm just used to a more simple way of Italian cooking that lets the flavors of the food come out instead of adding a lot of seasonings. So what I consider very good food is only my taste. With that said, I don't think that "winging it" with your restaurant picks is a great idea if food is important to you.

Here is what I would do if you want to increase your odds of having good meals:
Find a restaurant or two in the areas that you know you will be at during the day and will be eating lunch near (i.e. the Vatican, Colosseum) and several places for dinner near your hotel. Do a search on this site to see which ones have been highly recommended. There are several people on this site that have compiled excellent restaurant and trattoria lists (compare what people have to say and see which ones seem to appeal to you). Make sure you know the addresses and keep the list in your purse/pocket with a detailed map!!!!!!! I thought that it would be easier than it was to ask for directions to trattorias on my list (mostly a problem in Rome). This led to a lot of extra walking and getting lost.

I made the mistake of "winging it" for lunch near the Vatican (not the place to not have a recommendation) and had the worst lunch of my life! I never knew it was possible for pizza to be that bad:) But we were hungry and in a hurry, so there you go.

Overall, the best meals I had were at the places recommended on this site (even better than the hotel recs).

Missypie - I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we pay more for EVERYTHING. It sure would be nice to have Texas prices here!!

css- have a great time with your family.

CVerga, you'd die if you knew how little I paid for my 2300 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house. Low prices are our reward for being willing to live where it is flat, landlocked and brown.

I think the mediocre-to-bad meals that we had in Italy were mostly at our hotels, once with a half pension hotel and twice when we were too lazy, too unimaginative, or too tired to go elsewhere.

When we made any kind of effort to find recommended restaurants, the food was good, but I'd certainly never wax enthusiastic over Italian food.

By the way, I will admit to having one really horrible and disappointing meal in Rome on this last trip. It was a place called Dino and Tony's that was highly recommended by posters here. Simply awful!!

Some thoughts in reply to this question and the comments posted:

We rarely eat beef in Italy - I think the area around Florence has some cattle but for the most part the beef is not like U.S. and not the best choice for a good meal (IMO).

I almost always do alot of research on places to eat - on these boards and in tour guides. Sometimes the recommendations are good, sometimes disappointing! So you may do just as well choosing at the moment and giving the restaurant a critical look over before sitting down.

Venice seems to be a little more difficult to find good food than the other cities. Usually there if you stick with pizza or pasta you will make out better than looking for a more elaborate meal (again, IMO) We usually try to get some seafood there - sometimes it is mediocre and overpriced.

One time in Venice we noticed that we were served some really bogus (IMO) bread - these light fluffy tasteless rolls, while on other (Italians??) tables were baskets of the nice heavy bread more typical of Italy. Maybe they thought we would like the rolls better being American???? or were they saving the good stuff for the Italians, who knows.

But overall we have had many good meals in Italy that were not too pricey. For the most part we don't eat in fancy places - we eat alot of pizza, pasta and some of the appetizers - like the vegetable antipasta, ensalata caprese or calamari. Bon voyage and bon appetite!

"...and just eat where and when we chose at the moment. Is this a dumb idea?..."

No, I don't think it is a dumb idea at all. In fact, I think it is a lot more fun than having to remember a bunch of rules.

Dear CSS - you don't say where you are going to be staying. Certainly I have read lots of recommendations of good cheap [ie E20 pp] places in the centre of Rome on this forum. I would add to W9's list to avoid places with japanese translations ; somewhere with no menu or a very short hand-written one will be better.
We stayed in the Monti area - an old owrknig class area of Rome between the Colosseum and Via Nazionale and ate there virtually every night. The only bad meal was at a restaurant recommended in a guide. WE also ate in the centre at lunch-time, and did ok or better.
WE tended to pick places that were obviously family-run, with shortish menus. Our 15 year-old son is particularly picky, so on occasion we didn't find anything we liked, said grazie, and walked out.
If you arrive at 7.30 ish, you should get seated in most places as the Romans don't go out til at least 9pm.
THere is nothing wrong with ordering a pasta as a main course - we often did and the sky did not fall in. we tended to order antipasti for two or three [and share] then a main course [or pizza or pasta] and then dessert for the kids, coffee and grappa for us.
THe best meal we had was at a restaurant we picked almost at random [on a street running parallel to the via N'ale] where the waiter recommended the mixed ant-pasti, and we then had pizza/pasta for main course.
THe mixed anti-pasti turned out to be 6 different ways with baby octopus! WE would never have ordered it ourselves, but it was really great.
THe whole meal cost about E90 for 4 including a carafe of house red.
After a day or two, I'm sure you'll get into the sweing and learn to spot the palces that will suit. If not, your hotel will help you reserve tables, I'm sure.
If you want the names of the places we ate, let me know.
Have a wonderful time!

There is a rather sad article in the International Herald Tribune (www.iht.com). Click on Regions and then click Europe. The article is titled "When in Rome don't expect to pay as the Romans do". It is about how some restaurants in Rome are really cheating tourist. Even a woman from N Italy was quoted as being disgusted. So dear Fodorites, if you have been dissapointed with your meals you have a lot of company.

Well I am getting really nervous about our month in Italy ..over on the trip advisor forum there was a thread on disappointment in the food in Italy..several similar comments to the one above.

We find that using the red Michelin guide usually gives us decent food. Of course, haven't tried that in Italy, only France. My huband can't eat pasta...and that makes me nervous.

I think my problem is that I am not sure whose recommendations to take. One man's disappointment is another's pleasure. Sorry to ramble on. Have any of you tried Frommer's recommendations?..or Fodor's...

Missypie - I'm sure you are right! Flat, brown and land-locked is sounding pretty good about now!

LoveItaly - Thanks for the tip on the interesting article. I guess the Romans don't have to worry about tourists going away due to bad food anytime soon, but it's really sad that some people choose to be that way.

Loisco - please don't get nervous about your trip to Italy. I'm sure there isn't one poster that wouldn't love to trade places with you or css! The food is good in Italy and sometimes it's great! But just like when you are at home you stand a better chance of having a good meal if a place comes highly recommeded. And just like at home, that is never a guarantee because everyone has different taste. However, by researching restaurants you will come across some places that almost everyone loves. These are pretty good bets.

For me when I think back on our trip to Italy the food just didn't play a huge part. Everything was an adventure and even the bad pizza was interesting and funny in it's own way. I admit however, that I do think about the best pizza that I ever had (a place across from the Hotel Davanzati in Florence) though:) That was second in line to David for my favorite things about Florence!

Also, to anyone wondering or concerned about all the courses in an Italian meal I agree with the other posters to order whatever you want and don't feel obligated to order more than that. There were times when my Mom and I had a salad and split a pizza or each of us had a pasta and a salad and it was perfect. No one seemed to care, but we also went for more casual dining.

Have fun with your planning. I miss it, along with being in Italy!

Thanks CVerga..your comments make sense..

We are in Italy frequently, return often, and spend most of our vacation time there. One reason is the food. I think it is very, very good.

Venice can be a disappointment, but you should be able to eat wonderfully well in Florence and Rome. I suggest searching here, and on Chowhound.com's International boards for your cities. The folks at that site are usually discerning and knowledgable.

In Venice, for a very wonderful meal, I suggest Da Carla. Reservations are a must as it is very small. This is an upscale place, but worth the price which isn't outrageous.

Please see all my restaurant reviews at Florencevillas.com, going to the past newsletters link. You will find some very intexpensive and very good places to eat. Very, very good.

I hope this helps. Me, I take a list of places with phone numbers and addresses. I plan ahead and we eat very well for not too much money.

Italy can be and should be a wonderful culinary adventure. It is worth a little planning to get the most out of that part of your trip, just as you would in other areas (hotels, sightseeing, etc.)

Missypie, could you share the names of the disappointing restaurants? They are obviously to be avoided.

And I might add the salads with dinner in Italy are generally not to American tastes. Unless I am dying for a bit of greenery, I never order one.

bookmarking, thank you

I'm with Lexma90 - just don't underestimate how hard it might be to actually find the restaurant you made a reservation at earlier in the day in either Florence or Venice! or to get your group together again in time for dinner if any of you split up to see different sights...

In Florence, we ate inside at Za-Za (reservations likely req'd for al fresco table) and we sat at a small outside table at Trattoria Al Trebbio (try to find Via Trebbio twice!) without prior reservations - both places the whole family will find good choices at. Lunch is wide-open for choices, but if pizza/salad fits the bill, try this one - once I got past the kooky name, the place kinda grew on me:
http://www.spleencafe.it/contatti.html
if you take the hike up to Palazzo Michaelangelo, try Enoteca Fuori Porta on the way back to the river on the Altrarno side of town. Plenty of outdoor seating with room for the four of you, and a superb-looking wine shop next door!

In Venice we ate at one of Franco's fav's, Osteria Alla Botte (read his review on his Venice food thread!), and at both the San Trovaso Giardina and Trattoria San Trovaso restaurants.

Eating outside at lunchtime in Italy was almost de rigeur, but for dinner it didn't seem so important. Hey, we live in No. Calif, and maybe we are a little jaded about al fresco dining ;-)

We did not have reservations anywhere we went and both agreed that we had more good meals on our Italian trip (Rome, Florence, Venice and Le Marche) than we've ever lucked into on trips before.

We started with a perfectly AWFUL pizza (believe it or not) in a little place near the Trevi fountain, but it was all uphill after that. Well, except for overpriced food and bad wine at 2 Venice canal-side places, but we knew not to expect much there.

We don't go for fancy, expensive, Michelin 3-star places. We ate cheap by ordering uno per due (splitting a plate) and not ordering every course. We never went hungry.

We ate at a wonderful place near the Vatican (not TOO near) and several very good places in Venice that we just happened on.

For particulars, click on my name and look for the Rome Cities trip report.

Vera

Well - its' always possible to get one bad meal anywhere (the chef is out sick or whatever). But there is an art to eating out.

Understand the price ranges.

Order what the locals eat. (Beef in europe tends to be very expensive and not very good. Because they reaise very few beef cattle - in Paris some steak re4staurants advertise Argentine beef.) We ate a lot of chicken, fish, seafood, some veal and lamb - but never beef except in Florence.)

Understand portions (way less than in the US), order of courses and how things are served (in many countries veggies and salads are ordered separately and the salad served as a separate course after the main course.

Avoid anyplace with menus in multiple languages nad those right near tourist attractions unless you have recos from someone you know.

(And please don;t compare this to chain mall restaurants in the US. There is simply no comparison between fresh local foods and packaged frozen micro-nuked stuff that focuses on quantity versus quality.)

And no - what you get in Olive Garden is not real Italian food. In Italy they don;t slop the pasta, chicken, shrimp and 3 sauces all over one plate with 500 pounds of breadsticks and sneezed on salad. Each couse is separate. Pasta rarely has any meat, chicken or seafood except for small bits in sauce since it is a first course before the main course. And the meat or chicken or whatever of the main course is it - order veggies with it if you want (and you'll get enough for 2 or 3 people).

And never in Italy have I seen any canned mushrooms, olices or anything of that type (perhaps they do this in real tourist traps).

nytraveler- I may be missing your point about comparing "real" Italian food in Italy to the Olive Garden in the U.S.. I don't think anyone on this thread would ever make the comparison and I don't think that the Olive Garden represents the many excellent Italian restaurants we have in the States. My favorite Italian restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area are owned by Italians with Italians in the back doing the cooking. They use fresh produce and have fantastic food. So where does the Olive Garden factor in when discussing where to eat in Italy?

Wow, amazing responses! Thanks so much. I will go thru old posts and make some notes to take with me and follow all the other great suggestions as well. Thanks!

I have to agree that we were a little disappointed with the food in Italy. I think we were expecting things to be more seasoned, especially with garlic, and most dishes were more on the bland side (to us, at least). We found the best meals in northern Italy - a simple dish like ravioli in sage and butter was to die for! We generally really liked the pizzas, though. And we nearly ALWAYS just ordered a pasta as our main course, never had a problem.

With the upcoming trip next year with grandsons, we're renting an apartment in Rome, so hopefully I can take advantage of the wonderful markets and prepare some simple evening meals for us most nights. We'll still do the pizza thing, of course, but it would break our bank to eat every meal out with those boys! I'm a little worried about our 3 nights in Venice, though, as we're staying in a hotel. But they can (and have) eat pizza 3 times a day and be happy, so there I think we'll stick to the 3 P's - paninnis, pizza and pasta, and try to get those off the beaten path. At least our hotel supposedly serves a very ample breakfast, so that should help.

Hagan,

Garlic isn't actually used like it is here in the U.S. Oftentimes here you get pasta dishes where all you can taste is the garlic.

In Italy, the red sauce that is usually served with pasta is most often just tomatoes, basil, salt and olive oil. If it has garlic or oregano, it is more likely going to be identified as marinara. Arrabbiata sauce also often has garlic in it (and spicy red pepper) if you're looking for it.

Not suprising that you like northern food more - the stuff we have "imported" to the U.S. is a bit closer to the northern model than the southern. Bologna in particular has a lot of the pastas we are familiar with.

Anyway, just figured I'd give you the heads up on garlic!

-Nicole

Nicole - thanks so much for that explanation! I couldn't figure out the lack of garlic - now I'll know what to order to get that zing!

I really enjoy seeing all these posts about Italian food. I can tell you having just returned from a year in Italy that I agree with both the bad and the good reviews of the food. It is really difficult to find what we foodies think is a good meal. I don't know about the rest of you but I expect something that I will remember eating-just like I do here at the restaurants in the U.S. And just like here in the U.S. staying away from the main piazzas or centers is key to getting a good meal. In Florence there are loads of great restaurants on the other side of the Arno if you just take some time and walk around. Trattoria Angelino's is a very good upscale for a nice dinner out and Ciro and Son's (near santa maria novella station)is great food for any meal. Great bistecca fiorentina, fabulous pastas and gnocchi and heavenly tiramasu. I can't remember the addresses for these but if you just write them down your hotel staff will direct you accordingly. Other than that, if you're looking to catch cheap lunch your best bet is panini or pizza which is all thats available at most places that aren't restaurants. Then again, there is the heavenly kebab which is never more than 4$ and will satisfy anyone's appetite. It may not be Italian but even when in Italy you can get sick of so much flour everyday. :)

missypie: yea Texas Roadhouse....they really do have excellent food y'all !

css: However "when in Rome", as the saying goes. Adapt to their food and there is a lot for teenagers to like, if you do some research first. I have seen trip reports of families traveling and they have good ideas of what kids might like.

CVerga: I "think" I know what you wrote, but you are l80 degrees off.
Central TX has loads of hills in the hill country area...steep, green and beautiful. (and Mts. to the far west) Also, landlocked we're not!
Miles and miles of lovely beachs along the Gulf Coast! Come visit sometime!

Well , back to Italy and the main topic.Have a great trip css,and I know you will. Let us know how it went. YOu won't need reservations...but the hotel can often give you suggestions (however they might give you "touristy" ideas!). Learn a vocabularly of foods in Italian. With teens I wouldn't think it necessary to go to fancy restaurants.....There's always pastas, pizzas, panini sandwiches, roasted chicken, or even McDonalds ONCE or so!!! Menus are usually posted in the window so you can choose that way beforehand. Some people go to Italy and eat a LOT of pizzas,and that is OK. no right or wrong.!
Have FUN.