Oldmyst

Do you think it is best to use guides like Fodors or Frommers to choose restaurants or just ask the people at the hotel what they would recommend? Are the guidebook restaurants the most touristy? What have been most people's experience? What is the best way to judge a restaurant that is not too touristy. The problem I found just recently is that I want to eat by 7:30PM and that is when most of Italy's restaurants open for the evening, and therefore usually empty. I would be apprehensive going in thinking it is a bad restaurant because no one else is eating there. By the end of my meal, the place would be starting to fill up. I think I read that Rick Steve's said to avoid restaurants that have menus in several languages. Thanks, Lisa

schnauzer

Hi Oldmyst, is this question re your Rome trip? You might have difficulty eating by 7.30pm in Italy. Why do you need to eat by this time, health/dietary reasons? Tell me to mind my own if you want. If you are staying at the Del Senato (I hope this is you - forgive me if I have got the wrong person) the concierge Salvatore is pretty good at recommendations. Certainly ask on this board or do a search you will find hundreds of reports with lots of info. I tended to double check, i.e. read guide books, check if they matched with this forum etc if it was a win win then I made a note. Probably best to avoid lots of languages on the menu - there are so many trattorias/restaurants/cafes that you should not have to rely on "touristy" ones. Of course your budget will have a say in this, you can go cheaper one evening and splash out the next, balance things out. If you want I can recommend some, but I am going to check and see if it is you going to Del Senato first.

schnauzer

Yes it is you! Salvatore recommended the hostaria Costanza to us, it was quite hard to find as we were new to the crazy Rome streets! It was full of locals, not a tourist in sight, except for us. We found the main courses beautifully cooked, the starters were a bit ordinary. I had the salmon and it was cooked to perfection. Another restaurant which was close to the Spanish steps and via Condotti was called Ristorante "AL 34". We went there for lunch one day to break the pace of eating out everynight, so there's a thought for you, have a decent lunch and a snack for dinner - eating early problem solved! Anyway, it looked touristy from the outside and I was a little hesitant, however, inside jammed with locals and the food excellent. The address was Via Mario de Fiori, 34, very close to the shopping areas. (well one of them) We had two fantastic meals at Ristorante Vechchia Roma, which was in the direction of the Victor Emmanuel, we walked there, so it is not far. We had an antipasto lunch, the best food we have eaten in Italy, but I have to say not cheap, but boy it was sensational. We chose a selection from the display and had the fried artichokes which I think threw the price up. We went back the next evening for dinner to celebrate my husband's birthday. We chose off the menu and again really great food. It was in a lovely little piazza, quite quiet and away from things. Via della Tribuna di Campitelli no 18. This was one restaurant we found in the guide book, however I hadn't particularly earmarked it based on the description in the book (even though it had a great write up) so when we fell upon it, I thought I recognise that name, checked the guide book and sure enough. So sometimes you just fall lucky, but I do like to research as well. The only meal we were unhappy with was at Myosotis, which Salvatore again recommended. My Cabornara was swimming in oil and my husbands meal of lamb was a real cheap cut not good. So there is a start for you. Do a search and you won't know what's hit you!! good luck

Gretchen

Can't help you on Italy but I love to ask on travel boards for recommendations. As for the English menu, at least in France I find it makes little difference IF you have done your homework and have recommendations. If you are on a big "tourist" street, you might not get as good a meal.

Oldmyst

yes, I am the one going to Rome and staying at the Albergo Del Senato. I will ask for recommendations from the desk. I can't wait to leave!!! I am in NY right now and we have a terrible snow storm, so I guess I will have to start shoveling snow. As for my previous posts, I used guidebook recommendations and front desk recommendations. We had hits and misses. We had extremely expensive meals and some inexpensive. Our most expensive was Da Fiore in Venice, which was good, but not over the top. Service was fantastic. That is the place I felt sick that night. I don't know if it was food related or extreme exhaustion. One night we ate in Como and my husband had the best risotto I have ever tasted. I had roasted potatoes with my dinner(delicous) and wanted to ask for ketchup, but didn't have the nerve. The next night at a restaurant in Bergamo I ordered vegetable soup and risotto. My soup was just plain broth and celery and carrots. Horrible! And the risotto was not creamy. I was yearning for the risotto my husband had the night before. He ordered the gnocchi, which was light as a feather, so go figure. Some people have all the luck!

Do you have to order two plates? I felt like I should, like it is expected, but many times I felt like I overate. It also made the bill very expensive. What about tipping? I know service charge in included, but do people add a tip in addition?

Schnauzer, My husband and I usually try to eat at 7:30 or 8 because our breakfast at the hotels are usually served until about 10AM. We try not to have lunch out (maybe just a glass of wine or cappuccino, or share a slice of pizza), so we are usually hungry by then. I don't particulary like to eat so late that I am going to bed on a full stomach. I'm used to eating with my teenage girls around 6PM at home in New York, so eating late is a big change for me. I try to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I can make it out of bed in time for breakfast. With all the touring and being on my feet, it can be exhausting, and I find that by the time I get back to the hotel all I want to do is lay in bed. If I am lucky, my eyes aren't too tired to map out our next day's plans.

schnauzer

Oldmyst,
I too found that ordering two plates each time made me feel full to the gunnels. You are right sometimes you feel bad not ordering two courses. Sometimes my husband and I would find an entree we both liked and share it followed by a main course each. Mostly though he wanted to have the two courses, which left me waiting hungry for my main if I hadn't had the entree, or of course nibbling off his plate. I think you have to say, well this is my holiday, my dinner and I can eat what I want not what I feel the restaurant wants me to. I, of course always check out the desserts - my favourite. But in Rome I very rarely had a dessert (at the restaurant) we just went to the Gelato bar afterwards.

As for tipping, I can't really remember, I think we usually left something in addition to the cover charge. Unless they had added the service on as well, in which case we left it as is.

Oldmyst

Thanks Schnauzer, i am definitely going to try not to overeat. The buffet continental breakfasts are usually way more than I eat at home. At the restaurants at dinner I ususally ordered two plates, but now I won't let them make me feel that I have to. Our food bills were very high. Certainly don't want to come home heavier than I left. Thanks, Lisa

mjs

Recommend Gambero Rosso guide for eating in Rome.

ira

Hi O,

>Do you have to order two plates?

No. However, you might want an antipasto and a primo. You don't have to order a large plate - secondo.

>What about tipping? I know service charge in included, but do people add a tip in addition?

You need tip only for extra good service. In general, Italians will leave the change + a Euro or two.

Oldmyst

Thanks Ira and MJS. With ordering two plates each, water, wine, diet soda for husband, and cappuccinos, our food bills were pretty high. I find it amusing that Coke Light (as they call it) can be more expensive than a glass of wine. Many times my husband would be given this tiny bottle of soda and it would be around 4 euros!

DeborahAnn

Oldmyst, If I can draw upon my one and only trip to Rome the "how many courses must we order" caused us alot of stress. We finally decided it was ok to share an antipasti and order our own primi or secondi. At that I stopped ordering anything with spaghetti because the portions were still too large. I would have tortellini or something that was a special.

This worked for us and we never felt uncomfortable either by how full we were or the attitude of the restaurant staff Deborah

RufusTFirefly

You're the customer. Only you know how hungry you are. You order what you want and no more.

ira

Hi O,

Well, if you are going to splurge on Diet Coke, of course your bill will be high.

Have a lovely visit.

suze

I simply keep my eyes open when I'm out during the day for something that looks interesting. I guess it depends how important your meals and restaurants are to you, to me it is definitely not worth consulting guidebooks about. Why don't you have a late afternoon snack and eat a little bit later in the evening?

Leely

Oldmyst,
We had a nice lunch at a restaurant on Piazza Sant Eustachio (not the cafe)...but that was a few years ago. Does anyone know if that restaurant is still any good?

Also, we had one rec from Salvatore at the Del Senato that was excellent.

Armando Al Pantheon will be right by you as well.

There are a bunch of good restaurants in Trastevere and "above" Piazza Navona. And all over Rome...

StCirq

I do the same thing suze does, combined with reading boards like this ahead of time and perusing certain guiebooks (like the Michelin Red and Guide du Routard for France). I find that asking hotel staff for recommendations can either steer me to a place they THINK an American tourist will enjoy - usually because there are lots of other Americans there - or that is run by a friend of theirs or somesuch.

I'd rather poke around, read menus, stick my head in the door to give a sniff, and check out who's eating there.

suze

Certainly each person does not need to order two plates. And like at home do not let a restaurant or their staff make you feel bad (or good or anything), remember it's just business.

Some of your disappointments and expenses I think are simply expecting things in Europe to be like the U.S. (I have several times had that kind of "vegetable soup" that is broth with slivers of something in it & soda is not normally something ordered with restaurant meals, are two examples).

I don't think you need to eat more but you could time your snacks and meals differently to better fit in with local ways (my thought about a light afternoon snack, instead of lunch at noon and an early dinner).

suze

Another thing I do, so as not to be a slave to restaurant meals and timing, is keep some nuts, crackers, fruit, a bottle of wine in the hotel room. Stop back in the late afternoon and have a rest.

Oldmyst- In rereading all your posts together I get a picture of you being tired and hungry (skipping lunch) or too full (big buffet breakfast, two plate dinners). My best suggestion is to try to better manage your food and timing of it each day. Try to think ahead and make it work better for you.

Oldmyst

you are right about being tired at night, but not necessarily hungry. I think when I travel I tend to try to see too much and not relax and enjoy the here and now. I overload myself with info from Fodors, Frommers, and hotel personnel regarding places to eat and things to see. We sure had our hits and misses. I have enjoyed this forum very much and have gotten a lot out of it. Thanks, Lisa

suze

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to get too personal but maybe along with all the other tips here you will take mine & stop and smell the roses?

I must be your opposite and because I do absolutely no planning other than plane tickets and hotel reservations. None. When I arrive I get a free map, wander around soaking up the atmosphere, sitting in sidewalk cafes drinking white wine.

I was just picking up on your words like exhausting and too tired, thinking maybe you could do things a bit differently for a more enjoyable outcome.