TNTraveler

We have been to Rome many times but have never eaten near the Vatican. We are bringing our family and 3 grandkids and are planning on taking a little St.Peters tour then break for a couple hours before doing the evening after hours at the Vatican Museums. I am looking for a place preferably with nice outside dining where we can relax and have a leisurely dinner before going into the Vatican. Anyone have a favorite local spot around here? Thanks!

tracilee

There are several restaurants on the Borge Pio, a pedestrian street kind of midway between the entrance to St. Peter’s and the Vatican Museums. I’ve eaten at a couple but couldn’t tell you which. It’s a tourist laden street however I always hear lots of Italian spoken.

Many years ago we had dinner at Hosteria Dino and Tony’s which is probably a ten minute walk from the Borgo Pio. It was a lot of fun although I don’t remember the food necessarily being outstanding. There wasn’t a menu, rather, you sit down and plate after plate was brought to the table. I just checked online reviews and they are mixed, but lots of people highly recommend it. We hope to be in Rome with my sisters later this year and thought they’d enjoy the experience of dining there.

I’ll be following this thread to see if I can pick up any tips for our trip. Have fun!

Traveler_Nick

The rule tends to be the further from the Vatican the better. The closer you get the number of tourist traps goes up.

MichelleY

La Caravella

bilboburgler

Italian lovers are going to shout at me, but I had to take a group out for supper near the Vatican and we went Chinese because they manage a buffet.

63 Via delle Foraci

The place was mainly inhabited by local priests and nuns (I'm assuming the cheap place where they go to eat after a hard day at the Vatican). Perfectly nice and for a larger group very affective. We have also eaten at more traditional Italian restaurant areas and some are wonderful but... they are not so good at large groups.

annhig

The first time I went to Italy with a group of mixed A level and adults from our local further ed college where I was studying italian, there were 13 of us, in Rome, every night looking for somewhere to eat. Thank goodness it was February. This was the first time I had come across the italian technique of finding a good restaurant in a new place which is simply to try to spot a local [not that easy in Rome] and go up to them and ask for a recommendation. It was a bit "hit or miss" but we never had a bad meal.

Seamus

Not right at the Vatican but nearby in Prati is Bella Napoli at Via Simone de Saint Bon 57, a family operated authentic Italian restaurant with great food, good service and reasonable prices. Unlike most places that provide a menu in English, it's not a tourist trap! We were turned on to it by a Fodorite recommendation several years ago and have made it a point to eat there at least once every time we are in Rome. On several occasions we saw large parties of locals celebrating some occasion or other and the staff seemed to handle it in stride.