I'd appreciate your recomendations on moderately-priced restaurants (15-25E per person) that are set in interesting locations such as pretty piazzas.

Looking for friendly, "good value for your money" places, perhaps a little off the beaten track. Not afraid of Italian-only menu's.

Ristorante Al Gran Passo by Piazza del Popolo.
On that little street (behind one of the domes), there are many little restaurants. None of them looked really appealing to us. But we decided to try Al Gran Passo. Turned out it was the first meal we really enjoyed in Rome. Sorry I cannot remember more details other than what is shown on the photo I took with the friendly waiter. Good luck.
Watch out when you dine by Plazza Navona. We didn't have any luck. Expensive for sure.
BTW, I like Piazza del Popolo a lot more than Plazza Navona too.

Thanks for the tip 2fly, and I agree with you about Piazza del Popolo.

Go to Tastevere or Testtacio area. It's full of nice Pizzeria places. Check the menu outside. 2 Pizza plates + beer or wine + couver charge will be between 25-30E for 2 people.
Meira

There is a nice little restaurant on Via Ripetta just a block or so down from Pza de Popolo, Buca de Ripetta. we went there on Bookchick's recommendation and really enjoyed it..not fancy, good food and reasonable and neat waiters. There is also a really good wine shop a few doors from the restau...

I second meira's suggestion to go wandering around Trastavere. We ate beautifully everywhere in Rome, but the best meals were the Trastavere ones! We ate one night on Viale di Trastavere, the main drag. Talk about being smack dab in the middle of a lot of hullaballoo--street cars traveling up and down, throngs of people everywhere, traveling musicians working each cafe--it was great fun. We wouldn't have missed it for anything.

We had another good meal on the back streets of Trastavere, in one of the alleys tucked away behind the Church of St. Mary. Walk around and read the menus and pick what you fancy. There are plenty of little piazzas and alleys in Trastavere; the hard part is choosing only one for your dinner!

After you watch the sun set on the Spanish steps, travel down Via Borgognona (right at the bottom of the steps) and eat at Nino's. This place is in the heart of all the fine shopping and was wonderfully inexpensive!

Two restaurants which I remember fondly are:

* Ecce Bomba which is located in a side street off Piazza Navona. This is a small family restaurant filled with locals, with very friendly service, near the Piazza Navona. My husband's cousins took us here for dinner. They are born and bred Italians and both were living in Rome. You must try the Roman artichokes. They are wonderful.

* Ambasciata d'Abruzzo, via Pietro Tacchini in Parioli district. Excellent food. Appetizers, dessert, wine and liquores included in fixed price meal. Residential area, good quality and lots of food--they come around with of local cheeses and meats, and then trays with samplings of their pastas. Also mostly locals eat here. Specialties are from Abruzzi region. This restaurant was recommended by my son's Italian teacher. We enjoyed it very much and had good reports from friends who ate there as well.

Thanks for the feedback - great stuff.

Sorry if this is a little vague, but it really is easy to find: if you are facing the Trevi Fountain, walk down the street that runs along the right side of it. Hang a right a block down and you will soon come to a small triangular intersection/piazza in front of a bldg. that is either a govt. bldg., a school, or some other type of place that has a lot of people milling about that look like business people or academics. There is a restaurant there with some outdoor tables that is really good (I've eaten there twice on two separate trips, and both linches were very swell). I think there is only one restaurant there, but if there are more, it is the one with a wine-colored stained wood entry. I have never read about this restaurant in any guide book. You won't see many tourists there, except the adventurous kinds that wander around..... The frist time we went it was warm and we sat outside. Great people-watching there. The second time it was cold so we ate in the cozy restaurant. If you end up going, you can let me know what type of people are doing business across the street!

Lunches NOT Linches!

The mention of "Ecce Bomba" brought back a memory from our first trip to Italy. I was ill for part of the trip but was getting better, tho' not yet 100%. So on our last night in Rome we decided to keep it low-key for dinner, nothing fancy. We found "Ecce Bomba." I asked for tea with honey but was struggling with the word "honey." I said it in French - miel - hoping this would be close enough. But I wasn't sure my request was understood. Anyway, the waitress walked outside and disappeared down the street. We were puzzled, to say the least. Five or ten minutes later, she re-appeared with a paper bag under her arm, from which she drew a half-full jar of honey, which she had retrieved from her apartment. Whenever we talk among friends about the decline of old-fashioned service here in the States, I mention that story and one from Belgium, where the waitress actually drove to the nearest bakery to get fresh rolls rather than tell us she had run out of them.
Matter of fact, that would be a great thread to start here on the forum, wouldn't it - asking about travellers' best display of service in a foreign land, of the type that would never happen here.

In the span of only two days, this interesting thread dropped from #1 to #431 - so this is obvioulsy a very busy travel forum. I was hoping to see more responses listing off-the-tourist track trattorias in Rome. We're going back in October and will go to Ecce Bomba again. Migha also try Enoteca Capranica, in a small square a few blocks from the Parthenon. Any other special places, Fodorites?

3gigs, maybe I should have worked in shoes, fashion or suitcase size in the title!

Or the island of Saba.
C'mon, Fodorites - where are the out-of-the-way great places to eat in Rome?

I just returned from Rome for my honeymoon and we found a great little out of the way place that we fell in love with!! Hands down the best meal for the price that we had. . . and we even had the chance to eat at Il Convivio! The place is on a winding street near the Piazza Navona (I agree, Piazza del Popolo is more interesting to hang out at) called Montevecchio (I have to verify in my travel journal). The place is called Osteria del Pegno. Very charming and the owner was great! Our bill was under 50 euro for a bottle of wine, our antipasti (caprese -- best tomatoes and buffalo mozzerella!) and two pasta dishes (I had the agnolotti with saffron sauce. . . amazing with a hint of orange). Best biscotti we had all week, too, again with a hint of orange. We loved it! We also ate at a little wine bar off the the Spanish Steps called Tamar. Good food. No english on the menu, which was fun for our last night in Italy!

Piazza di Sant'Ignazio, near the Pantheon, is a beautiful little piazza with yellow Baroque buildings that look like an opera set. Last October, my Roman friend Giulia and I had a wonderful lunch of homemade gnocchi and roasted porcini mushrooms at Le Cave di Sant'Ignazio, at their outside tables which extend well out into the piazza.

Thanks for the additional feedback