Rocket79 - the place that we ate in Trastevere may be just what you're looking for; it is very popular amongst local folk, though, so you may want to make a reservation.

My husband and I spent 8 (glorious!) days last year in Rome and this is from my trip report (slightly edited):
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We didn’t have a bad meal the entire week! That’s not to say that they were all standouts, but even the tourist spots we ended up having a meal (generally pizza) were all better than we expected. We are not foodies, and don’t typically go to high end places for meals. While I like wine, it doesn’t seem to like me very much, so we may have a beer or a glass of wine occasionally, but not as a regular part of our meals. We generally ate nearby our apartment and would go out around 7:30pm or so for dinner. I was surprised that the restaurants were generally full by that time, as I was expecting that to be on the early side.

Every place we went was comfortable and not at all formal; no need to dress up, although service was always good and

I took many recommendations from here although I did find that we are more creatures of convenienc; at the end of the day, we were generally too tired to go too far for dinner and prefer to eat near our apartment. I also used Elizabeth Minchilli’s Eat Rome (from the Eat Italy app), which was very helpful.

We ate carciofi (artichokes) in some form or another almost every night. Loved it!

Meals (mostly dinner):

Pantheon
Armando al Pantheon – excellent place, recommended by yestravel. Crowded at 7:30pm and yes, the reservation was essential. We saw people turned away.

Campo Dei Fiori area
Osteria dei Capellari – good pasta. We went here after a long day of touring and it was just a few doors down from us, so we went in without even checking reviews. Excellent pasta, comfortable and casual ambience, friendly service.

Ditirambo – my review in TA: “the place was just right -- excellent food, great and friendly service, relaxed ambience -- a solid small restaurant that knows its stuff. Not fancy or stuffy or pretentious-- but welcoming and accommodating. There is a varied menu and food is traditional with a little inventiveness, like artichokes, Roman style, served with mint. The pasta was very good and our Osso bucco was delicious, Sadly, no room for desserts-- but we've got a reservation in a few days, so hopefully, we'll try at least one!”

Grappolo D’Oro – Right across from Ditirambo. Very similar to the above, and perhaps even a touch better. The food was excellent, the service topnotch. We both were very pleased with the restaurant.

Shawarma Express, off Campo de’ Fiori – one night, we had takeout because we were just too, too tired to go out. And the food was surprisingly good!

Jewish Ghetto:
Giggetto – in the Jewish ghetto, recommended by Elizabeth Minchilli. Not a kosher restaurant. Good, but of all the places we ate in, probably the one we felt least comfortable with, though the service was good. It was just less relaxing than the other places. I loved the Carciofi alla Giudia and the friend zucchini flowers, though. Delicious!

Trastavere
Fratte de Trastevere – recommended highly by dutyfree. We had lunch there and had pizza – and it was the best pizza we had, but I can’t tell you how wonderful the pasta or tiramisu is, since we didn’t have it. I’m sorry, Deborah, I’ll have to save it for next time! But the place was hopping for the midday meal, and clearly very popular amongst locals as well as tourists.

Testaccio
I Guerrini – we wandered past this place just as we were getting hungry and happened to arrive in the middle of a food tour visit! So we clearly hit a place that is considered worthy a foodie visit! This is a bakery with lots of prepared foods and we had them make us up a sandwich of baby artichokes, dried tomatoes, and salami. Oh, that was heaven! Maybe one of our favorite meals!

Wow - I will read through all of this later but thank you so much!

You will eat better in Rome if you invest some time between now and September learning about what is seasonal during the time of your visit, what are the various types of pizza served in Rome, and also decide in advance whether you want to focus on eating the classic, traditional dishes of Rome or if you basically just want the best food in your immediate neighborhood. If you are not "destination diners" then there are few places in Rome worth reserving in advance and trekking across town to eat after you've had a long day of sightseeing. Most Roman neighborhoods have the complete array of dining choices: You can spend a lot or a little, you can have cheffy-fancy food or you can eat simple family fare, you can have pizza. If you like fish, it is worth tracking down the name of a reliably excellent place and paying the premium, but otherwise you should be able cobble together a preliminary sufficient list of places to check out that serve solid food and are no more than a 10 minute walk from wherever you'll be staying in Trastevere (it is a large area of Rome, so you need to be specific). Just use the usual food-oriented internet sources.

But a list of places won't mean much if you walk into a trattoria or restaurant and order dishes out of season, when if you'd only known you could have had something much more memorable. Also, if you want to stay out of tourist traps, being able to read an Italian menu helps.

Thanks - So, I used to be a food writer, and am very attuned to seasonal food, etc. My husband has family in Italy and has been before but didn't stay long in Rome. I've never been to Rome although have traveled extensively throughout the world, just not Italy. Of course, I will be continuing my research, and Fodor's is a key part of that. Isn't that what this place is all about? Where better to get good word of mouth than from those who've been? Internet research can be pretty meaningless, and of course everyone's opinions and palette's vary. We'll be close to the Piazza de Santa Maria, if that helps.

Edit: Having said all of that, we are destination diners in the sense that we like a sense of place and local foods but we aren't people who travel someplace for one restaurant. Not that there's anything wrong with that... ;-)

Any more thoughts? ��

Go to Chowhound's website/forum. I get many of my restaurant recommendations there.

Excellent. Led me to Eater as well. Lots of (too many) ideas for our short trip. Thanks😊

I think Fodor's is a pretty meaningless source for restaurant recommendations for Italy, although I agree with some of the restaurants mentioned here (but none of them are close enough to piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere for me to want to make the schlepp for dinner). If you've been a food writer than presumably you know the best food writers for Italy who write books, or know how to easily find out who they are, and some of them also get interviewed for articles that can be accessed through the internet.

Actually, Fratte de Trastevere is a short walk from the piazza. It's definitely a place that is popular with locals, too. Lunch was hopping on a weekday.

Thanks all - I know how annoying these kinds of questions can be. Since we have such short stay I really wanted to "be in the know." Actually I am happiest perusing the markets and piecing together picnics, but my husband the East Coast Italian likes to go to eateries. It's all good! Cheers!

There's market in Trastevere that you may want to visit. It's held in the Piazza San Cosimato.

Thanks! Is this a daily market? I was intrigued by the market in Testaccio, too. We will be out and about, so places outside the hood are OK, too. I'm also wondering... I know Italians don't do breakfast, but are the cafes open for a coffee in the morning?

Of course. Have you ever met an Italian who didn't need a coffee in the morning? You can even have a cornetto with it.

Just making sure... Thanks!

Yes, it's daily. We visited the Testaccio market as part of a tour with Eating Italy. We enjoyed it, but it's not an open air market if that matters at all to you. FWIW, we really enjoyed our tour.

Thanks - this is great to know. We had planned to hoof it over to Campo di Fiori so perhaps this will be a good option, too.

progol,

i was referring to the restaurants already mentioned that I would personally recommend.

Most cornetti in Roman bars are fairly dreadful industrial things. (In most of Italy, actually.) If you want something to go with your coffee, you need to do some research. Breakfast food is getting increasingly popular in urban areas of Italy, so you can probably find that in Trastevere, and even moreso a place for better pastries if that is all you want, or brunch. Trastevere has got some fine bakeries, so no point in walking into any old bar when a little reserach will spare you a cornetto and nab you something worthwhile.

I can tell you where not to eat: 1. If a restaurant has pictures of their dishes-avoid it, 2. If a restaurant claims it speaks many languages with a sign presenting different countries' flags-keep walking, and 3. If it's 8:30pm and the restaurant is empty-move on. Our rule of thumb is to look for a restaurant filled with locals.

We've also read articles from reputable sources and dined based on their recommendations.

Buon viaggio,

In Trastevere we have enjoyed da Enzo 29 (delicious, traditional Roman food, not fancy but make a reservation) and La Gensola (a lot of seafood, a little upscale, lovely setting, Sicilian slant to menu). Enjoy!