Anyone have any suggestions on where to eat in Rome and Venice, Italy? Trying to stay away from tourist places and eat at some "real" Italian restaurants.

Price is no object (how often can you say that?) My wife and I are looking for a real eating experience.

Also, any "dives" or little out of the way places to eat?

Thank you!

Kevin

First off, Welcome to Flyer Talk.
Secondly, I would do a good search of the forums and see if someone has started a thread about non-touristy food in these cities. That'll get you started. Once you've done that, you'll come to realize that down every street that is off the beaten path, there is a culinary adventure waiting for you. Great food can be found all over in both of the cities that you have mentioned for reasonable prices. Just because the place is expensive, does not necessarily make the food "real Italian".

I've yet to have a really bad meal anywhere in Italy.. even a salad in that country is a treat. If you want a romantic, special meal in Rome, I'd suggest you read about Agate e Romeo. It's not touristy.. it's just elegant and beautiful with food to match - very inventive. Venice is a bit tougher - lots of high priced places with not such good food. You can read up a bit at www.chowhound.com (International section). Search for 'Venice.'

My wife and I are looking for a real eating experience.
Hi Kevin,

I think I know what you are searching for. I take the liberty to offer more than one option. I would be happy if you get will what you expect!

Rome:
Hostaria dell'Orso di Gualtiero Marchesi (http://www.hdo.it/ita/ristorante.htm)
Il Convivio-Troiani (http://www.ilconviviotroiani.com/eng/home.htm)
Enoteca Capranica piazza (Capranica 99/100): Traditional Mediterranean cuisine. Excellent cellar

Also to consider:
El Toulà (via della Lupa 29/b): Traditional Venetian menu.
Vecchia Roma (via della Tribuna di Campitelli 18): Roman and seafood specialities
Papok (salita del Grillo 6/b – I) classic

Venice
Caffè Quadri (http://www.quadrivenice.com/pages/home.php?ling=EN)
Fortuni Restaurant @ Hotel Cipriani (http://www.hotelcipriani.com/web/ocip/ocip_c5a1_restaurants.jsp)

Hello Kevin- I've got two in each place:

ROME:
1- I have to second Agate e Romeo- very nice place- excellent "bread basket"
2- Ditirambo - went there for the first time last month and really loved it.

VENICE:
1- Corte Sconta ( you MUST love fish- but that is true for Venice in general)
2- Hostaria da Franz - this one is totally off the beaten path- but worth the trip- on a very "real" canal in an area of Venice where actual Venetians actually live....

Have a great time!

Hello Kevin- I've got two in each place:


VENICE:
1- Corte Sconta ( you MUST love fish- but that is true for Venice in general)
2- Hostaria da Franz - this one is totally off the beaten path- but worth the trip- on a very "real" canal in an area of Venice where actual Venetians actually live....

Have a great time!

Both are real tourist traps, and the first expensive, the second horrendously overpriced.

Go buy a book: Venezia Osterie & Dintorni michela scibila. read the book. go where she recommends. If you have to stand and wait for a table for more than 5 minutes, leave. They are not going to seat you. the book is expensive. about 20 bucks, for a tiny little thing.

Also get an access guide to florence & venice. also has a lot of good places in it.

Aciugheta looks like and is a monster tourist trap two blocks off san marco and looks like a fast food, however, look at the wine list. look at the menu, look at the value.

agli Alboretti. great wine list. look at the prices on the Amarones. nouvelle cooking.

Go buy a bookThere is also a Micheline Red Guide covering Italy available.

in his guide books. You can also check out the postings from travelers in the appropriate forums on his website.

Both are real tourist traps, and the first expensive, the second horrendously overpriced.

I'd love to know your definition of a tourist trap-- while Corte Sconta is not cheap nor exclusively patronized by "locals" I also don't think it REMOTELY falls into the tourist trap category. Same with da Franz-- wouldn't a tourist trap need to be within the area that the least adventurous tourists tend to operate? This is surely not the case with this place! Anyway, I am not going to debate whether the food, atmosphere etc. are worth the money- those tend to be subjective....

I just think the tourist trap characterization is a bit over the top and would cause people reading this thread to avoid two very good restaurants.

Enough said.

Venice does have a reputation for overpriced food and it is easy to be fooled in a "tourist trap" restaurant if you don't make yourself an eating plan.

A few experiences that have been enjoyable for me are:
Osteria alle Testiere
Fiaschetteria Toscana
Al Mascaron

Tourists do go to these places, but the food is consistent.

If you like seafood, in Rome, I am a huge fan of:

Il Galeone - Piazza S. Cosimato, 27 (Trastevere area)
Ai Piani - Piazza Euclide (don't know the # - Parioli area)

Another favorite-

Il Casale - Via Flaminia (don't know the # - North of the center of Rome)

I love Alle Testiere in Venice, and even though there are tourists, I wouldn't call if a 'trap ' - just amazing seafood.

I would either buy or borrow a copy of Rick Steves' Italy and use his recommendations. While I was over there, used primarily his recommendations for food (along with Let's Go!, which for the college student is indespenible for cheap places to sleep) and he never steered me wrong. In Venice, there's a great pizza place that he recommends (can't remember and don't have the book anymore) that serves Neopolitan pizza that is divine (if not on the pricey side) and there's also a small cafe-ish type place that he recommends that was quite good, and cheap to boot. In Venice though, my favorite dining experience was walking around starting around dusk and going from enotecha to enotecha (pub crawl) having a half glass of wine and a panini or some other small tidbit of food at each one. It's a great way to spend an evening, as Venice is by far the most pedestrian friendly city in the world (even if you do get lost frequently, but that's half the fun).

I am definitely a self-declared gourmand so the gastronomic delights of Italy are definitely a big reason for me to go. There's also a pretty good city guide for Rome that you can d/l as a PDF from a hotel/hostel called The Beehive that is quite good (and that I will be staying at in Sept.). Also quite a nice hostel (couldn't tell you about the hotel, but stayed in the hostel about 3 years ago), even if it is near the stazzione. They also have an apartment rental service. The guide can be found at http://www.the-beehive.com/recguide.pdf . Very well written by locals (well, transplanted locals) who really know their stuff.

More than once in different threads I've recommended Il Ceppo (or maybe it's Al Ceppo or El Ceppo). Whatever way it's spelled, it translates to mean, "The Log" since the restaurant has a wood-fired grill.

I read about the restaurant somewhere as being the place where native Romans bring their out of town guests for a night out.

I went there with my husband, my sister and her husband. It was truly lovely. Situated in the residential neighborhoods up beyond the Borghese gardens.

Our concierge, Robert, at the IC Rome was able to locate it and make a reservation for us.

It was expensive and worth it. I had a superb veal chop as my main course and my first course was risotto with white truffles. Fabulous!

Rita

"La Pecora Pazza" On Via Statilia, 35 - 10 m. from Piazza Porta Maggiore in Rome

Far and away, my favorite restaurant in Rome. You walk into and descend immediately down some narrow, winding stairs to a small, warm, candlelit restaurant heavy in savory smells, laughter, and atmosphere. Brick arches along the walls, wooden rafters, and occasionally a musician tucked away into a corner create a feeling for the place that, albeit wonderful, pales in comparison to the food.

The cuisine is traditional, but not boring - they employ a chef that clearly enjoys spending his efforts on the special of the evening. Taking the waiter's suggestions on what he thinks is the best thing on the menu that night is a good way to go.

The wait service isn't particularly speedy or attentive, but no worse than any other Roman restaurant. More than anything, the staff and food reflect the overall mood of the restaurant - unhurried, relaxing, and authentic.

peace,
~Ben~

Osteria alle Testiere
Fiaschetteria Toscana


Both very solid recommendations - the latter is definately more touristy. It is also a "Buon Ricardo plate restaurant" which is a lot of fun, especially for tourists.

Food in Venice is mostly pretty mediocre. By far the best place is Hosteria da Fiore, but you will pay a fortune for it (say quite a bit about 300pp including nice wine). It is a Michelin one-star. Whenever we go to Venice (usually only for 2-3 nights on the way out of IT), we eat here once or twice. Harry's Dolci in Guideca is also quite good. Food not quite the same level as da Fiore, but the view outside is great. It is absolutely wonderful on a nice afternoon/evening. I believe it is open only in spring/summer. da Fiore is one of the few restaurants in Venice I actually feel locals eat at.

Great ice cream place is La Squaro. I can't seem to remember the exact location, but it is right of the GC.

I was in Rome a while back but no food there really stood out. Rome is not really known for its wonderful Italian cuisine!

In Venice we ate at a couple of good restaurants down the street from our hotel along the via Garibaldi. A bit of a hike past San Marco Sq along the waterfront...

I wish I could remember the name of the little dive bar near the ghetto where we stopped to get our of the rain. Excellent small plates. Sometimes the best places are the ones that you randomly stumble into...

There is so much good seafood in Venice I would not waste my time looking for a pizza joint. You will end up in a pizzeria anyway at some point if you need late night food as it is hard to find real restaurants open after a certain hour.

Hi Kevin,

I think I know what you are searching for. I take the liberty to offer more than one option. I would be happy if you get will what you expect!
[b]Rome - Hostaria dell'Orso di Gualtiero Marchesi
]

First dined there postChristmas week, 1963, with a young sweet thing from Dussledorf. I was a newly minted LTJG, USN on a short leave after duty over Christmas aboard ship anchored in Naples, and after a hop in the COD to Livorno, a friendly Italian officer drove me to Florence to resume an affair begun a year before in Rapallo. We met at the station in Florence, had a drink at the local Harry's (a great deal cheaper then but the napkins and tableclothes were pink), dined at Sabatini's (also still there but battered by time), spent the night and headed for Siena mutually caught up in the pent up passion of youth for 48 hours of repeated navel engagements with substantial loss of semen in a little hotel, the Golden Boot (also still in business but battle-weary), broken by occasional sightseeing strolls to renew my vigor.

Then it was on to Rome for 3 days, a different and more formal world then. The first night, she in a little black coctail dress which looked appropriately degenerate and Roman, I in Dress Blues, grey gloves and a rakish tilt to my hat, had drinks with a Carabinieri officer of equivalent rank who I earlier had met when our paths had crossed in Taranto, we went to Hostaria del Orso, a restaurant a cut or two above my usual venue or expectations. In later years, I have passed it by when in Rome in the company of my wife of 40 years or so. Somehow, it remains the property of "another woman".

The next day, inappropriately, we visited the Vatican for a guided (and I mean guided) tour arranged by my bridge partner, the ship's Catholic Chaplain, obviously a man of some influence. Our day ended long after regular "visiting hours", and we were directed by our guide to a little restaurant within spitting distance of St. Peters, never found again in searches in later decades, which served songbirds on little spits, "new" white wine from Orvieto out of a keg, and catered to diners notable for the number of purple collars among them. The magnitude of our sins, completed or yet to be undertaken, must have been pretty obvious to the other diners. Even well dressed, we must have looked as if we were auditioning for the dinner scene in "Tom Jones".

I started out to recommend Hostaria del Orso, but then recalled why. Mea Culpa.

One of my favorite ploys is to observe. Strolling by places at meal time can be the best guide to the best places that the tourist circuit often neglects. Good shoes and open eyes are often the shortest route to local flavor. @:-)

Ron

Two of my favorites:

Osteria del Sostegno
http://www.ilsostegno.it/sostegno_SWF.html

This place, near the Pantheon, is hard to find but has great pastas.

Abruzzi
At the top of the Piazza S. S. Apostoli, just a short walk from Piazza Venezia. (the 64 and 40 busses stop a short walk from the resturant)

The Carbonara is reputed to be the best in the city. The food is very good and free after dinner drinks (a bottle or two and glasses placed in on the table--help youself) are common.

Check out The Supper Club in Rome, 14 Via De'Nari.

Just back from Rome for my 40th bday...where has the time gone...lol.

My fave was a recommendation from our hotel staff--- it's called Maggio in the Trastevere district. Fantastic! :)

In Rome, go to Ristorante al Moro, in a small alleyway near the Fontana di Trevi, near Via del Corso. The address is vicolo delle Bollette 13, phone +3906 6783495. Very Roman place, popular with ministers and members of Parliament nearby. Reservations a must, the place is very small

In Rome -- Antiquario. Most concierges don't even know of it. Food is wonderful and we are usually the only Americans. It is near to the Piazza Navona so you can stroll at night after dinner.

In Venice -- Locanda Cipriani on the out island of Torcello. They will send a Motoscafi for you (which is half of the fun) and you eat at a lovely retaurant away from everything on an island that was once the ritzy part of Venice. There is a very old church to visit next door and then the motscafi takes you back. I would suggest this for lunch.

Finally, Buy the book "Eating in Italy" by Faith Heller Willinger. Her suggestions are great and off of the beaten path.

Locanda Cipriani, I agree, is a sublime experience. You will pay for the watertaxi (it is not included in the price of the meal). A less expensive option is to take the waterbus from the Ponte Nove to Burano, where you will have to change buses. I also love Alla Testiere in VCE as well as a great little trattoria in Canarregio. Osteria Bea Vita ; very small, local place, inexpensive & beautifully prepared fresh fish. During warm weather they put tables out on the sidewalk next to the canal. Lovely. ^

Finally, Buy the book "Eating in Italy" by Faith Heller Willinger. Her suggestions are great and off of the beaten path.
Unfortunately, Ms Willinger's "off of the beaten path" suggestions have become wildly populated by American tourists. One example is A Covo. The food is excellent, but expensive and the only language you are likely to hear is English. :(

Anyone who doesn't take the time to seek out Corte Sconta while in Venice is making an error.....been there on three separate trips and wish it were around the corner from my home...I'd be there every other evening. Specializes in local seafood prep, including swimmers you'd never think of eating. Ask for a table outside in back....the small up-front restaurant is nice in the winter, but stuffy otherwise. And don't even think about ordering...just tell them how hungry you are and let them tickle your senses. A little hard to find....it's on Calle del Pestrin...about a 5-minute walk from the Danieli.

First dined there postChristmas week, 1963, with a young sweet thing from Dussledorf. I was a newly minted LTJG, USN on a short leave after duty over Christmas aboard ship anchored in Naples, and after a hop in the COD to Livorno, a friendly Italian officer drove me to Florence to resume an affair begun a year before in Rapallo. We met at the station in Florence, had a drink at the local Harry's (a great deal cheaper then but the napkins and tableclothes were pink), dined at Sabatini's (also still there but battered by time), spent the night and headed for Siena mutually caught up in the pent up passion of youth for 48 hours of repeated navel engagements with substantial loss of semen in a little hotel, the Golden Boot (also still in business but battle-weary), broken by occasional sightseeing strolls to renew my vigor.

Then it was on to Rome for 3 days, a different and more formal world then. The first night, she in a little black coctail dress which looked appropriately degenerate and Roman, I in Dress Blues, grey gloves and a rakish tilt to my hat, had drinks with a Carabinieri officer of equivalent rank who I earlier had met when our paths had crossed in Taranto, we went to Hostaria del Orso, a restaurant a cut or two above my usual venue or expectations. In later years, I have passed it by when in Rome in the company of my wife of 40 years or so. Somehow, it remains the property of "another woman".

The next day, inappropriately, we visited the Vatican for a guided (and I mean guided) tour arranged by my bridge partner, the ship's Catholic Chaplain, obviously a man of some influence. Our day ended long after regular "visiting hours", and we were directed by our guide to a little restaurant within spitting distance of St. Peters, never found again in searches in later decades, which served songbirds on little spits, "new" white wine from Orvieto out of a keg, and catered to diners notable for the number of purple collars among them. The magnitude of our sins, completed or yet to be undertaken, must have been pretty obvious to the other diners. Even well dressed, we must have looked as if we were auditioning for the dinner scene in "Tom Jones".

I started out to recommend Hostaria del Orso, but then recalled why. Mea Culpa.

Wow, like a drunk that tries to walk a straight line.... staggers off course a bit, but finds the mark eventually. :D

Great story though.

Thanks to Addicted to Points, i called and made a reservation at Locanda Cipriani for Thanksgiving dinner & will stay the night at this lovely inn. :)

In Rome, try Da Baffetto, a hole-in-the-wall pizza place with some of the best pizzas I've ever had - totally "local" experience with communal tables. There's usually a line waiting to get in (a good sign). It's near Piazza Navona.