Originally Posted by
josephineperry
Hi, I've heard that Felice a Testaccio offers great typical roman cuisine...you could have a
look at the reviews on the net and see what htey say
Originally Posted by
Perche
In my opinion you can't rely on reviews on the net. Your asking American tourists where to eat in Rome.
I wondered why a query such as this only had two responses.
I couldn't answer it because although I'm sure it wasn't OP's intent, as worded about not liking tiny portion sizes it seemed as if he was asking for a recommendation for a bad restaurant.
There are great, independent food critics who haved lived in Rome for decades who write in English. They do this for a living.
Elizabeth Minchilli and Katie Parla come to mind. You can download their apps or books for just a few dollars. It's worth doing that before wasting 25 times that amount eating a super-sized portion of food in a tourist trap. You can also go to their free websites and get lots of info.
Rome Digest is another website in English that also comes to mind. Not in English but if you don't speak Italian you can cut and paste into Google Translate and try to make do, is the website, "Dissapore, Niente è Sacro Tranne il Cibo." It means, "I disagree, nothing is sacred except for food."
There are many cozy, casual, budget-friendly restaurants with fantastic food, suitable for an anniversary in Rome, but not if portion size is a criterion standard for meaning good food, and good food is equated with meaning stuffy.
Originally Posted by
mromalley
We really need a bit more information to be able to give you appropriate recommendations. Budget? Food type? Traditional Roman? Contemporary Roman (updates to classic recipes)? Cucina Povera - poor mans food - including offal? Roman Jewish Cuisine? We've established you are not interested in Michelin starred restaurants. Do you want fish/seafood? Do you want a great carbonara? a fantastic wine list?
Check out these Rome based bloggers, all of them are highly regarded. I can personally attest to Katie Parla and Elizabeth Minchilli's recommendations.
http://www.parlafood.com
http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com
http://www.maureenbfant.com
You can also check out the Rome Digest
http://www.theromedigest.com - a joint effort between Katie Parla & Hande Leimer
http://www. vinoroma.com . It is not updated, but still has some great info.
It's my understanding that Perche travels to Italy frequently, but that he's not a Roman. I imagine he'll correct me if my assumption is wrong.
But you get what you pay for as they say, and not to completely undermine your recommendation of fellow FTer Perche, keep in mind that he's now broadened his advice from steering clear of TripAdvisor reviews (which I agree with), to now advising us to steer clear of all reviews on "the net". That means all the great resources you link above, Perche is saying you should avoid. And I definitely disagree with that advice. (Not to mention his apparently limited vocabulary: if something's not tiny then to him that means that something has to be large!)
This thread is getting off topic, but first
JBD, I did not broaden my advice from steering clear of TripAdvisor to recommending that people steer clear of resources like Katie Parla, Liz Minchilli, Rome Digest, Dissapore, Niente e Sacro Tranne il Cibo, etc. I was the first one to recommend them upthread in this post. I've touted them and other professionals in this forum as an alternative to using tourist reviews on the "Net" for quite a while.
To reiterate, OP made a very valid request for recommendations for restaurants for his upcoming anniversary. For some reason, there was just one response in six weeks, and it puzzled me. I tried to respond several times but just couldn't do it. I said, "I am sure it was not his intent," but was due to the wording of his question. I couldn't get my mind around his dislike of tiny portions, stuffy restaurants, and star quality food because I don't think those are appropriate filters when searching for good restaurants in Italy.
mromalley suggested it was because OP's question lacked specifics, or appropriate filters for guidance.
I felt bad about the lack of response after six weeks and decided to chime in three days ago. There were about 861 views of OP's post at that time, and only one reply. This post is now approaching 1200 views, and has 21 replies, many restaurant recommendations, and points to a number of useful websites (not "Net" reviews).
I am not Roman, but I am a dual Italian-US citizen, and since 2010 my job has required me to split my time about 50-50 between Italy and the USA. Most of the time in Italy has been in Venice, Torino, and Rome, and to a lesser extent, Naples, Modena, Palermo, and a few other places.