Cheap Eats in Rome and places to stay away from...
 

Hello folks! 1st time in Rome and looking for recommendations for food places that are a must visit when in Rome. We will be in Rome starting Sunday March 11th for a week and staying 5 min north of Piazza Navona. We plan to try a few fine dining places but really looking for recommendations for cheap eats, local places, hidden gems, non touristy places where we can walk up, order food and doesn't require a reservation. We are adventurous eaters and willing to try any type of foods. Our breakfast is covered by the hotel and we've also booked a Trestavere food tour for one of the evenings.

I also read there are many touristy places to stay away from especially between the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. If you know of any places that you would stay away from (frozen pizza), please list them on this thread.

Grazie!

A couple of suggestions for no-reservation, cheap eats:

Pasta Chef Monti has good and inexpensive pasta, and you can get in and out quickly.

I also like Trieste Pizza.

There's a lot of information already posted on this forum, but we do need more organization! Case in point, we don't yet have a master thread and sticky for Rome dining options. In any case, with FT it's always advised to first do a search on what you're after. To help get you started these threads will prove useful:

Please recommend your favorite non touristy, non super fine dining place in Rome!

Food in Rome

Some good resources for determining where to eat in Rome

And of course this very recent thread: 1st time eating in Rome

In that last one Pastificio is mentioned. Here are two articles on it, one from Amanda Ruggeri's Revealed Rome and one from Elizabeth Minchilli:
Pasta for 4 Euros? Yes, Please

cheap eats in rome {pastificio}

Here's a relevant post from Katie Parla:
Budget Dining in Rome, 2017 Edition

And from Natalie Kennedy's [recently discussed] blog:
7 Best Places to Eat in Rome for Seriously Cheap

Happy researching!

For a listing of "musts" I consider Tavole Romane a great source. Here's their 2017 "Untouchables" list (the first link is to their list which is in Italian, the second link is the page put through google translate):

Gli Intoccabili

The Untouchables

Rome on a budget: go for an aperitivo
 

For those budget minded, availing yourself of the buffets and small plates that accompany your aperitivo can prove to be a great bargain.

Here's a list by Puntarellarossa (and while on their site, check out their other Rome suggestions):
The best aperitivo in Rome: ten cocktail and wine bars to know about

And this is from Romeing (this site tends to skew towards a younger demographic - for our younger FTers reading this!):
Rome Nightlife Guide: Bars for Aperitivo

One last bookmark: Street food Guide
 

I've got hundreds of Rome-themed bookmarks - this last one is from 2015 but it should be useful still and it provides a good primer in understanding suppli, porchetta, polpetti, etc.

It's written for Eater by Katie Parla:
Street Food Guide: How to Eat Cheap in Rome, Italy

We enjoyed the food court at the back of Termini.

Here's an up vote for Pizzeria Da Baffetto. Just around the corner from Piazza Navona, at Via del Governo Vecchio 114.

It's a mainstay stop on our trips to Rome.

Yet another link
 

Another Romewise post:
Cheap Rome Restaurants Where to eat well in Rome on a budget

A second for Natalie's blog:

https://anamericaninrome.com/wp/cate...urant-reviews/

And bumping as this seems to have a good consolidation of many threads.