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What to eat in Rome: traditional Roman food and how to avoid tourist traps

Traditional Roman food is working-class cooking, built on a handful of simple ingredients treated with respect: cured pork cheek, pecorino cheese, black pepper, artichokes and the offal known as the "fifth quarter". The catch is that the streets around the most famous monuments are lined with places designed for people who will eat there once and never come back. In this guide we explain what to eat in Rome, how to recognise a genuine trattoria and which neighbourhoods are worth sitting down in, with a few tips for our own corner of the city, between North Rome and La Storta.

The four Roman pastas you have to try

At the heart of Roman cuisine are four pasta dishes that share the same pantry and differ by a single ingredient. Carbonara is made with guanciale (cured pork cheek), egg yolks, pecorino romano and black pepper: no cream, no bacon, no onion. Cacio e pepe is the most minimal of all, just pecorino, pepper and starchy pasta water whisked into a silky sauce. Amatriciana, named after the town of Amatrice, combines guanciale, tomato and pecorino, usually on bucatini or rigatoni. Gricia is its "white" ancestor: guanciale and pecorino without the tomato. If a menu lists "carbonara with cream" or you spot bacon instead of guanciale, you already know what kind of place you are in.

Supplì, pizza al taglio and Roman pizza: street food done right

A supplì is a fried rice croquette cooked in meat sauce with a heart of mozzarella that stretches into a string when you break it open, which is why Romans call it "al telefono". You will find them in fry shops and pizza-by-the-slice counters alongside fried courgette flowers and salt cod fillets. Pizza al taglio is the Roman lunch: rectangular trays, sold by weight, with a choice of plain tomato (rossa), plain with oil and salt (bianca) or topped slices, eaten standing up or on a bench. Roman round pizza is a dinner affair, served in pizzerias in the evening: thin, crisp ("scrocchiarella") and with a low edge, it is deliberately different from the puffy, soft-rimmed Neapolitan style.

Artichokes, offal, maritozzo and gelato: from sides to sweets

Carciofi alla giudia, artichokes deep-fried whole until they open like a crisp flower, are the signature dish of the Jewish-Roman cooking of the Ghetto; carciofi alla romana are braised with wild mint, garlic and olive oil. The local romanesco artichoke has a real season, from late winter to spring, so be wary of it out of season. The "fifth quarter", the humble cuts once handed to the workers of the Testaccio slaughterhouse, gives us coda alla vaccinara, oxtail slow-cooked with celery and tomato, and trippa alla romana, tripe with tomato, mint and pecorino. For something sweet, the maritozzo is a soft brioche bun split and filled with whipped cream, eaten mostly at breakfast standing at a bar counter. As for gelato, be wary of neon colours (real pistachio is not bright green and banana tends towards grey) and of towering mounds on display: serious gelato makers keep it in covered steel tubs.

How to spot a real trattoria and avoid tourist traps in Rome

Where can you eat in Rome without falling into a tourist trap? More than an address, you need a method. A genuine trattoria gives itself away through details that any Roman notices at a glance:

• A short menu of traditional dishes plus something seasonal: a place that offers everything from paella to lasagne to pizza does none of it well.
• No photos of the food on the menu and no laminated boards outside in six languages with little flags.
• No touts on the pavement: a restaurant that has to talk you into sitting down has no regular customers.
• Be suspicious of a fixed-price "tourist menu" fifty metres from a famous monument.
• Listen to the other tables: if you hear Roman accents around you, you are in the right place.
• Check that prices are printed on the menu, including any charge for bread or service.
• A kitchen that closes between lunch and dinner is a good sign: places serving pasta at any hour work only with tourists.

Meal times, cover charge, tipping and booking

Italians have lunch roughly between 1pm and 2:30pm and sit down to dinner no earlier than 8pm; outside those windows most kitchens are closed, which is why the "non-stop" restaurants in front of the monuments are almost always aimed at visitors. A cover charge ("pane e coperto") or a service charge is still common in many restaurants: it is legitimate as long as it is clearly stated on the menu, so read it before you sit down. Tipping is not compulsory and service is already included in the prices: rounding up or leaving a few euros for a meal you enjoyed is appreciated, but nobody expects a fixed percentage. For dinner, especially at weekends, it is worth booking with a quick phone call: many trattorias have only a handful of tables and are not on online booking platforms.

Where to eat well in Rome: Testaccio, Trastevere, Prati and Garbatella

Testaccio is the home of Roman cooking: the old slaughterhouse stood here and the fifth-quarter dishes were born here, and the covered market has stalls where you can lunch on sandwiches, pasta and fried snacks at neighbourhood prices. Trastevere is wonderful in the evening but has two faces: the main squares are packed with tables for tourists, while in the side streets you still find trattorias full of residents. Prati, a short walk from the Vatican, is an elegant residential district where office workers and families eat at pizza-by-the-slice counters, bakeries and everyday trattorias, with a large neighbourhood market. Garbatella, with its 1920s housing blocks and shared courtyards, sees few tourists and is full of neighbourhood osterias. For carciofi alla giudia the natural destination is still the Ghetto. For markets, besides Testaccio there is scenic Campo de' Fiori, priced for the centre, and the big food hall by Termini station for a quick lunch.

Eating in North Rome and La Storta, near the B&B

Our area is residential and moves at a different pace from the centre. Along the Via Cassia and in the neighbourhoods around La Storta you will find trattorias and pizzerias used almost exclusively by locals, bakeries selling pizza al taglio and maritozzi in the morning, and delis and rotisseries for a dinner to take back to your room. A few kilometres further north the Roman countryside begins, together with the Lake Bracciano area, with farmhouse restaurants and village eateries that make a pleasant drive. For supermarkets, pharmacies and other practical addresses see our guide to useful local services near the B&B; and if you fancy dinner in the centre without worrying about parking, the regional train from La Storta station takes you straight to Roma Trastevere. Ask us for a tip when you arrive: we are happy to point you to the places we go ourselves.

Why stay at B&B Beni Benius Roma

Good food starts in the morning: at B&B Beni Benius Roma breakfast is included, so you can set off for the city unhurried and well fed. If you book the whole apartment, which sleeps up to 8, you also get a fully equipped kitchen: come back from the market with guanciale, pecorino and artichokes and try your hand at carbonara. After a day of trattorias and monuments, returning to the greenery and quiet of North Rome, with free parking right outside, is the best way to digest in peace. Take a look at our available rooms and, if you are unsure where to eat, drop us a line before you travel.