If you’re visiting the capital then you can’t miss lunch or dinner in Trastevere, one of the most beautiful and distinctive quarters in Rome! Here are 10 locales with fewer tourists where you can enjoy Roman food and drink — a truly unique experience.
Whether it’s a business trip or a search for Rome’s treasures, your visit can turn into a gluttonous adventure of good food. The Eternal City offers an endless gastronomical selection and traditional Roman cooking. Its deeply-rooted origins make it a must for your tastebuds. Here we suggest ten places where Romans eat and drink and where few tourists do. It’s one of Rome’s oldest and most distinctive neighborhoods: Trastevere, known for its peeling walls, laundry drying in the sun, and old building facades covered in ivy.
Our places of choice make quality their trademark.
So if you’re looking for a traditional Roman restaurant that’s not a tourist hotspot, in Trastevere you can satisfy your hunger with authentic Roman entrées and main courses, unique dishes prepared by Michelin-star chefs, as well as pizza, fried delights, and fine wine and cocktails. Ready to make your tastebuds rejoice?
Here are 10 non-touristy locales right in Trastevere:
- Da Enzo al 29
- Enoteca L’antidoto
- Tonnarello
- Pizzeria L’elementare
- Peppo al Cosimato
- Zia Restaurant
- Glass Hostaria
- Rumi Bottega Organica
- Freni e Frizioni
- Santo Trastevere
1. Da Enzo al 29 — Via dei Vascellari, 19 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 065812260
Our first choice is Da Enzo al 29: Roman authenticity at its best. Dishes here are simple and flavorful with the finest ingredients.
One must is the La Palla al 29, potato croqettes and baccalà (salted codfish) with a mozzarella center, Pasta al sugo di coda (Braised Oxtail sauce), Carbonara, Roman-style tripe, meatballs in tomato sauce, and wild chicory. This intimate restaurant treats you to typical Roman dishes like fried artichokes and many other delicacies in the heart of the capital.
Da Enzo al 29 is open Monday to Saturday from 12:15 to 15 and 19 to 23; closed Sunday.
2. Enoteca L’antidoto – Vicolo del Bologna, 19 -Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 3423006808
Our second choice is Enoteca L’antidoto, a wine bar with kitchen, located in a tiny street in Trastevere since 2020. Its friendly, informal atmosphere will relax you. Inside the restaurant is simple and rustic yet clean, and decorated with wrought-iron and wooden bookshelves. They offer a vast selection of over 200 wines without an actual wine list and their menu features a selection cold dishes with fine Italian products and a touch of Roman spirit. You’ll find Lucano Nero prosciutto at €6, charcuteries at €8.50 and €15. Bread, butter and truffel at €8.50, fresh porcini mushroom salad with parmigiano, olive oil, salt, and pepper at €10, and a plate of puntarelle e alici (chicory and anchovies) is guaranteed goodness.
Enoteca L’antidoto is open daily from 16 to 23, except Tuesday.
3. Tonnarello – Via della Paglia, 1-2-3 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 065806404
In third place we recommend Tonnarello, a typically Roman, family-style locale, with a warm, friendly and informal atmosphere. You can try their pasta, meat balls, and other simple Roman dishes. They offer seating inside and outside. Don’t miss their plentiful first courses served in copper pots. Other favorites are Cacio e pepe tonnarelli (cheese and pepper tonnarelli pasta), Nonna Nadia tonnarelli, Carbonara, Amatriciana and their fabulous Carciofi alla giudia (Jewish-style artichokes). Taste their organic Montepulciano wine, their fried delights and fantastic tiramisù with Gentilini biscuits. If you visit Trastevere you absolutely have to try Tonnarelli’s many Roman delicacies.
Tonnarello is open every day from 10 to 23:30.
4. Pizzeria L’Elementare – Via Benedetta 23 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 065894016
In fourth place is Pizzeria L’Elementare, a nice, cozy restaurant with a friendly waiting staff and nicely spaced out seating. Here’s where you’ll eat a real Roman-style pizza—thin and crunchy— with the best quality ingredients — while savoring a beer from their large selection. Their fried dishes are a real treat! Don’t miss their supplì (fried rice and meat balls) and their garlic, oil, and chili pepper spaghetti.
Pizzeria L’Elementare is open every day from 18:00 to 24:00; Friday and Saturday until 2:00 am.
5. Peppo al Cosimato – Via Natale del Grande 9 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 065812048
Peppo al Cosimato is our fifth choice of our restaurants off the beaten path in Rome’s Trastevere. This locale just recently opened up, but it has already conquered the quarter with its traditional menu and specialities featuring pesce povero — small, tasty fish like anchovies, amberjack, needlefish, and more. You’ll also find other treats like squid ink supplì with octopus, paccheri pasta with red and yellow cherry tomatoes, as well as the fish of the day. Peppo al Cosimato’s motto is fresh style with classic details.
Peppo al Cosimato is open every day from 12:00 to 15:30 and 18:30 to 24:00.
6. Zia Restaurant – Via Goffredo Mameli, 45 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 0623488093
Our sixth choice is Zia Restaurant, Antonio Ziantoni’s one-Michelin star restaurant. Zia is a sophisticated spot that proposes refined versions of classic dishes in a very intimate ambience. The menu is a journey through experiences and sensations that help you rediscover the authentic flavors of Roman tradition with a dash of contemporaneity and innovation. Two tasting menus are available: 7 courses at €75 and 5 courses at €55.
Zia Restaurant is open Tuesday to Thursday from 19:30 to 21:30, Friday and Saturday from 12:30 to 14:30 and 19:30 to 21:30. Closed Sunday and Monday.
7. Glass Hostaria – Vicolo del Cinque, 58 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 0658335903
Number 7 on our list is Glass Hostaria, located in the heart of Trastevere near Piazza Trilussa with Michelin-star chef Cristina Bowerman at the head. You’ll feast on simple and delicious recipes revisited, in a warm, cozy, and ultramodern ambience. The Glass Hostaria’s menu proposes dishes that you won’t find in other Trastevere trattorias. Its light cooking evokes the best Italian traditions with an international tone and very original combinations. Only high-quality, in-season ingredients are used. It boasts a very elegant, gilded dining area and a wide selection of wines in its cellar. You’ll have a very special dining experience at Glass.
Glass Hostaria is open from Tuesday to Friday from 19:00 to 22:30, Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 to 15:00 and from 19:00 to 22:30; closed Monday
8. Rumi Bottega Organica – Via dei Fienaroli, 4 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 3394878393
Our eighth recommendation is Rumi Bottega Organica, a restaurant in central Trastevere that offers genuine, sustainable cuisine of vegetables, dairy, fruit, grains, eggs, legumes, bluefish, muffins and desserts, from small farms in the surrounding Roman countryside. They’ll entice you with their attention to detail, quality, and ingredients in creating their simple yet unique dishes. Musts are the in-season side dishes at €5, whole-grain rice and quinoa, their moist, savory muffins with squash, parmigiano cheese, and almonds or spinach, ricotta and parmigiano cheese at €2.50, veggie or bean flans at €6, savory pies with ancient grains at €5 a slice, veggie lasagna and parmigiana with ingredients that range from carasau flatbread, zucchini, turnip greens, walnut and parmigiano or creamy spinach and squash pesto, primo sale cheese at €6 and veggie burgers made with potatoes, escarole and olives or chick peas, chicory and zucchini at €5.
Rumi’s mission to focus on fresh and healthy ingredients will give you a genuinely creative and conscious culinary experience.
Rumi Bottega Organica is open Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 22:00; Saturday from 09:00 to 19:00; closed Sunday.
9. Freni e Frizioni – Via del Politeama, 4 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 0645497499
Our penultimate choice, if you like a good drink, is Freni e Frizioni, a street cocktail bar in the heart of Trastevere that has helped keep the rite of the cocktail hour alive in Rome for eighteen years. You’ll find a lively bar with a wide variety of beers, an animated terrace, signature cocktails, and what makes this bar special: its bartenders.
Their skill and know-how in making cocktails with the best ingredients makes this a place unique. You can’t miss sipping one of their cocktails amidst decorative chandeliers and modern art while listening to alternative music or just sitting outside. Freni e Frizioni is one of the 100 best bars in the world! What are you waiting for? Come enjoy this magic atmosphere from sundown to the wee hours — You won’t regret it!
Freni e Frizioni is open every day from 18:30 to 02:00 a.m.
10. Santo Trastevere – Via della Paglia, 40 – Trastevere – Roma – Tel. 3333807008
Last but not least: Santo Trastevere – a uniquely modern restaurant-cocktail bar with an international feel. Their bold international dishes and unique cocktails are served in an elegant ambience with a garden view.
Santo Trastevere is located in the heart of the Eternal City between Piazza Sant’Egidio and Piazza San Cosimato. Chef Edoardo Meuti’s culinary creativity exalts the fresh ingredients in his dishes. The menu is exclusively raw: tartare, ceviche, carpaccio, and sashimi. You have to try their Mazara red prawn carpaccio at €14 and their enticing Mariantonietta at €8 — white chocolate and vanilla bavarese with raspberries and almonds. To accompany your meal is a selection of wines and cocktails that will surprise you.
Santo Trastevere is open Tuesday to Saturday from 18:00 to 02:00; Closed Monday and Sunday.
To Rome with Italo
You can’t wait to dive into Roman cuisine or try some fantastic cocktails? When you arrive, find out what’s not to miss in Trastevere and get lost in its magic! Bring along your most gluttonous friends, hop on board the many trains that head to Rome daily from all the main Italian cities. Travel on Italo’s high speed trains with destination Roma Termini Station and you’ll find all the metro lines and buses that will take you straight to the heart of Trastevere.
Free registration is available for the Italo Più Fidelity Program, you’ll get 5% off your first trip and you’ll make points with each trip towards a free awards ticket.
