I'm off to Rome... let's talk about pasta!

[SetTheTone]

I love pasta I do, any recommendations? Not really looking for jam packed busy restaurants at 8pm. More low key type places during the day or even street food where I can just order a big bowl of delicious ravioli to go. I'm seeing lots of gelato, pizza and cornetto places so I'm covered for that but all online pasta searches seem to only point towards very fancy looking evening restaurants where pasta is the first course option. I'm staying near Trastevere.

It'll be my first time in Italy and I'm rather excited!

No help whatsoever because we only spent a day in Rome, and wandered a few streets back from the colloseum, picked a restaurant purely on the strength of the fans blowing on the outside tables, and had the most delicious salmon pasta I've ever tasted for about €9. I still think about it often 😅.

I find if you open Google maps once you're there you'll quickly see the rating of nearby restaurants, don't go under 4.5 and you'll be fine!

I don't know if it's still the case now, but Italians didn't used to eat pasta as a main course in the way we do (or at least, when eating in restaurants) - pasta was a first course and then the main course would be meat/veg. So I don't know if places selling big bowls of pasta exist. If they do, they're probably aimed at tourists.

This is exactly what I've discovered. Sounds really stupid asking where can I get a bowl of pasta in Italy! You'd think it would be as easy as getting a pretzel from a food cart in NYC but I don't think it is!

You’ll be fine. When I go to Rome I often order pasta and a side salad and wine (of course!). I can’t manage a main course as well, but often have a pudding or go for a gelato afterwards. No one bats and eyelid and in the side streets there are loads of little family restaurants with just what you’re wanting. Trastevere is a great area with loads of restaurants.

This sounds fab! Pasta and a side salad, a glass of wine and a homemade tirimasu. Cushty

Da Enzo
busy, popular restaurant in Trastevere - great pasta

In Italy pretty much anywhere you go will be good. No self respecting Italian would give you bad pasta.

Even if you go to a touristy spot and pay through the nose it will still be decent

Get cacio e pepe, as I don't often see it on menus here. And yes, in Italy the pasta course is totally separate from the meat course, but especially in Rome restaurants are well used to tourists having antipasti, pasta and dessert etc. I haven't ever had a bad plate of pasta in Italy, but in Rome my best advice is go a street or two back from busy touristy areas (like Piazza Navoni etc) and also pay attention to where locals are.

If you haven’t been to Italy before you will fall in love with it! I’m off to Lucca in July and Sorrento in September. Both are return visits.

When we went to Rome, my Roman colleague wrote out lots of suggestions. Not specifically for pasta, but he recommended a meal in the Jewish quarter. I recall flattened, deep fried artichokes! It 'might' have been La Taverna de Ghetto and they also did have various pasta dishes. I only mention it as somewhere else to visit if you have time.

One thing to note is that Rome has a strong history with salt, historically being used for trade, food preservation and a sign of wealth. I don't use alot of salt at home and found many meals there to be much saltier than I'd choose. I'd love to go back though.

This is our must go to when in Rome, it is a very popular place but there’s a reason why. Been there for decades, run by the same Italian family and the pasta is incredible.
if you can get a reservation, grab it!

armandoalpantheon.it

Thanks everyone. I haven't really been looking forward to it since I booked it ages ago but now it's nearly here I am getting really excited!!

Pasta isn’t the main feature of meals in Italy in quite the way you’d think. I’ve been to Italy four times and that’s been my experience anyway.

Even where pasta is listed under the Primi Piatti, it doesn’t mean you can’t just have pasta and pudding!

The best I had was an amatriciana off the square near the pantheon

Why’s everyone acting like there aren’t thousands of restaurants in Rome that serve pasta as a main? They’re everywhere and easy to find and nobody cares what a tourist orders

Literally you walk round Rome you trip over places selling carbonara and cacao e Pepe every few steps. You’ll be fine.

I've been studying this menu and photos for the last 20 minutes, it looks great. But wow... completely fully booked. I might swing by anyway as it'll just be me on my own and they might be able to squeeze me in but given the demand I doubt it!

Never seen pasta as street food. That’s arancini or sandwiches and that sort of thing. Pasta is served in a restaurant. I ordered it as a main. I had my cacio e Pepe in Armando as well! We also liked the Roscioli places especially the deli where you can have the burrata and salami etc. Book ahead. We often went for lunch if too late for dinner.

Yes I'm there for three days so I think I'll do street food / pizza one day then a sit down lunch the next with a pasta course followed by a meat course. Definitely won't be losing weight that weekend! Hopefully all the walking will balance it out a little!

Highly recommend the carbonara at La Fraschetta di Castel Sant’Angelo, across the river from St Peter's. It's a teeny place so you'll be very close to strangers but it's worth it.

Rome is absolutely beautiful but please be careful with your purse and handbag. Of all the places I have been Rome is the only one that I was very nearly robed of my purse. There was a lady on the tube that was struggling to hold a baby. I was watching her contemplating asking her if she needed any help while her friend had her hand in my handbag if my husband hadn’t of noticed I would’ve lost my money. The receptionist in our hotel said it’s a very popular trick.

I'm very aware of this kind of thing. I'll be carrying all my things in a zipped strap worn underneath my coat and won't have a bag with me at all. I did the same in New York. But thank you. I trust absolutely nobody when I'm travelling especially as I'm alone.

this place is simple but brilliant for pasta www.pastaurbana.it/

This place. We adored it, and went three times. I promise it’s not a tourist trap.

Pizza in Trevi