Taste something on this list?
Get the RankIt app to rank your favourite dishes and see how your picks stack up against the locals.
Free · No paid placements · Made for people who actually ate there
Regional Roundup · Roma
A ranked guide to Roma's most-visited and highest-rated restaurants — from Colosseum-side trattorias to Spanish Steps wine bars.
Roma is one of the most restaurant-dense cities on earth, which sounds like good news until you're standing in Trastevere at 7pm trying to decide between thirty places that all claim to be authentic. RankIt cuts through it by focusing on places that come up consistently when you look past the tourist-facing menus near the big monuments.
These are the restaurants in Roma that rank highest on the platform right now — a mix of neighbourhood staples, historic rooms, and a few genuinely scenic spots for when the occasion calls for it. Start here, then explore Roma's best-overall rankings to dig deeper.
The cacio e pepe served in a hollowed pecorino wheel is the dish this place is known for, and it deserves the reputation — the pasta is properly al dente and the sauce is glossy rather than gluey. Finding it requires a bit of navigation but that's part of the deal.
Goes without saying: book ahead. Roma Sparita is not a drop-in dinner for two tourists on a Tuesday anymore.
An English tearoom steps from the Spanish Steps that has been operating since 1893. The scones and finger sandwiches lean traditional, and the room itself — low lighting, dark wood, quiet — feels genuinely old in a city that knows how to perform oldness without actually being it.
Not a power lunch or a late dinner spot; come for afternoon tea and leave before the aperitivo crowd fills the piazza outside.
A Tuscan-leaning trattoria on Via Borgognona that has been drawing a mix of locals and in-the-know visitors since 1934. The ribollita and the bistecca are the reliable calls. Service is attentive without being theatrical, which in this neighbourhood is not guaranteed.
Pricier than comparable food elsewhere in the city, but the room and the consistency justify it for a sit-down dinner.
The terrace restaurant on the Capitoline Hill, inside the Musei Capitolini complex. The forum view is unobstructed and genuinely dramatic — you are looking directly at the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill while eating lunch. The food is solid rather than exceptional but the setting earns it a spot on this list.
Museum entry is not required for the restaurant, though the queues for the museum itself are worth factoring into your timing.
A wine bar with a small terrace directly above the Spanish Steps. At aperitivo hour, the view over the piazza is about as good as it gets in central Roma without climbing anything. The wine list skews Italian with depth in Lazio and Tuscany.
Food is secondary here — antipasti, cheese boards, light plates — and that is fine. This is not a full dinner destination; it is the best glass of wine you will have in Roma that also comes with a view.
Positioned near Trajan's Column and focused explicitly on Lazio regional produce — the menu rotates around what is in season across the region, from Castelli Romani wines to vegetable-forward dishes built around local farms. If you want to eat Lazio rather than generic Italian, this is a more considered choice than most of what surrounds the Forum area.
Sits directly on Piazza del Colosseo, which makes it one of the most photographed restaurant locations in Europe and also one of the most obvious tourist targets. That said, the kitchen turns out decent Roman standards — pasta, secondi, house wine — and the terrace view of the Colosseum is hard to argue with at lunch.
Manage expectations on price-to-plate ratio; this is destination dining for the location, not the food alone.
A rooftop caffè and bar on Via delle Terme di Tito, above the Colosseum neighbourhood. The cocktails are straightforward, the kitchen does pizzas and light dishes, and the terrace view of the Colosseum at sunset is among the most accessible in the area without booking a restaurant table months in advance.
A bistrot in the Piazza Venezia area that works well as a lunch stop when you are covering the Capitoline and Forum circuit. The menu is modern Roman — seasonal produce, shorter ingredient lists, less reliance on the cream-heavy dishes that haunt tourist-facing kitchens nearby. Worth knowing if you need a real sit-down lunch in that part of the city.
A small French-inflected bistro near the Spanish Steps on Mario de' Fiori. The prix-fixe lunch is good value for the neighbourhood and the room is quieter than anything facing onto the piazza directly. Worth a look if you want something less Roman in a very Roman part of the city.
For ranked spots like Roma Sparita and Nino Restaurant, yes — book at least a few days ahead, especially for weekend evenings. Terrazza Caffarelli, Il Palazzetto, and Oppio Caffè are more walk-in friendly, though a terrace table at Il Palazzetto during aperitivo hour fills fast in summer.
Locals eat late — 8:30 to 9:30pm is peak dinner time. Arriving at 7pm almost guarantees you a table and a calmer room at most places, though you will be dining alongside other visitors rather than Romans. If you want the room to feel right, hold out for 8:30.
Trastevere and Testaccio are the traditional answers for neighbourhood trattorias and lower tourist markups. The Tridente area around the Spanish Steps has the city's most expensive dining but also some genuinely historic rooms. Near the Colosseum and Forum, location drives the trade more than cuisine, so calibrate accordingly.
Get the RankIt app to rank your favourite dishes and see how your picks stack up against the locals.
Free · No paid placements · Made for people who actually ate there
Community-ranked restaurants, city by city.