Where to Eat in Rome – What We Did Right and Horribly Wrong in One Day

I’d love to say we arrived in Rome full of energy and ready to explore but Dave had an awful time on the flight over and couldn’t sleep so he was a zombie when he landed.

I was thankful that I had been to Rome several times so I knew how to take a train in Italy and had a general sense of the city.

I could navigate us through the airport to Termini station and into our hotel.

I also had a general sense of where to eat in Rome.

Because Rome is the starting point for any travel the country, whether you’re exploring for five weeks like us, or a shorter 10 days in Italy itinerary.

As it was Dave’s first time in Rome I debated where to stay in Rome.

I thought it would be good to stay at the Intercontinental by the Spanish Steps so we’d be central to everything.

I know everyone says to stay in Trastevere but I thought being close to everything would be good…well at least outweigh the bad.

I was wrong.

With jet lag it wasn’t an easy walk there and while we loved the hotel, it was the epicentre of a tourist zone so there were crowds and lots of peddlers trying to sell us everything from flashlights to selfie sticks.

We still had our backpacks on and despite my advice Dave had not learned the art of packing light so on top of jetlag he was tired of walking and carrying a heavy pack.

We were not off to a good start.

We knew we needed to sleep but we were starving so we went for something easy – pizza. Dave and I have a rule that once one of us is hungry we drop everything and immediately find something to eat.

Hanger is real and we don’t allow it to come between us so I knew this was not the time to see if we were close to the best pizza in Rome, we just needed to find pizza – the closest pizza was a block from our hotel.

I figured it would be okay, after all how bad can tourist restaurant pizza be?

Wrong again.

There’s a myth that all food in Italy is amazing, it’s definitely not true and even more so in Rome.

It was the soggiest, slimiest pizza you can imagine. I actually feel bad that this photo looks even the slightest appetizing because it was inedible.

It was tough because Dave was tired, hangry and now his first meal in Rome was gross.

After a slice we just decided to leave the rest of the food and try to sleep as Dave wasn’t loving Rome the way he should.

But I was about to fix that.

A few weeks back I asked where to eat in Rome on Instagram and overwhelmingly everyone said Roscioli, while the restaurant/salumeria hadn’t returned my email about a reservation the concierge was happy to call to secure us a late night dinner.  

Thank goodness for concierges.

Roscioli was the perfect restaurant for our first dinner. As we’re on a quest to learn as much as possible about cured meat in Italy – it was great to start our Meataly vacation at a restaurant that has a deli in the front.

We sat at the bar, drank wine and had such an amazing meal – cacio e pepe, burrata and so much cured meat.

Even though we were still tired from jetlag there was the initial thrill of excitement when you begin traveling and have no idea what is ahead of you but you know for sure some of it is going to be amazing.

This is my fourth trip to Italy but I have a feeling this will be the most special as I’m able to share it with someone who just wants to eat.

My kind of traveler.