Rome - recommend restaurants that cater for more 'Irish' tastes?

RomeWeddingGal

Hi everyone,

First off, let me just say to the people that are horrified by the title of this thread - this is NOT for me! I love authentic Italian food and I agree that there is no point in going to Italy if you're going to eat like you're at home.

HOWEVER... we're getting married in Rome next year and pizza and pasta and octopus salad won't fly with certain older members of our families who haven't done much travelling and aren't as well-versed in worldly cuisines. You could argue that in a city like Rome there's not much point in going out in that case, but I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a restaurant that would perhaps cater for plainer tastes AS WELL as standard Italian fare. We're looking for somewhere to bring our families for a meal the night before the wedding and don't want to end up getting pub grub in an Irish pub - that's a bit too depressing for me!

We're going over in a couple of months to check out a few places that might suit, so if anyone can recommend any restaurants along those lines before then, it'd be much appreciated.

RGDATA!

not all Italian food is pasta or octopus, as you know. You can just go to a steakhouse or someplace like that if you want guaranteed meat and spuds. You're probably not going to find anywhere that does "authentic italian" plus "irish carvery-style roast joint, overcooked veg and spuds"!

RomeWeddingGal

Hi RGDATA,

Thanks for the reply.

That's along the lines of what I'm looking for. I've been to Italy many times myself and know you won't get anything like a carvery or boiled bacon and cabbage - and that's not what I'm looking for (I'd go to the aforementioned Irish pub if that was the case).

Basically I'm looking for recommendations for a normal Italian restaurant that also has dishes like chicken and steak on the menu. Myself and my fiancé are both vegetarian, so a steakhouse might not be the best option for us!

Thanks!

otnomart

Can't help with restos recommendation, as it has been (too) long since I was in Rome.
However there are several traditional meat and even veggie (carciofi, fiori di zucca) Roman dishes:

• Saltimbocca
• Coda alla vaccinara
• Abbacchio
• Trippa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_cuisine#Dishes

RomeWeddingGal

Thanks Otnomart. I guess I'm looking to actually check out places when we're over there to see what they're like, how big they are, whether they'd be suitable for a party of 15-20 people, etc., as well as the food issue.

Thanks anyway, though!

munchkin_utd

I cant offer any specific recommendations, but any Italian restaurant I've been to has always had regular meaty dishes as their mains (i.e. nearly always steak available) and often half the daily specials being regular (non pizza pasta, rare looking tapas) with the pizza and pasta or rare looking tapas being considered as a sort of starter.

One thing I've seen with Italian restaurants too is that the wine is for next to nothing, as is mineral water, but the prices for beer can be Temple bar prices (beer is seen as a new trending drink and exotic it seems).
If youre offering free booze, with small numbers it mightn't matter so much, but sticking with the house wine would be definitely the most economical option.