Testaccio & Ostiense – Local tips (restaurants)

Al Ristoro degli Angeli is a good, ‘radical-chic’ restaurant in the heart of Garbatella. It serves intriguingly delicious dishes in a warm and cozy atmosphere. It is great for an intimate dinner with your partner or just a few friends. It is a bit over-priced by some standards but the quality of the ingredients used is superior.

I recommend: the focaccina al lardo di cinta senese (yes, it is lard and it IS delicious!) and the cheese platter for antipasto; the Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe in cialda di parmigiano croccante (spaghetti with cheese and black pepper served in a crunchy parmesan crust) for first course; the Tavolozza Vegetariana (a baked vegetable sampler) for second course; and, for dessert, the chocolate almond cake served with a glass of barolo chinato. These are just some of my favorites, but you can’t go wrong with anything you choose on the menu. Plus, don’t forget to consider the daily specials.

If undecided, the staff will be very helpful with advice. The wine list is also interesting, offering some excellent wines from the Lazio region. Try Mater Matuta.

The restaurant is small. So, while it expands in the summertime with a few outside tables, one absolutely must reserve to eat here. Some people find the tables inside in this tiny, two-room restaurant a bit too close to each other but, somehow, this supposed lack of privacy doesn’t bother me.

Finally the service is very kind, efficient, and accurate and the green hair of one of the co-owners makes an interesting piece of conversation.

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Al Ristoro degli Angeli | Restaurants (Creative Italian) | Meal € 35.00
Via Luigi Orlando 2 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +390651436020
Mon – Sat 20:00 – 23:00

In times like these, when world capitalism is being questioned ever more so, an interesting place to visit is the Città dell’Altra Economia. This is an entire cultural center devoted to the promotion of an alternative type of economy: organic agriculture, fair trade, renewable energies, reuse and recycling, responsible tourism, and ethical finance.

CAE was inaugurated in September 2007 during the administration of Rome’s former mayor Walter Veltroni. It is located in a portion of Rome’s former slaughterhouse and cattle market in Testaccio. The buildings have been completely renovated so as to be eco-compatible and sustainable.

Within the center, you will find a “bio-restaurant” serving only organic food, a “bio-coffee shop” serving espresso, cappuccino and teas from fair trading partners, a fair-trade natural foods store as well as a reuse and recycle store selling objects and works of art made from recyclables.

There are also representatives from companies operating in the renewable energies, responsible tourism, and ethical finance sectors available to provide information and services. Last but not least, there is an “open communication” section focusing on the use of technologies and free-license software to foster the sharing of knowledge across peoples.

CAE offers a series of events, including book presentations, readings, concerts and fairs. Be sure to check CAE’s website regularly or subscribe to its newsletter. The bio-bar offers a Euro 5 after-hours “aperitivo” on Friday evenings from 19:30 – 21:30. The bio-restaurant offers a Euro 20 special three-course organic meal deal on Sundays at lunch.

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Citta’ dell’Altra Economia | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping, Restaurants (Organic)
Largo Dino Frisullo | Testaccio & Ostiense | +393488059332
Tue -Sat 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 10:00 – 19:00

A fixed-price menu for a great Italian seafood experience. This is what this restaurant has to offer.

But here are two warnings: 1) to eat here, you absolutely must reserve 2) to best take advantage of it, you have to be as hungry as a bear!

The moment you sit down at your table, you will notice an ice bucket with some bottles of Vermentino wine (included in the price and replaced the moment they will be emptied). After a few moments, some rather zealous waiters will begin to cramp your table with loads of antipasto dishes: oysters, mussels, seafood salad, octopus & potato salad, baby octopus, salmon, zucchini au gratin. After a few minutes worth of a break -in which you will be able to reflect on the fact that you are already full- you will begin the first courses: risotto with scampi, spaghetti with clams, and some egg noodles with seafood in tomato sauce.

At this point, you would probably want to go to sleep or take a short 20km walk to digest, but you cannot resist the urge to take the challenge one notch further: a big platter of fried and grilled fish will be placed on your table, together with one-squared-meter of vegetable crudités (aka pinzimonio), surprisingly appreciated for its digestive properties.

Finally, you will be served lemon sorbet, grappa, mirto liquor and coffee. I am happy to have survived the evening so as to be able to tell you all about it on this blog!

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Costa Smeralda da Achille | Restaurants (Seafood) | Fixed menu € 35.00
Via Roberto Marcolongo 37 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065591245
Tue – Sun 20:00 – 00:00

This restaurant is known by all Romans and in Testaccio area it is an institution!

When you decide to go to Felice, the first thing you must do is to call during the afternoon and book your table for one of the two turns (21:00 or 22:30): in fact without booking you will rejected because the restaurant is always full….

Once you’re inside, you will notice 3 things. First, the “Gambero Rosso Award” at the entrance as one of the best restaurant in Rome. Also, there is nu menu (but the list of wine is available). The waiter announces this when you want to order. Sometimes you could see tables with a written “Occupato”(busy) on them: if this is the case, probably the Oscar awards Roberto Benigni and Nicola Piovani are coming up …..

About the food let me say that pasta is simply amazing, particularly “Pasta Cacio e Pepe”: it’s incredible that such as simple dish can be so gorgeous when you eat it in Felice’s!

I also suggest “Pasta alla Felice” (with ricotta cheese,tomatoes, mint and chilli) and “Gricia”, but whatever pasta you choose, you don’t get wrong!!!

Other dishes, as every good roman restaurant, depend on the ingredients available, so they change every night.

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Felice a Testaccio | Restaurants (Italian) | Dinner € 30.00
Via Mastro Giorgio 29 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065746800
Mon – Sat 12:30 – 15:00 & 20:00 – 23:30, Sun 12:30 – 15:00

Tucked away below street level, hidden by the flashy light of a kebab store on via Massaia, Il Melograno is Garbatella’s only “enoteca”. ‘Enoteca’ is an odd term in Italian because it means both a wine retail shop and a place where you can sit down and drink some quality wine rightly combined with the appropriate foods.

Il Melograno is mainly this second type of enoteca. It is run by two brothers whose kind manners, together with the excellent wine they serve, will gently ease you into a relaxed mood for the evening. Both brothers have a degree from AIS (Italian Association of Sommelier) which would normally means that you are a stuck-up ?$%&$ who looks down on people who don’t know anything about wine. This is absolutely not the case with them. They will gladly suggest the best wines and explain subtle differences while never being condescending and while communicating their love for the subject matter.

You can opt to have dinner there or simply go after hours for a drink. Every day, there is a €20 special dinner menu. Otherwise, you can choose your dishes à la carte. Last time I went, I had bruschettine with mozzarella and bottarga, crostini ai pesti vegetali, and swordfish tartare. All this while enjoying an excellent glass of Vieris Sauvignon Vie de Romans. Il Melograno also has a good selection of home-made desserts and these are sublimely accompanied by great dessert wines. I had cantuccini with a Muffato Castello della Sala Antinori.

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Il Melograno | Bars, Restaurants (Italian) | Main Meal € 30.00
Via Guglielmo Massaia 9 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065115609
Mon – Fri 10:30 – 15:30 & 19:00 – 00:00, Sat 19:00 – 00:00

The Joia is one of the most popular clubs in the Testaccio area. The elegant and chic style, as demonstrated especially by the restaurant and lounge bar, where every evening we are likely to meet characters from the world of entertainment, footballers and celebrities.

The main colour of the club is white, but some small details of design and exotic plants scattered throughout the restaurant make the atmosphere very particular.

The club is on three floors: the lower hall is the largest room dedicated to the real disco for those who love dance.

The central hall, named “Vintage Room” is dedicated to all those who love the music of the years 70/80.

The upper room, called “Joiello” (a word game between Joia and Gioiello,which in Italian means gem), is dedicated mainly to the restaurant (15 euros with drinks and dinner buffet), opening at 21:00. After dinner at 00:00 it turns into a disco hall and becomes the coolest floor of the club, where only those who reserved the private room at the table or selected clients can enter.

This is the most beautiful room of the club: in fact the area reserved for piano is finely furnished with sofas and tables. The atmosphere is carefully guarded in all details, from the location of the air condition to sound, and wants to create a state of mental and physical relaxation, a fun necessary to clear the everyday working stress.

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Joia | Bars, Music, Relaxing, Restaurants (Oriental) | Drinks € 10.00
Via Galvani 20 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065740802
Tue – Sun 21:00 – 04:00

When I first moved to Garbatella, my curiosity was piqued by the restaurant named Le Bistro close to my house.

All any passer-by can see from the street is a green door, which doesn’t reveal anything about the interior. There is no menu posted outside and rarely does one see people come and go from this place. It was becoming one of those enigmas, those queries one has about some places, until one day, I decide to go there with a friend.

Unlike other restaurants where you simply have to push the door to go in, here you have to ring a bell. After seconds, a smiling face opens the door to an interesting underworld -the restaurant is below street level- composed of a only a few tables, seating about 30 people. The décor is a mixture of a 50’s style and baroque. The ambiance is soft.

The menu is composed of a long list of highly enticing, unusual, mostly vegetarian dishes: balls of spiced chickpeas, avocado in vinaigrette, polenta slices with nut sauce, balls of ricotta and sage, onion soup, chestnut crepes with fresh cheese, grilled pecorino with honey, lettuce rolls with potato cream and blue cheese.

The dishes we select are kindly served by Daniela or Barbara, two sisters who, we find out, are the owners, waitresses, and sommeliers of the place. Their mom and dad are the cooks in the kitchen and concoct dishes according to what the season has to offer. Great evening, great experience.

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Le Bistro | Restaurants (Vegetarian) | Meal € 35.00
Via delle Sette Chiese 170 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065128991
Mon – Sat 12:20 – 14:30,& 20:00 – 23:30

Rome is definitely full of good pizzerie. Or rather, it is quite difficult to find a place where one doesn’t manage to eat at least reasonably.

The city is also full of peculiar places, where you can try all sorts of interesting, unusual dishes or dine while enjoying wonderful views. Why then go to eat at Panonto? My answer is simply for its absolute normality, a too often neglected quality lately.

First of all the name. It should be easy for a Roman to figure this out, but I took 6 months to decipher its etymology: “Pan-onto”, or “pane-unto” -oily bread or the classical bruschetta with oil, garlic and salt. One might be led into thinking that this is the place’s specialty, but since this is an absolutely normal place, it is free from the constraining concept of “specialty”.

Second benefit: no reservations. Even if you wanted, they don’t take reservations. It is obvious that a restaurant should democratically feed anyone who shows up, included those who have not made reservations ahead of time.

Third, there is an open-air terrace -not an exotic garden, not an archaeological park, but a simple and pleasant terrace which can contain the numerous people seeking respite from the summer heat. Fourth, the food is good and cheap.

Last, it is located in a pleasant neighbourhood, Garbatella, in which you can take a walk before or after having eaten. So now the question one could ask oneself is: why NOT go eat at Panonto?

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Panonto | Restaurants (Pizza) | Pizza € 15.00
Via Cravero 4 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065135022
Thu – Tue 19:30 – 23:30