Trattoria and pizzeria, since 1945 · €
The neighbourhood's canteen, two hundred metres from the hotel door: paper tablecloths, the Roman pastas and pizza, at prices that have not noticed the Colosseum. Its own site gives continuous hours, noon to midnight every day, which makes it the answer at four in the afternoon when everything else is shut. Expect a queue at eight and a table turned fast; that is the deal, and the reason it has lasted since 1945.
Walk inVia di San Giovanni in Laterano 88
Wine bar with a Roman kitchen · €€
A small wine bar on the quiet street that runs back from the Colosseum, pouring by the glass with the advice a good enoteca gives, and cooking proper Roman plates to go with it, porchetta among them. It is where to eat when you want to be near the hotel without being in it. A handful of tables outside; book if you want one of them.
Reserve aheadVia Ostilia 4
Roman pizzeria, evenings only · €
Thin Roman pizza from the oven and fried starters, on the street below the basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati. Its own site gives 19:00 to midnight and Tuesday closed, with a reservation page worth using because the room is small and the locals know it.
Reserve aheadVia dei Santi Quattro 24
Hostaria Isidoro
5 min walkTrattoria known for its pasta tasting · €€
In a former convent on the same street as Luzzi, and known for one idea: a divided plate of three pastas, so that you do not have to choose between carbonara, amatriciana and whatever the kitchen is doing that day, sold as a tasting for two or more. Loud, generous and unpretentious, and open long hours.
Reserve aheadVia di San Giovanni in Laterano 59a
Caffè Propaganda
5 min walkParisian-style bistrot, all day · €€
A belle époque bistrot in the Paris manner, tiled like a Métro station under old glass chandeliers, that runs from lunch through the aperitivo to late. Its listings give Tuesday to Sunday from noon until two in the morning and Monday closed. Come for the room and a drink when you have had enough of trattorias; the kitchen is French-Roman rather than either.
Reserve aheadVia Claudia 15
Breakfast is included on every rate and served on the Aroma terrace, with the Colosseum in front of you. It is the one part of the roof that costs a room guest nothing beyond the room, and the reason to set an alarm. Guests describe the selection as narrower than the price suggests, so if you want a second coffee at a counter, Via di San Giovanni in Laterano has a bar every hundred metres.
The restaurants with photographed menus on Piazza del Colosseo and along Via dei Fori Imperiali, facing the monument. You would pay for the view twice, once at the hotel and once at the table, and the second time the food would not be worth it. Everything above is three to five minutes in the other direction.
