Some helpful tips about eating in Rome
This information Rome blog article is written for the English speaking tourists staying in the Rome Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel.
Price lists
There has to be a price list clearly visible, preferably on the door of the restaurant.
Cover and service charge
There is a so-called coperta or cover charge, which should not be more than 2 or 3 Euros per person. With this you pay for the use of the cutlery, the napkins and table-cloths (no kidding). Often the cover charge and the bread are under one heading: pane e coperta.
Restaurants in Rome often ask for a service charge (servizio) as well. This is also legal, but it is forbidden to charge both for the coperta and the servizio. If your restaurant does charge you for both, just refrain from tipping them.
Standing or sitting in a café
In an Italian bar (which is not the equivalent of a pub, but of a café) you usually pay extra when you sit down: the servizio again. Again, take a good look at the price list: banco means that you will have your sandwich standing up at the bar, tavolo that you will enjoy it sitting down.
A full meal in a café? Maybe better not
Many bars, apart from offering their usually delicious panini and other assorted sandwiches, also offer pasta dishes. Keep in mind that these are usually micro-waved, so we recommend that you go to the trattoria across the road if you want an authentic Italian meal.
Rome restaurants and their opening hours
Foreign visitors to Italy will have to get used to the opening hours of Roman eateries. Restaurants, though they may open at 7pm, don’t really start serving food until 7.30 and even then the atmosphere will be kind of dull. Since restaurants usually start filling up at around 8.30 pm, we recommend that you go around 8, when it is not too difficult to find a table, and you still get to enjoy the unique atmosphere that characterizes Italian restaurants.
Eating on a Sunday in Rome
Remember that on Sundays many restaurants, and especially the more traditional trattoria’s in Rome are closed.