Fact: it is very easy to have a less-than-thrilling dining experience in Rome. Fortunately, however, the good stuff is indeed everywhere, in every neighborhood, and yours for the taking with some know how and curiosity. Naturally, everyone has their own opinions, tastes, and fantastic travel experiences that led them to that holy plate of cacio e pepe or that first experience of trying real mozzarella di bufala (not that shredded stuff in a plastic bag labeled Kraft). So I figured, why not add to the conversation? Here are some suggestions from my travels in Rome, both recent as well as tried and true. Not everything is a restaurant, but each suggestion is worth venturing to and is more or less friendly and approachable. Some words of advice: greetings like buon giorno and buona sera, and expressions of politeness like grazie and per favore go a long way – don’t be afraid to practice your Italian.

1. Bonci’s Pizzarium

Via della Meloria, 43, 00136 Roma RM, Italy

By now I’m sure chef Gabriele Bonci’s Pizzarium is a staple for foodie travellers making their way around Rome. When the master pizza maker (pizzaiolo) made his American television debut in 2009 on Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover episode in Rome, the jolly and convivial chef (with hands and arms that only a man who beats up dough or mafia criminals every day could have) was quick to endear himself to viewers with affable charm and potty-mouth exclamations over what makes a good pizza (perfect dough, no more than three toppings – “One, two, three! That’s the sh*t!”). Now, almost a decade since that vibrant introduction, Bonci is still churning out creative, artisan 3-topping pizzas that you can purchase by weight, guaranteeing an all too easy approach to sampling a variety of these creations to your heart’s content.

Northwest of the crowds of tourists visiting the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, you’ll find this relatively small space with counter service and a grab-a-number routine to keep the foodie crowds that inevitably show up even before the doors open in order. An Italian microbrewery in the same neighborhood supplies the beer offerings, but an especially noteworthy side to this pizza euphoria is the house made specialty suppli, a typical Roman snack comprised of tomato, rice, and meat battered and fried into perfect piping-hot sort of croquettes.

Here Bonci gets especially creative with suppli-takes on classic pasta dishes: spaghetti suppli, carbonara suppli, cacio e pepe suppli – one can die and go to heaven just dining on these alone. Lucky for you, they’re incredibly affordable and worth tacking onto a pizza order. Be prepared to stand and enjoy this perfect lunch spot Italian style – on your feet gazing and grazing hedonistically at the happenings around you (in other words, there’s no seating here).

You can easily reach Pizzarium on Rome’s metro Linea A, stop Cipro – the shop is just in front of the metro station. Get there early – crowds gather for lunch every day beginning at 11am.

2. Mercato Testaccio (Testaccio Market)

Via Beniamino Franklin, 00118 Roma RM, Italy – entrances on Via Beniamino Franklin, Via Alessandro Volta, Via Aldo Manuzio, Via Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Come for the colors, sights, and smells, leave with a happy belly and groceries for that awesome pasta dinner you’re going to whip up tonight in your Airbnb while drinking wine and listening to Pavorotti. The Testaccio market is a main staple of the Testaccio neighborhood which you’ll find east of the Tiber river and south of the bigger city attractions. The area, curiously enough, is built upon a man-made “mountain” composed entirely of broken fragments of ancient Roman pottery called testae, hence the name Testaccio.

The market itself is in a relatively new complex composed of dozens of stalls with their vendors selling products ranging from bountiful rainbows of produce to fresh, handmade pasta (both to be eaten on the spot for a quick lunch and to be taken home for that dinner you’re making), butchers & fishmongers, to specialty cheeses, desserts, & wines, as well as books & leather shoes. Anything consumable and Italian – it’s here.

What is also here, in box 15, is perhaps the most delicious, meatiest, juiciest sandwich you could possibly get your hands on in Rome (not to mention economic – under 5 euros). Mordi e Vai is the Roman street food brainchild of chef Sergio Esposito, and he and his crew serve up some of the most mouth-watering panini you’re going to find on this side of the Atlantic.

While there are one or two vegetarian options, the real star of the show is panino #1, Alesso di Scottona e Cicorietta, otherwise affectionally dubbed as il classico, or the classic. Slow-braised beef, shredded over a crusty bun that’s been sliced in half and dipped in the aforementioned beef’s braised juices, topped with sautéed leafy chicory (not unlike Swiss chard or spinach). Sliced in half, served in a to-go bag that catches all the drippings, and a glass of house red wine to boot (pairs so well with that beef).

Reputed as the most popular stall in the market, I can imagine it gets swarmed at peak lunch hours, especially during the warmer, tourist-heavy months. I visited twice the last week of February and had the place to myself, as well as the audience of the panino maker who talked enthusiastically about Amsterdam and its annual ED music festival, a reoccurring theme in my conversations with local service industry folk…

You can visit the Testaccio market every day (except Sunday), from 7am until 3:30pm. Bring a bag for groceries, and feel free to tell the vendors what you’re wanting to cook for dinner. They’ll happily pick out products and portions for you, and at an incredibly affordable price.

3. L’Osteria di Birra del Borgo

Via Silla, 26a, 00192 Roma RM, Italy

L’Osteria di Birra del Borgo offers everything you would want to eat in Rome, but in a hip, modern, and unpretentious locale that happens to be a brewery as well. Win win, I say. Furthermore, it doesn’t hurt that the menu offerings are designed by Gabriele Bonci of the aforementioned Pizzarium, so if you missed out on that window for lunch, know you can still eat delectable pizza delights in a cozy stylish restaurant equipped with ample bar space.

A dinner is sure to be special here – just make sure you book a reservation in advance (easy to do online). Then you can sample the assorted appetizers (House meatballs! Those fantastic suppli!) with a different beer for each bite, before indulging on a decadent main course. But I recommend a more economical approach that will leave you just as satisfied – come for lunch at the bar, and you’ll get a great deal with their “business lunch” combo: two different plates, plus coffee, for only €15.

One afternoon after a morning visit to the Palazzo Barberini, I hopped on the metro (Linea A, direction Battistini) and in less than ten minutes I was across the Tiber and sitting inside this shaded and welcoming bar. I sipped on their house made fruity saison, La Duchessa, with bites of fresh baked bread and olive oil as I picked out my lunch combo: a salad composed of fennel, orange, and olives, followed (in perfect time) by the house rigatoni all’amatriciana, topped decadently with fried pork cheek (guanciale) and grated pecorino romano. Other options included additional classic pasta dishes (cacio e pepe, tonarelli marinara) as well as meat courses, like roasted chicken and potatoes.

The Smiths played on heavy rotation as I took my time with each bite, and the bartender was all too happy to talk about the beers they brew in house, in addition to being generous with their samples. They also sell bottled beers, and the offerings seem to rotate seasonally and even include collaborations with other European brewers.

L’Osteria di Birra del Borgo is located in the Prati district near the Vatican and St. Peters Basilica. They’re open everyday from 12pm to 2am; I’d get there right at opening for a fantastic lunch, or for dinner, make a reservation in advance.

4. La Tavernaccia da Bruno

Via Giovanni da Castel Bolognese, 63, 00153 Roma RM, Italy

Walking into Tavernaccia da Bruno in Trastevere gives you the “I’m eating real Italian food in Italy!” experience you probably want, with none of the attitude or confusion. That being said, you can still make an effort to be as civilized as possible by not chopping up your spaghetti with a knife into bite sized pieces or putting salt on your dish before even trying it, as I witnessed one evening while dining there alone. My experience led me to believe this place is definitely on many a traveller’s radar, but even so I had a truly charming and authentic experience, made especially so by the unbelievably friendly and courteous staff who, in my humble opinion, could justifiably have more of an attitude given the quality of food they’re churning out to the masses.

Here you’ll find classic and varied Italian fare on handwritten menus that reflect the day’s availability as well as the diversity of the kitchen staff and owners: antipasti, pizza, pasta, side dishes (contorni) and the famous Sardinian dish of suckling pig with potatoes. Because I dined on a Sunday, I was able to sample that heavenly piece of pasta we call lasagna. A decadent, juicy portion that is only available that one day of the week. Before that I started with a contorno of grilled vegetables – zucchini, bell peppers, and eggplant – everything singing in unison with a house red.

I don’t think you can order a wrong dish at this place – it gives off that handmade, family run charm that keeps patrons lining up outside the door each night they’re open. It’s wise to make a reservation in advance, and be sure to save room for the dessert (dolci) which they keep behind a clear, refrigerated glass in the dining room, visible so that you can wrestle with choices throughout your meal.

I opted for a chocolate and pistachio mousse, complete with whole pistachios in its own chilled glass. And do yourself another favor: follow each decadent dinner in Rome with an amaro (del Capo, or Lucano, or whatever your waiter suggests) – a sweet digestif that makes all that pasta go down easier. If you really want to play the part of an Italian, follow that amaro up with a shot of espresso that will encourage you to take an evening stroll because the truth is Rome is its most beautiful self under the night sky.

La Tavernaccia di Bruno is open every day except Wednesdays, for both lunch and dinner with a break in between. Make reservations in advance by dropping them an email – they’re nice, they’ll reply.

5. Tacos & Beer

Via del Boschetto, 130, 00184 Roma RM, Italy

I’ve decided to conclude this list of gastronomical delights with an obvious break from the traditional flavors we expect to consume in Rome, and instead present to you: tacos & beer. No, really, the place is called Tacos & Beer, and that’s what you’ll want if you find yourself needing a break from all the decadence that is pasta and cheese and pizza and porchetta and wine and gelato (need I go on?).

Towards the end of a ten day stay in the Italian capital, I found myself craving something different to reset my palate, and as any good American I cannot help but to feel my heart and stomach always calling out to the Mexican food gods to bless me with that holy flavor profile of onion, cilantro, and lime.

As an expat living in Amsterdam, I have suffered from these unabated cravings for some time now, rarely satisfied and consistently disappointed with whatever “latin” fare my city tries to offer. Despite these shortcomings, I had an ounce of faith in the Italian people, and it is with a genuine and satisfied smile on my face that I present this refreshing alternative to your ump-teenth panino.

Tacos & Beer is run by a group of friends who are into rock & roll and punk music, homemade cocktails (margaritas anyone?), local art (the space doubles as a gallery), and the flavors that are most commonly found in Mexican cuisine. A fellow American expat friend of mine in Amsterdam described this photo I took of the tacos as “made by someone who has only heard of tacos but never seen them.” Another friend back in the States said they “look like cartoon tacos.” And while both assertions are obviously and hilariously justified, as an American I’m here to report: they are good.

The cantina (if you will) is small with only four tables for patrons to graze on. When I went for lunch one Wednesday afternoon, one of the owners was working and offered me a draft beer on the house as I waited for a spot to open up (such hospitality!) which one soon enough did. The deal is they make about eight specialty tacos, each with their own protein or veggie, as well as their own special sauce. Throughout the menu are all the classic ingredients you’d expect to find: cilantro, onion, pico de gallo, avocado, hot sauce, jalapeños, etc. You can pick three tacos or one burrito for five euros – not bad at all. A house made margarita will run you €5, a draft beer €3. Other menu offerings include quesadillas and nachos with various toppings. The owner graciously offered to pick out three tacos for me, to which I replied, “Yes, thank you! But please, give me all the meat.” And that he did: one of sliced steak, one of stewed chicken, and the other a kind of al pastor style pork.

As I finished the first taco, my heart swelled and my stomach cheered for the flavor profile I had been missing now for so long. I thought I would need to order three more as they were each so flavorful and I was not wasting any time polishing them off, but with a second pour of cold beer, I was totally satisfied.

The space is decorated in bright colors and vibrant illustrations, and was playing tunes that I personally didn’t recognize exactly but my punk-loving, rock & roll drummer of a husband would have known for sure. A cool bonus is this place is located in a pretty central area of the city, in the Monti neighborhood (equidistant between the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum) and just a two minutes’ walk from Michelangelo’s masterpiece the Moses in San Pietro dei Vincoli, a piece originally intended to adorn Pope Julius II’s tomb.

So get you some tacos and go check out the nearby Renaissance masterpiece. Tacos & Beer is open every day except Monday, 12:30pm for lunch (except Sunday), and 6:30pm for dinner.