If you’re looking for a great-value fish restaurant in Rome, you’ve come to the right place. Properzio – Osteria di Mare offers incredibly presented and well-priced seafood near the Vatican in Rome. I was so excited to discover this place!
There isn’t a great deal of choice if you’re looking for seafood near the Vatican, so I was delighted to discover that Properzio serves sustainable fish and seafood with consummate skill. Chef Daniele Faia brings considerable experience to the role, having previously worked at top fish restaurants Il Porticciolo in Fiumicino and Livello 1 in EUR.
However, Faia has made the menu at Properzio – Osteria di Mare all his own. The restaurant’s tasteful ambience, a refined shabby chic, and the delicate hand thrown earthenware plates beautifully set off the jewel-like dishes. I recommend you try a tasting menu and trust Faia’s creativity to get the best out of this experience. There are also some amazing, cheap seafood lunch deals, such as a two-course meal priced at €16.
Properzio: seafood restaurant near the Vatican
Properzio, situated in Via Properzio, is just a 15 minute walk from St Peter’s, making it an extremely convenient seafood restaurant near the Vatican. While during summer months you can enjoy pavement dining, in the winter you’ll want to make the most of its handsome dining room, with burnished mirrors, soft tones and plenty of fresh flowers. It looks absolutely gorgeous and is also one of the most romantic restaurants in Rome.
Properzio fish restaurant: the review
Expect originality and creativity from chef Faia at Properzio – Osteria di Mare. For lunch, I plumped for one of the excellent value tasting menus. Designed for the entire table, chef Faia serves four courses featuring the day’s fresh fish for €45 per head, exclusive of wine and water.
If you love eating seafood and know how expensive restaurants near the Vatican can get, you will agree that it’s a great price point. On top of that, the plating, freshness of the fish and overall deliciousness of the dishes get top marks from me.
Lunch began with a wonderful sea bream tartare, marinated in cucumber and tomato waters which added a lovely, savoury freshness to the dish. This was followed with some delicate and tender grilled squid with whole and pureed broccoli.
One of the chief hallmarks of lunch, in fact, turned out to be not only the incredible seafood, but also the attention given to seasonal vegetables throughout the menu. Our next course featured roast octopus, served with some bitter winter greens and herbs for perfect balance (pictured above). The charring on the octopus was masterful, rendering it sweet and crisp.
After this, we were treated to a delicate soup of lentils, shrimp and mushrooms. This is the kind of plate that I adore (pictured top) combining flavours in a deeply nutritious dish.
For the pasta course, we tried some tasty gnocchi tossed with grilled octopus and chorizo, which proved a surprisingly excellent combination. For the main course, a seabass fillet topped with a ginger, cream sauce was served with puntarelle, a typical Roman winter chicory root.
We rounded things off with a delicate zabaglione foam, infused with orange peel and topped with sliced hazelnuts. This light dessert was a perfect finish and ideal after a healthy and nutritious lunch. I was also impressed with the wine pairings, including a champagne method local bubbly and a floral Italian white wine.
Properzio is many things: a good value fish restaurant in Rome; an excellent choice for seafood near the Vatican; a cheap lunch place in Prati; and a beautifully appointed space to spend some time. I will definitely be back and cannot recommend this place highly enough.
Properzio – Osteria di Mare | Via Properzio 20 | Rome | Tel 0039 06 6830 8471
Testaccina was a guest of Properzio – Osteria di Mare
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