If you’re looking for a list of romantic restaurants in Rome, you’ve come to the right place. This post rounds up 16 of the most romantic dinner options in Rome for every budget. So don’t worry if it’s a first date or a Golden Wedding Anniversary – what follows is a selection of divine places to eat, where the charming setting and excellent service will effortlessly impress.
I’ve dined at all the following restaurants in the past year, with a single companion or in a larger group, so in case you are curious, they all get the Testaccina seal of approval for food quality, all-round deliciousness and great service – so feel free to bookmark the post for a meal with friends or family too!
The price guide below covers 2.5 to 3 courses with water. Remember that cocktails, wine and after dinner drinks haven’t been factored in and many restaurants plan special menus for occasions such as Valentine’s Day. It’s always worth checking with the restaurant when you book. Enjoy!
Price guide:
€ – €25-€40 per head excluding drinks
€€ – €45-€65 per head excluding drinks
€€€ – €65-€80 per head excluding drinks
€€€€ – €85+ per head excluding drinks
Romantic dinner in Rome: Alfredo Alla Scrofa – €€
This downtown institution has romance in its DNA. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, two stars of Hollywood cinema at the start of the 20th century, visited Alfredo alla Scrofa in 1920 during their honeymoon and became firm fans of Fettuccine Alfredo.
To say thank you for the hospitality they had enjoyed and out of appreciation for the food, the two actors sent Alfredo a gold fork and spoon engraved with their names, which is today one of the restaurant’s most prized treasures. Today, it’s one of central Rome’s most classically pleasing trattorias, with a broad range of dishes on the menu – as well as the original and best Fettuccine Alfredo. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Valentyne Restaurant and Cocktails – €€€
Valentyne by name, Valentine by nature, this sexy basement cocktail bar and eatery with its red-velvet-glamour is perfect for putting you and your date in the mood.
Just a stone’s throw from the Spanish steps, Valentyne opens at 6.30pm, so it’s great for an early evening drink but really comes into its own for dinner and late night cocktails – with DJ sets in the small hours. The food has a gourmet, international vibe, but manages to keep things casual with lots of tartares, fish in tempura, and even a superb club sandwich for those late-night munchies. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Casa Coppelle – €€€€
Casa Coppelle, a restaurant in Rome’s divine piazza delle Coppelle, has quickly become one of the city’s most sought-after dining options thanks to a heady collision of French interiors and tastes with Italian seasonality and invention.
Interiors created a few years ago by French designer Jacques Garcia tease a chateau-boudoir vibe, with slick Napoleon III tables and armchairs sourced in France set off by designer Italian lamps and textiles, plus the warmth of exposed brick.
Rumour has it that Casa Coppelle is equally loved by local aristocrats as Hollywood royalty, but if you’re an ‘ordinary’ guest like yours truly, expect to get the full VIP treatment too.
Chef Fabio Rossi is an artistic and insightful cook, driving Casa Coppelle’s mission to offer Mediterranean cuisine with a strong sensorial impact. By paying serious attention to the development of sauces and desserts, two foundations of French gastronomy, Rossi channels the excellence of France while leaving plenty of space for Italian and European influence to invade the plate. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Moma Rome – €€€
Moma Rome, cute cafe and bistro by day, and cosy Michelin-star restaurant by night, is a must-visit spot when in Rome. Located incredibly centrally behind Piazza della Repubblica, about a ten minute walk from Rome’s main train station, Termini, this two-level restaurant oozes family-run charm, while proving a sophisticated locale for occasion dining.
Moma Rome has just a couple of tables on the pavement outside, ideal for a quick breakfast coffee, or a pre-dinner aperitif, which match the simplicity of its bijoux ground-floor bar space, equipped with half a dozen stools.
Meanwhile, the upper level is a cosy arrangement of white table clothes in an L-shaped dining room that manages to carve out intimate, private corners. At lunch, Moma Rome’s quick and breezy bistro serves local workers and tourists in the know, with chef Franco Pierini at the helm.
Moma’s light lunch runs from 11.30 to 15.00 offering a range of dishes depending on daily market arrivals such as eggplant Parmigiana, cod flan, octopus salad, meatballs and potato gateau. Diners can choose individual dishes from the menu or opt for a good-value three course selection. It is also possible to order from the Michelin-starred menu at lunch, with a pared down choice also friendly on the pocket. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Coromandel – €€
Wood-panelled Coromandel with its charming and kooky design details is full of romantic corners in which to clasp your lover’s hand and chat to your heart’s content.
Combining an intimate location with delicious food, Coromandel is ideal for a romantic dinner or one of the best brunches in Rome. While Coromandel’s interiors are a charming mix of English whimsy and Parisian chic, expect a yummy, transatlantic mix of breakfast and brunch options, while the dinner menu has a wholly Italian spirit infused with European influence. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Trattoria Pennestri – €
They say that one of the way’s to the heart in through the stomach, so Trattoria Pennestri may just be the key to unlocking love. This wonderfully original neighbourhood trattoria with its shabby-chic interiors has an extremely tempting menu which goes above and beyond the usual trattoria fare in Rome.
Trattoria Pennestri launched two years ago, as the brainchild of Italian-Danish chef Tommaso Pennestri and Argentinian sommelier and maitre’d Valeria Payero. The result is never boring, while tipping its cap to local food heritage in a fun and delicious way. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Vista Restaurant – €€€
Casina Valadier is one of Rome’s iconic addresses – a stately home with wow factor in the city’s park-with-a-view, Villa Borghese. While often the site for upscale weddings and private events, you don’t actually have to reserve the entire Casina Valadier to enjoy its charms.
Not everyone knows that it is also home to a sensational gourmet restaurant called Vista, which enjoys some of the finest views in Rome from its lofty perch on the Pincio, elevated further by its third floor location at Casina Valadier.
Vista’s charms don’t just stop at that view, as chef Massimo D’Innocenti is the restaurant’s real secret weapon. I met Massimo when I went to dine at Vista and was blown away by his sunny disposition and food ethic. A self-styled ‘happy chef’, Massimo told me that he doesn’t believe that chefs should lose their temper in the kitchen – as has become all the rage in the age of the restaurant celebrity – as it spoils the food.
This philosophy was perfectly borne out during my meal at Vista Restaurant, characterised by a series of delightful dishes which indeed left a huge smile on my face. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Giulia – €€€
If you’re looking to impress your date in terms of locations, this gorgeous restaurant on Rome’s prettiest street is a guaranteed jaw-dropper. The only thing more attractive than the location is Pierluigi Gallo’s exquisite menu, which delights and surprises all the way.
Expect everything from an homage to Roman cuisine, with offal and unusual takes on lamb and fish, while starting and show-stopping desserts really round off the meal with flair. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Il Tino – €€€€
Il Tino, 1 Michelin star, occupies a prime garden location on the Fiumara, the estuary to Rome’s Tiber river, which flows flanked by green fields through the moorings at Fiumicino, a couple of miles from the sea.
Situated a stone’s throw from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, and a 40 minute drive from the city, Il Tino stands in a purpose-built structure in a boatyard, and dining in Rome doesn’t get much more romantic than this!
Chef Daniele Usai has created an incredible fish restaurant replenished with local seafood catches crafted into richly original dishes. Il Tino is a personal favourite of mine and works any time of year. Full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: All’Oro – €€€€
All’Oro Rome, a Michelin star restaurant by Riccardo di Giacinto, has entered the canons of Rome’s fine dining scene for good reason.
Approaching a decade with a Michelin star, All’Oro has matured into a key reference point on the Roman restaurant scene, these days occupying a handsome, dark-wood-lined ground-floor space at boutique hotel The H’All Tailor Suite, a stone’s throw from Piazza del Popolo.
The lobby is on a raised floor, so its downstairs to All’Oro on the ground floor, a black-walled and dark carpeted space with the neutral simplicity of a drama studio. This is no mistake, as the All’Oro magic is designed to introduce colour and surprise to this blank canvas. As you dine, dishes slowly populate the black tables, artfully lit, with the sleight of hand of a miniature theatre.Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: The Flair, Hotel Sina Bernini Bristol – €€€
The Flair – Rooftop Restaurant offers simple elegance with views of Rome that make the need for more embellished flourishes largely redundant.
Chef Alessandro Caputo, Sicilian-born but Rome resident, has managed to pack a lot into his short career: spells at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck (3 Michelin stars), as well as at Michel Roux Jr’s Le Gavroche, (2 Michelin stars), two of London’s most influential restaurants. Before joining The Flair last year, his most recent role was as second chef to Massimiliano Alajmo at Caffè Quadri in Venice (3 Michelin stars). Yep, there’s a pretty starry theme developing.
Caputo loves to combine local, seasonal ingredients with an artful simplicity that still manages to surprise. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Hosteria Amedeo – €€
This Castelli Romani escape with a green garden and unforgettable views across the olive groves is perfect for a bucolic dinner, savouring classics of Roman cuisine which have been reinvented in style.
Located in the village of Monte Porzio Catone, a 30 minute drive from Rome, Hosteria Amedeo is a restaurant with a fresh outlook on cuisine and plenty of ties with local traditions.
Blessed with a long, green garden, where olive trees provide natural shade, it’s a remarkable idyll for escaping the noise of the city and getting back to the countryside with a refined outlook on authentic tastes. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Mirabelle – €€€
Mirabelle Restaurant Rome, the seventh floor restaurant at the Splendide Royal Hotel in Rome, is one of the best restaurants in Rome with a view.
Offering open air dining in the warm months of the year on one of Rome’s best roof terraces, overlooking Villa Borghese, Mirabelle is still one of the best restaurants in Rome with a view during winter. From the end of October, the wrap-around terrace is closed under glass and heated snugly with burners, without interrupting its peerless views of Saint Peter’s in the Vatican.
Views aside, choose Mirabelle Restaurant for assured, gourmet dining in the safe hands of chef Stefano Marzetti, who had been guiding the ample kitchen brigade here for around a decade. Mirabelle is perfect for a romantic dinner or anniversary, or simply a decadent occasion to enjoy good company, fine food, and impeccable service. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Bistrot64 – €€€
Italy’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant will still earn you tonnes of brownie points with a date you’re trying to impress. The impeccable service combined with Kotaro Noda’s imaginative take on Italian and indeed Roman cuisine is guaranteed to raise smiles at the dinner table.
One of the fun things about Bistrot64 is the fact that you can order a selection of dishes “inspired by the chef”. This set menu of five dishes costs just €40 per person, if diners eat before 19.30, and €50 per person from 19.30 onwards. The same dishes are served to all diners at the table, and an optional wine pairing of five glasses costs €40.
Alternatively, you can compile your own five course meal from the menu, or order a la carte, where antipasti start at €14, first course dishes €20, and second courses start at €30. So there are plenty of options for every budget. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Pesciolino – €€€
Pesciolino is a bijoux fish restaurant in the heart of old Rome, serving fresh and raw fish with a modern, Mediterranean twist. Just a short walk from the Spanish Steps, it’s in the prettiest part of old Rome and oozes intimate charm.
The brainchild of owner Dario Asara, Pesciolino (whose name means ‘little fish’) is an upmarket yet youthful spot with a dozen tables under a duck-egg blue ceiling, printed with darting fish.
There are also half a dozen seats at the well-stocked bar, ideal for a quick oyster and cocktail aperitif, a bowl of mussels at lunch, or a plate of pasta.
At the end of the artfully designed dining room, a bright and pleasant open kitchen really inspires you to sit down and taste this well-thought out menu. Here, chef Fabio Pecelli dreams up stunning and original fish dishes that focus on seasonal catches and ingredients. Read the full Testaccina review here.
Romantic dinner in Rome: Epos Food & Wine at Poggio le Volpi vineyard – €€
Wrapped in vineyards, beyond the green hills of Frascati and the Castelli Romani, Epos Food & Wine is an adventurous getaway beyond Rome for a special date full of surprises and rich with earthy promise.
Epos Food & Wine has an enviable location on the second floor of the villa at the heart of this rolling wine estate, with a handsome balcony and dining rooms enjoying exceptional views over the long plains of the Castelli Romani.
The food ranges from refined classics of Roman cuisine, through an excellent range of meat dishes, plus a sublime wine list. Read the full Testaccina review here.
I HAVE VISITED SEVERAL OF THE RESTAURANTS AND CAN RECOMMEND THEM, TRY TO VISIT LATE SEASON, CHINA
china.alexandria@livingthedream.blog
Great tip China!
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