Rome, Italy - Ristorante Maccheroni

One of my favorite casual restaurants in Rome is an ex-butcher shop called Maccheroni just a short walk from the Pantheon on Via delle Coppelle. This is a truly lively restaurant with a wide open kitchen where you can watch each dish being prepared. The gregarious chefs here provide the entertainment as they simultaneously toss homemade pasta high in the air whilst blowing you a kiss at your table. They love to flirt and interact with the patrons. Another great aspect of this restaurant is that they are actually open on Sunday nights when most Roman establishments are closed for their weekly rest.

The chefs and their antics in the open kitchen

Maccheroni serves typical roman dishes such as carciofi alla romana, tonarelli alla carbonara, spaghetti all'amatriciana, as well as main dishes like homemade meatballs, chicken cacciatora, roman style tripe and other specialities from various regions of Italy. We ordered a carciofo alla romana to start, which is an artichoke that is cooked with white wine, parsley, and garlic, and found it very tasty. My mother had the egg based pasta called tonarelli alla carbonara (with pancetta, onion and grated pecorino) and said it was one of the best she ate while in Rome. For the main course we ordered the polpette al sugo, or meatballs in sauce. This was an abundant plate and the meatballs were delicious, though not as good as my Italian mother's or grandmother's (obviously!), they were definitely a flavorful and palate-pleasing option.

Carciofo alla romana - Roman artichoke



Tonarelli alla carbonara = one of the most typical Roman pasta dishes



Polpette in sugo = meatballs in tomato sauce

Reservations are absolutely mandatory and make sure when you book that you ask to be seated on the ground floor and not on the undesirable basement level. In summer months there are tables outside as well. There are many mixed review of this restaurant but my family and I had a very satisfactory meal here and would recommend it to others. Pin It