No one location can be recommended to search for a good restaurant: some of the best places to eat are in the most unpromising locations while well-situated restaurants can often live on their reputation rather than the quality of their food. Restaurants in guidebooks can be good but prices can be inflated because it is more than likely a “tourist trap.” To find an authentic restaurant that wont break the bank try to find a place in a more residential area or somewhere that isn’t in the middle of the tourist locations.
Pizza
Roman pizzas are very thin crusted, quite different from the classical pizza made in Naples; they’re also crunchier and have far less pizza topping. Most restaurants serve pizza only in the evening. Try some of the fried things like baccalà (battered salt cod) or supplì (fried rice balls with cheese and tomato) for a starter, followed by a pizza for a really Roman meal and avoid the tourist areas where you’ll often pay double the going rate just to get a badly reheated frozen pizza. Some restaurants also make round pizzas to take away: look for signs reading either “pizze da asporto” or “pizze da portar via”.
You’ll have to cut your round pizza (in Italy, the cook doesn’t do that for you) with fork and knife, which can then be eaten with one’s hands; contrary to some travel myths, there’s absolutely no stigma whatsoever to doing it.
Pizza al taglio is pizza with a thicker crust and cooked in a large pan. It is served by the piece – usually to take away – and is a good, cheap way to get something to fill you up: point to the one you want and indicate if you want more or less than your server is indicating with the knife. Unlike Naples, pizza al taglio here is sold by weight (the listed price is usually per 100 gm, known in Italian as an un etto, a hectogram).
Pizzerie al taglio (places selling pizza by the slice, that is) are the city’s very own equivalent of a fast-food joint and, pretty much like the fish and chips shops in the UK, they’re a cornerstone of Roman life. They sell the ubiquitous supplì – which is a truly delicious complement to pizza – pepper roasted chicken, fiori di zucca, potato croquettes, lasagne and roast potatoes; most of these establishments also make round pizzas to take away, but they cost more and you’ll often have to wait (especially at lunchtime).
Bakeries (Italian: forno, or panificio) also make very good pizza by the slice, even though their choice of toppings is quite limited. There you can ask to have your (plain) slice of pizza filled with Nutella…
Ice cream
Look for a gelateria. You pay for your ice cream first… then take your receipt and go fight your way through the throng to choose your flavours. You will be asked “Panna?” when it’s almost made – this is the offer of whipped cream on top. If you’ve already paid, this is free. Some gelaterie require a small additional charge in order to get your cream — mostly half or one euro.