Before we went to our guided tour of the Colosseum, we had a morning walk around the hotel area and then settled down for a nice little lunch. For the lunch we decided to go to the Osteria Gran Sasso, which I picked up from Google as an authentic neighbourhood restaurant in the vicinity.
To start with, we had plates from the antipasto buffet (the prices for the dishes were around 10-12e and the antipasto buffet was per person, but we got some plates instead for five persons for around 25e). There was a salad of beans and carrots, some mushrooms, dry-cured ham (crudo), grilled zucchini, olives, bread, cheese and such.
For the main dishes, I had the pasta all’arrabiata. The dish was quite good, the penne was cooked perfectly and the sauce had a bit of a kick to it, although I do like it slightly more fiery (but not too much).
My wife had a risotto with shrimps and she liked it, although I did have to shell the shrimp for here.
Our older girl had fish (of course) and it came with potatoes and cherry tomatoes. She nibbled at it, but the antipasto in the beginning had taken the edge off of our hunger.
Our eldest had the pasta ragú (‘natch) and enjoyed it. All in all, the restaurant served very authentic food in a authentic setting. This is a good place to go if you want a feel for a nice Roman neighbourhood restaurant.
The restaurant is clean, but also rather old and you can sense the time that has passed in the decor. The service was friendly, but don’t expect to get by with just English.
| URL | Osteria Gran Sasso |
| Phone | +39-064403901 |
| Address | Via Como 10, 00161 Rome, Italy |