Al Gran Sasso

Our first nite in Rome and unfortunately chose a spot too close to touristy streets so we received a meal as such.
I will say, the wine was some of the best house wine we had on the trip. But that’s really where it ended…
it was so quiet in the restaurant! uncomfortably so. I felt i needed to whisper.
I want to say we just ordered wrong, because the gnocchi next to me someone ordered looked very good. However, our meal felt like American Italian and that i could get something better in NY.
Disappointed this was even one of my meals…

Saw some good Unilocal reviews so thought we would give this place a try on our first night in Rome. Admittedly we were early (just after 7pm) but there was no atmosphere and it was a little awkward as they weren’t even playing music in the background so you could here everyone’s conversation as it was so quiet and small in there. It had gotten busy by the time we left though, but everyone seemed to be a tourist, locals clearly knew of better dinner spots in the city.
Service was great. We started out with a meat and cheese plate which was very good. Lots of different meats and cheeses which all tasted great. The wine was also delicious. You can’t go wrong with 0.5L/1L of the local wine in Italy.
I then had the carbonara, my first in Italy so I had high expectations but was very disappointed. It looked like spaghetti with a scrambled egg (barely) mixed in. My fiancée had spaghetti in a tomato sauce which was OK, nothing special.
A bit disappointed we used up one of our 3 meals in Rome on this place, we should have done more research.

What can I say more than we ate here twice during our visit to Rome. The food was high quality and fresh – the service was impeccable. My personal favorite item – recommended by one of the waiters – was a side dish of green peas, cooked with bacon, olive oil, and onions. Have never seen it elsewhere, but it became my favorite food item from my time in Rome.

A great little place where they treat you very well! It’s not going to be the very best food you get in Rome, but the ambiance, service, and prices definitely compensate! The prosciutto + mozzarella and the tiramisu were probably the best things we got. Oh and the house red wine was fantastic! And only € 6 for a liter!

Traditional Roman food experience.
This was highly recommended by the owner of the apartment we were staying at.
Trattoria Al Gran Sasso made our first dinner experience in Rome memorable.
The servers are very friendly and hospitable.
We ordered: Total 87 Euro
Prosciutto with Mozzarella Bufala
Porcini Mushroom with Eggplant (Our favorite)
Pan fried Veal
Potaotes
Mixed Vegetables
1 Bottle of Chardonnay
1 Bottle Aqua Nappa Naturale
Tiramisu
Divine!
This place is small and intimate. To get there from Piazza del Popolo, just walk towards Via Ripetta! So close.
Experience is priceless.

The server recommended a bottle of Marco Carpineti Tufaliccio. Great stuff. To start had the Carbenara and Risoto. They were large servings so we had the lamb sticks next. Wonderful. We finished with the Tiramisu. Excellent!

We ate here 3 times out of our 5 days in rome. Due to the language barrier, I was hesitant to make phone reservations, so we were restricted to randomly wandering by places that were close-​ish to our touring spots. Thank goodness we wandered by this place! (Its convenient to piazza del poppolo) great waiters (the one spoke near perfect english) that didn’t make you feel like they were just tolerating your american self. There were many italians in there as well. ask for chocolate soufle. Even if its not on the menu, they’ll try to accommodate your chocolate craving. Their soups are great, and my friend got the peppercorn steak every time we went. Their lasagna was also fantastic, as was their greek salad. Everything fresh and delicious.

So this is what Italian food is really supposed to taste like. The person at the front desk recommended Ad Hoc on Via Ripetta. However, the woman in front said they were all booked even though there was an open table right in front of us. Too bad. I was prepared to spend 69 € for a wine pairing three course meal. We stopped by another trattoria but it seemed full. Then we looked at the menu at this place and the prices were much less that Ad Hoc and less than the second place. All dishes were under 10 €. We ordered the gnocchi and tortellini to start at the recommendation of the waiter. Both were excellent. Just enough sauce to flavor each dish. In the US both dishes would have been buried in sauce For our secondo we ordered veal, two ways. Rolled in a red sauce and the other veal chops diced and made into a stew w/​green peas. Both were outstanding except the veal rolls were a bit salty. The last dish was the insalata mista which was OK. Unfortunately we had no room for dessert. We also had a half litre of rosso and a large bottle of mineral water. The total came to 50 €. I was pleasantly surprised. The owner and waiter were super friendly and they both spoke English. There were plenty of Italians in the joint. I would definitely come back here next time.

Had a fine meal there from start to finish. The food is good and prices are correct. The service was good too with a great recommandation for the wine to go with our food choices.
We were quite happy with what we had for dinner when getting out but now a bit less enthusiatic after dinning two days later at the other trattoria right next to it (La Buca di Ripeta check our opinion on it) that, for a similar price, offer a much better value. We would still recommend this place if you happen to be in its neighborhood but we don’t think it’s worth crossing the entire city for a visit.