Gioia Mia

Come here for the simple menu (translated in English) as well for ease of reference. Atmosphere is cozy and relaxing.
My wife and I came here for lunch and we can tell you this place did not disappoint. I had cacio e pepe and loved the balance of the pecorino and pepper. My wife had Fetuccine with salmon and her only complaint was that there wasn’t enough salmon.
Apart from that, excellent choice for lunch or dinner without breaking the bank. Make this your stop for sure.

This was the Best Meal of our lives. Highly recommended! We had veal with white wine and mushrooms and cheese tortellini. The service is great with very little English spoken by the waiters. We have also booked reservations for tomorrow night. If you are staying in Rome then you should eat here.

We found out about this restaurant by a man with his wife and child, who slid by us to grab a table, I guess he over heard our conversation about restaurants and proceeded to tell us to try this place — he was from Los Angeles! He raved about it.
We arrived late, 9:30pm (by SF standards), and the restaurant was packed. We were greetly warmly and were immediately assisted by Mario, an friendly elder gentlemen waiter. Upon his recommendation I ordered a meat dish/​it had spinach, and my friend ordred Osso Bucco, veal.
Meat spinach dish — pass on it!
Osso Bucco — very good, large portion
I wasn’t satisfied so I ended up ordering a flatbread pizza with sausage, black olives and a few other ingredients. It was the size of a small pizza (US standard).
**Two thumbs up. Fresh crackerbread crust, with great tasting sauce, etc!
The house wine was really good, no complaints. I think 4 euro.
Then Tiramisu — average
Pane Cotta with choc sauce, heavy custard, but tasty — above average score.
I’ve had lighter custard versions. Try if you like Pane Cotta.
The owner also came over and greeted us, after some friendly chit chat, he gave us another round of wine! The restaurant has been in the family over 100 years…
GO! Get the pizza. Order popular dishes and see for yourself. We’d definitely go back.

Oh Unilocal,why didn’t I listen to your 1 star reviews?! After our front desk guy was unable to make reservations at another restaurant up the street, he highly recommended Gioia Mia to us. We were skeptical. We Unilocaled it and he said «check tripadvisor instead» so we quickly glanced and saw it had solid reviews. «Why not?» we thought! When in Rome, do as the Romans do, right? WRONG!
Unless you are local and/​or can speak Italian, I’m pretty sure they will try to SCAM you (that or the locals don’t check their bill?) It might be a euro here or a euro there but they definitely try! No doubt the locals love the food and the loud ambience and the slow ambling service. Our server/​host was probably the youngest Italian guy working there (prob in his 50s). He was very friendly (always trying to upsell) but he’d spend 10 min schmoozing at each table after taking your order, 10 min to go drop of your order, and while walking back with your order (another 5 – 10 min) he’d continue schmoozing to the point that I began worrying about the amount of saliva that was accumulating on my plate with all his talking over it. Want some saliva sauced spaghetti? Yum…
To add injury to insult, when we asked for the bill (which took 20 min to arrive), they made more than one «mistake»! We ordered a medium wine (6 euro) and they tried to charge us 12. We ordered 2 pastas (the most expensive pastas on the menu were all 8.50) which should amount to 17 euro… but somehow, that equaled 18 (the old guy in the back writing up the bills has clearly been doing this jobs for eons so doubtful it was just a mathematical mistake). I can accept the 3 euro «cover charge» for the two of us, along with the 2 euro water charge and the 10% service charge but overcharging us for menu items (where prices are clearly written) is down right dishonest. We don’t mind paying the actual costs of our meal (build it into the price of the menu) but these unscrupulous tactics are shady! Please Unilocalers, don’t make the same mistake as we did and listen to the warnings!

This is the only legit restaurant we ate at it in Rome. Clientele was 80% Italians and 20% lost tourists. Old school Italian interior, and the staff barely spoke English.
5 euro salad… simple, enough for two to share.
8.50 euro Salmon Pasta… not much salmon, but the sauce is incredible!
8.50 euro Gran Duca Pasta… FUCING AMAZING! ATE THIS TWICE!
7.50 euro Putanesca Pasta… good, but you’re better off ordering the above.
13 euro Bistecca… a thin steak with lemon wedges. Simple but satisfying as a shared secondi.
10 Eggplant… best on Planet Earth (overhyping?)
6 – 7 euro ½ Litre house wine… good enough!
We ate here 3 times, and I would eat here again and again! Gioia Mia only restaurant I would return to in Rome.

I’ll admit that some of the previous reviews kind of scared me a little bit before going to this place. The first time we went the service was good and the prices were good (I was waiting to get jipped), but I wasn’t thrilled with my pizza, although that was my fault for not ordering a pasta dish. My husband had Spaghetti alla carbonara and he loved it though. Probably my favorite thing about that place is their millefoglie dessert (they describe it as a Napoleon on their menu). Delicious!
The second time we went, I loved what I had, steak with a tomato, garlic, and red pepper sauce and it was amazing. However, I do think we got jipped that time because the price was the same as the first time (or more), and we only had water (no wine or soda).

Excellent food and very friendly service. Good sign is that it’s more locals eating than tourists.

0 stars is correct. When in Rome stay away. My family went for dinner since all the other restaurants we had intended to try were closed for holiday. We were seated near the fridge which was filthy and the place has no A/​C. But the place was crowded so we were willing to give it a chance. We figured the food must be decent if there are so many patrons. Boy did we regret it!!!
1. We were then given bread that was recycled by other tables. NO THANKS!!!
2. We were offered the eggplant plate which We kindly declined. We only want to eat what we ordered.
3. We had 2 veal dishes that others had said that they were to die for and the pepperdelle special. The food was overly salty and at this point i rather go hungry.
4. We asked for the bill and noted that a charge of 6E for tablecloth… that’s the most ridiculous fee ever. When i had inquire about it they older gent couldn’t explain what the fee was for. All of a sudden he does not speak English. What a shame? SCAMMING visitors to your country who fuels your economy. Places like this should be shut down.
We left the restaurant really upset that this place has ruined our last evening in Rome. Don’t let this place fool you… Stay FAR AWAY.

Very reasonable prices plus great food equals a must go! Had the roast pork which was simply to die for

For once everyone was not speaking English in the restaurant. Food was great and the price very reasonable

Food was good but when they scam you even after you question the bill I have a problem. They charged a 6 Euro cover charge for two of us for sitting inside the restaurant. If you ask in advance you can avoid this fee. Live and learn. They charged 2 more Euros for tap water and then to add insult to injury they charged 4 Euros for tax or a service charge of some sorts. So they took us for a extra 12 Euros ! None of these fees are posted anywhere in the restaurant. So bottom line I paid 43 Euros for what should have cost 31 Euros. Buyer beware. FYI tax is already included in all restaurants in Italy.

This is a nice restaurant. Good food, moderate prices, friendly service, great location!

After 10 days in Rome and Florence, the entire group of 10 voted this the best experience and meal that we had in Italy. Very friendly place with a great atmosphere and most importanly, awesome food. Since we ate family style we all got a taste of just about everything. The absolute best dish was the Eggplant Parmigiana. We all vowed to come back again. The Memphis crew also thought it was quite funny this restaurant was located next to Hotel Memphis :)

Ok, we were back today. I had to up the rating since Mom, hub, and I loved it so much. Mom had liver and onions, Venetian style, I had spaghetti carbonara, hub had potato gnocci with gorgonzola. Mom and I swilled wine, hub had a Tuborg beer. A good time and good food was had by all. This place has never let us down. It is so incredibly good to sit in this comfortable, yet packed place and chow down after a long day of hiking the city. I really really recommend it. Please stop by if you are in the area and want good food at a good price. Come early, they get packed by locals and tourists alike.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Rome. I’ve been coming here since I first discovered the place in 2003. It’s quite popular, so reservations are a must.
The first time I was here it was for lunch with my Mom. We shared a delicious pizza. The other times it’s been for dinner.
On a recent trip to Rome, I dined with four friends friends. We shared some white wine and a plate of antipasti and another dish. All of us ordered the papparadelle alla gran duca (wide ribbon pasta with ham, mushrooms, cream, tomatoes and cognac), which was excellent, very flavorful and one of the house specialties. Our dinner came to 18 euros per person, which is very good for what we received.
The restaurant has always been packed when I come here. The waiters are busy serving their guests (but some do take the time to flirt), the food is very good and atmosphere lively. This is my kind of Italian place to dine.

Très bon restaurant… pas cher. Situé à proximité de la fontaine de Trévi Trattoria /​Pizzéria /​Spécialités (excellentes pâtes au whisky). Excellent Tiramisu. Réservation impérative.