I was in town to run the Rome Marathon. At about 7 pm on Friday, I walked over here to eat dinner…read more Ever since I had watched Spirit of the Marathon II, I wanted to come here to eat a pizza made by Mimmo. It looked to be a local hole in the wall type restaurant. The entire restaurant was decorated with his running trophies and medals. They definitely had their local regulars. I first entered thinking that I had to wait for someone to seat me, but apparently you just had to seat yourself at an empty seat or table where it was not marked with a reserved sign. Eventually, an employee brought me a menu. I ordered the Podista pizza and caffé. The caffé was just a shot of espresso which was enough to help with the jetlag. The Podista pizza came with tomato, fior di latte cheese, sausage, vegetables au gratin, and dried beef ham. I noticed that in Italy, they ate their pizza with fork and knife. The quality and taste was quite different than the pizzas that I'd eaten in the States. Of course, this was much better! The staff was very nice and friendly.

Great neighborhood restaurant about a block from our AirBNB. Super casual…read more "Podista" means runner, as in track and field. The owner is a former track star. The pizza was as good as any we've had so far in Italy. The appetizer of grilled veggies was excellent. For dessert we had pannacotta with some sort of jellied berries on top. Add to that beer and two amaros to complete the meal. Service was excellent. Not foodie cuisine but a fun meal with great people watching as neighbors greeted each other and Il capo. Why only four stars? I wouldn't go across town to eat here, but if you're in the neighborhood, it's perfect. And there are no doubt dozens of equally good restaurants across Rome. But we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening in a very relaxed ambience. Here's the lagniappe: our waiter was Colombian so we could communicate in español.