Restaurant in Rome, Italy
Honest Roman cooking, parliament district prices.
A Michelin Plate Roman osteria near the Parliament building with a single-€ price point and a 4.6 rating from over 3,200 reviews. Named after the owner's grandparents and focused on traditional Roman cooking with seasonal ingredients. Book ahead for the outdoor terrace — indoor seats are easier to secure, but the kitchen is worth the effort either way.
Poldo e Gianna Osteria earns a clear recommendation for anyone who wants honest Roman cuisine near the Parliament building without paying the tourist-trap prices that cluster around this part of the centro storico. With a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, a 4.6 Google rating across more than 3,200 reviews, and a single-€ price range, this is the kind of osteria that rewards planning: the outdoor tables in particular book up fast, and you will need advance reservations if you want them. The food stays rooted in Roman tradition, seasonal ingredients keep the menu from feeling static, and the room carries a warmth that comes from being named after real people — the owner's grandparents, Poldo and Gianna, who originally started the business. Book it, especially for a weekday lunch or an early dinner before the post-parliament crowds arrive.
When you walk past Vicolo Rosini and spot the outdoor tables, you are looking at the visual argument for booking early. The street-level terrace is compact and clearly in demand — this is not a sprawling piazza setup with fifty seats to spare, but a considered outdoor space where the atmosphere at a good table, on a clear Roman afternoon, does a lot of the work. Inside, the room is described as cheerful and contemporary, which in Roman osteria terms means you are getting something lighter and less heavy-handed than the dark-wood trattorias that trade on nostalgia. The overall feel is approachable without being casual, which suits the neighbourhood well.
The kitchen works a traditional Roman register: the cuisine type is Roman, full stop, and the menu emphasis is on seasonal ingredients interpreted through classical technique rather than reinterpreted through a modernist lens. For a food-focused traveller, this matters. Rome's canonical dishes , cacio e pepe, coda alla vaccinara, abbacchio, artichokes in season , exist on a spectrum from factory-line to genuinely considered, and a Michelin Plate signals that the panel found the cooking here worth noting without the full-star apparatus. Two consecutive Plate recognitions (2024 and 2025) suggest consistency, not a one-time performance.
The chef is Brad Mathews, though specific biographical details are not in our data. What the record does confirm is that the kitchen's orientation is toward tradition rather than experimentation. For the explorer diner, that is a useful signal: you are not coming here for provocation or novelty technique, you are coming for Roman cooking done with care and seasonal discipline. The comparison that matters is not with Rome's creative fine-dining tier but with the city's honest mid-range osteria circuit, where Poldo e Gianna holds its own clearly.
Weekday lunches are the practical sweet spot. The Parliament proximity means the neighbourhood has a working rhythm during the week, and lunch service at a well-run Roman osteria tends to be more relaxed than dinner in terms of pace. If outdoor seating is your priority , and given the setting, it should be , book as far ahead as the venue allows, particularly for Thursday or Friday lunch when the area is busiest. Saturday dinner is possible but the outdoor tables will be gone to reservations well before service begins. Sunday is variable; Roman osterie near institutional buildings often adjust hours on weekends, so confirm before you go.
Seasonally, spring and autumn are when a terrace in Rome earns its keep: mild enough to sit outside comfortably, and the seasonal menu will reflect produce at its most useful. Summer outdoor dining in central Rome is entirely possible, but midday heat is a factor. Winter visitors should weight toward the interior, which by the venue's own description is genuinely pleasant rather than a fallback option.
This is an osteria built around the experience of eating in the room or at the terrace. Roman cuisine at this level , hand-made pasta, braised cuts, vegetable preparations that depend on timing , does not travel particularly well. Cacio e pepe eaten twenty minutes after it leaves the kitchen is a different dish from the one served at the table. If you are considering off-premise options, the honest answer is that the cooking here is designed for the sit-down experience, and the value of the single-€ price point is leading realised when you are in the space. For Roman food that holds up better as takeaway, markets and street-food operations are a more practical format. Poldo e Gianna is worth the table.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, which likely reflects the indoor capacity more than the outdoor terrace. The outdoor tables are specifically flagged as needing advance booking, so treat those differently. No phone or website is listed in our data, which means you will need to approach booking through third-party platforms or by visiting in person. Given the location on Vicolo Rosini in the 00186 postcode, the restaurant is walkable from multiple Rome centro storico points of reference, including Campo de' Fiori, Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon area.
For other strong Roman cooking options in the city, Armando al Pantheon operates on a similar traditional register in an equally competitive location. Checchino Dal 1887 goes deeper into offal and the cucina povera tradition if that is your angle. Antica Pesa offers more room and a slightly wider price range. Da Danilo and CiPASSO are worth considering if availability is an issue here.
For context on where Roman cooking sits in Italy's wider restaurant scene, the country's most-discussed kitchens , Osteria Francescana in Modena, Uliassi in Senigallia, Reale in Castel di Sangro, and Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico , operate at a different price tier and culinary register entirely. Dal Pescatore in Runate and Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone are further reference points for Italian regional cooking at a higher spend level. Poldo e Gianna is not competing with those rooms , it is offering something more immediate and more affordable, which is exactly the point.
If you are in Milan or Brussels and want Roman food before the trip, Il Marchese in Milan and Osteria Romana in Brussels cover the canon reasonably well, though neither replaces eating Roman food in Rome at a single-€ osteria with a Michelin Plate and 3,200 reviews behind it.
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| Detail | Poldo e Gianna Osteria | Armando al Pantheon | Da Danilo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | € | €€ | €€ |
| Cuisine | Roman | Roman | Roman |
| Booking difficulty | Easy (indoor); plan ahead for terrace | Moderate | Moderate |
| Award recognition | Michelin Plate 2024, 2025 | Michelin Plate | Not listed |
| Google rating | 4.6 (3,216 reviews) | Not listed | Not listed |
| Outdoor seating | Yes (book in advance) | Limited | No |
| Location | Near Parliament, centro storico | Near Pantheon | Esquilino |
Come expecting traditional Roman cooking at a single-€ price point, with two consecutive Michelin Plate recognitions as a quality signal. The menu focuses on seasonal ingredients interpreted through Roman classics rather than modernist creativity. Prioritise the outdoor terrace if weather allows, but book it specifically in advance , walk-in availability for those tables is limited. Indoor seats are easier to secure. The neighbourhood is central and walkable from most Rome centro storico areas.
Traditional Roman cuisine leans heavily on meat, offal, egg-based pasta, and dairy, so vegetarian and vegan options tend to be limited at osterie of this type. No specific dietary information is available in our data. Contact the restaurant directly before your visit if restrictions are a concern , no phone or website is listed in our records, so approach via third-party booking platforms or in person. If flexibility on this is important to you, a modern Roman restaurant with a broader menu may be a safer choice.
No seat count or private dining information is in our data, so we cannot confirm group capacity. The venue is described as a cheerful, contemporary-feeling room, which in osteria terms typically means mid-sized rather than sprawling. For groups of four or more, book well in advance and confirm directly whether a suitable table configuration is available. If your group is larger than six, it is worth having a backup option , Antica Pesa and Checchino Dal 1887 both have more physical space for group dining.
No specific signature dishes are listed in our data, and we will not invent them. What the record confirms is that the kitchen works a seasonal Roman menu, which means dishes shift with what is available. In practical terms: artichokes appear in spring, game and braised cuts in autumn and winter. The Michelin Plate recognition across two years suggests the pasta and slow-cooked preparations are where the kitchen performs well , these are the categories Roman osterie typically anchor their menus around. Ask the server what is in season on the day you visit; that is the most reliable ordering strategy here.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poldo e Gianna Osteria | Roman | € | This cheerful and attractive contemporary restaurant near the Parliament building is named after the owner’s grandparents, Poldo and Gianna, who originally started the business. The menu here continues to focus on traditional Roman cuisine prepared using interesting seasonal ingredients. Tables in the pleasant outdoor space must be booked well in advance.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Il Pagliaccio | Contemporary Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Enoteca La Torre | Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Idylio by Apreda | Modern Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| La Palta | Country cooking | €€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Zia | Modern Italian, Innovative | €€€ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Book in advance and ask for an outdoor table — the terrace on Vicolo Rosini is the reason most people make the trip, and it fills faster than the indoor room. This is a Michelin Plate osteria named after the owner's grandparents, so the food is rooted in Roman tradition, not experimentation. At the € price point, it over-delivers for the neighbourhood. First-timers near the Parliament building who want honest cooking over tourist-facing menus will find it a strong fit.
Roman cuisine is built around meat, offal, pasta, and dairy, so the kitchen's defaults lean heavily in that direction. No specific dietary accommodation policy is documented for this venue. If you or your group have strict requirements, contact them directly before booking — the menu's traditional focus means flexibility may be limited compared to a more contemporary restaurant.
Groups are manageable for indoor dining, where booking difficulty is rated easy and capacity appears sufficient. The outdoor terrace is the harder ask — those tables are flagged as booking well in advance, which suggests limited supply. For groups of four or more wanting the terrace, book as early as possible. Larger private groups should check the venue's official channels to confirm options, as no private dining details are documented.
The kitchen focuses on traditional Roman cuisine using seasonal ingredients, so the practical approach is to follow what the menu emphasises on the day. Roman staples — braised cuts, hand-made pasta — are the format this kitchen is built around. No specific dish names are available from documented sources, but ordering from the seasonal or house recommendations is the safest route at any Michelin Plate osteria in this category.
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