Fortunato al Pantheon
Avoiding Rome's touristy restaurants + a gem near the Pantheon
We were chatting with friends who own an Italy travel planning company recently. They told us about clients who had just returned from Rome and reported that they did not enjoy the food. Apparently, they did not have even one good meal.
Really? Not even one? We chuckled. They probably didn’t know where to go, what to order, or how to appreciate Roman cuisine.
Truth be told, though, it is getting harder to enjoy an authentic meal in Rome’s historical center. The city is inundated with tourists year-round, and more and more restaurants cater to them. Smooth-talking staff beckon (harass) bypassers walking by, sandwich boards advertise fixed-price tourist menus, and too often, the food served is sub-par and overpriced.
In some cases, a good ristorante or trattoria goes viral on social media and becomes overrun by tourists. The restaurant Armando al Pantheon is a good example of this. The unassuming trattoria located near the Pantheon and the nearby government offices at Palazzo Montecitorio has been serving up Roman classics since the 1960s.
The internet caught on, and in recent years it has become a go-to tourist destination. To their credit, they have maintained the quality and authenticity of their food. However, it’s nearly impossible to get a reservation. We tried when we were in Rome last, to no avail.
Instead, we went to Fortunato al Pantheon, just two minutes away on the other side of Piazza della Rotonda, and could not have been happier.
The service
The fresh seafood on ice inside the display case just inside the entrance was a good sign, but it was the old-school service that immediately gave us confidence. The professional waitstaff wore suits and conveyed the right balance of formality and warm hospitality.
Our server, hearing Stefano’s Roman accent and my American one when speaking Italian, asked us where we were from. We explained that Stefano is from Rome, and we used to live there, but we now live in Minneapolis.
Usually, when we tell Italians this, there’s a pause while they seek to recall exactly where Minneapolis is located in the US. On occasion, they confuse Minneapolis with Indianapolis and mention NASCAR and auto-racing. Often we have to explain that Minneapolis is north of Chicago, in the state of Minnesota, on the border with Canada, where it’s really cold.
Our server, though, lit up when we said we lived in Minneapolis. He knew that Minneapolis was in Minnesota, home to both Bob Dylan and Prince. Having won us over with that bit of trivia, this middle-aged with a dad-bod sang a couple of lines from Prince’s 80s hit “Kiss,” complete with a few Prince-like dance moves. Back in waiter mode, he went on to ask if we preferred still or sparkling water and if we wished to see the wine book, which we did.
The menu
The menu at Fortunato al Pantheon is elegant yet reliable. Each course includes land-based and seafood-based offerings. All the staples of Roman cuisine are included, along with a few plates with Sicilian influences.
Never ones to pass up good seafood, we ordered carpaccio di spigola (sea bass carpaccio) and tartar di tonno (tuna tartar) for antipasti, spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) and paccheri alla siciliana (paccheri with sea bass, olives, capers and pachino tomatoes) for our first courses, and for our second course we shared a spigola al sale (sea bass in a salt crust.
I don’t remember what we drank, but I do recall that the wine list was lovely and included several good yet affordable options, as well as a wide selection of more impressive wines for special occasions.
The ambience
Although there are outdoor tables, we opted to eat inside, where velvet chairs, white linens, and perfectly set tables give the dining rooms a formal feel. While there were some tourists present, locals occupied most of the tables.
Across from us, several tables had been pushed together to accommodate what appeared to be a group of Italian friends, probably about our age. Bottles of water and wine were scattered across the table, and plates came and went. Their friendly banter with their waiter suggested that they were regulars.
Next to us sat a well-dressed older couple. They, too, appeared to live in the neighborhood and were likely regulars at the restaurant. At one point, our suspicions were confirmed when their waiter arrived at their table holding the large, white handset of a landline telephone.
“It’s your daughter,” he said to the woman. “She’s been trying to reach you on your cell phone, but you were not picking up, so she called here and asked to speak to you.”
We had to smile. We would be happy to become regulars as well, having date nights at Fortunato al Pantheon well into our senior years.
I've seen this restaurant so often but never tried it. Looking forward to checking it out!
I used to love Armando, but since the pandemic it has really gone downhill. The food is now mediocre and the service is terrible.