Cool Food Joints in Rome

Episode 1: Osteria Luzzi - near Colosseum

Hello Everybody,

Today we launch our new blog about places to eat in Rome for the budget traveller.
Every week we will go and visit a venue in Rome and tell you about our experience; how we liked the atmosphere, wether service was grumpy or happy, did the chicken liver live up to it's reputation, was it easy to get there and so forth.
For our first episode we would like to take you to an old-time favourite of ours; Osteria Luzzi.
This trattoria is situated strategically in the shadow of the Colosseum, in Via dei Normanni, corner of Via San Giovanni in Laterano.
It is supposedly a soft version of the (in)famous trattoria "La Parolaccia" (The Swearword) in Trastevere.
"La Parolaccia" was originally named something else, but it got famous for the non-caring attitude of it's staff and owers.
They were so rude it's was actually funny and people starting frequenting the trattoria to get insulted; apparently particularly popular among japanese and other oriental tourists, perhaps because getting insulted clashes so much with their own more delicated cultures.

Once the owners of La Parolaccia realised people came there to be insulted, they soon clung on to the concept and (over-)commercialised it.
Now you can see busloads of people sitting there being insulted systematically by some waiter- come entertainer that uses a microphone to more effectively spread his abuse.

Fortunately Osteria Luzzi has not taken the concept that far.
Here you merely have a very friendly and playful staff, run by Luciano, the rowdy roman restaurant owner with a deep seeded love for local soccer team AS Roma.

Luciano runs the restaurant with a smile and although he likes to pull your leg, it's it never done in such a way that might be considered insulting.

Food and wine are generally of good quality as well as affordable, so this osteria makes for the perfect place to spend an hour relaxing and not having to worry about being scammed out of your money.
Pizza and seefood are to be recommended, the fried potatoes come last in our list of favourites.
By now Osteria Luzza has become very popular with tourists as well as locals, which makes for a perfect mix in atmosphere.

It is situated about 2 hundred meters from the Colosseum, which can be visited in the morning as well as in the afternoon, so this food-joint presents you with a great option for lunch as well as dinner.

You can reach the Colosseum on foot from various directions, as well as on Line B of the Rome underground.
The stop is appropriatly called "Colosseo".

All in all we highly recommend Osteria Luzzi, and are still faithful visitors are 8 years of living in Rome.

See you next week for our next episode of Cool Food Joints in Rome.

Alfred, Yvonne and Lawrence