Trattoria Valentino — Restaurant in Rome

Had an absolutely amazing experience here! I was beginning to lose hope in the food scene in Monti after observing so many tourist traps but Trattoria Valentino saved it for me.

We had just spent a week in Florence and experienced a lot of great food there so our expectations were quite high.

The restaurant seemed unassuming from the outside but the inside was much larger than it appeared. It had a very cozy and traditional atmosphere to it.

We ordered the grilled artichoke and onion salad, fresh pasta with bacon/pecorino cheese/orange peel, and veal shank.

All the ingredients were very fresh and the dishes were executed extremely well. We were very satisfied with the portion sizes.

Pasta was perfectly al dente and the orange peel worked surprisingly well to balance the heaviness of the cheese and bacon.

The veal shank was very tender and flavorful. The bone contained some rendered marrow, which was a pleasant surprise. The salad provided a nice break from the stronger flavors.

For dessert we had the tiramisu and it was also great.

All the servers and staff were extremely kind and friendly. They were patient with our lack of ability to speak Italian and spoke English very well.

We will definitely be coming back...

Note: I'm a tourist, but I research/read a lot about food/different cuisines and appreciate good food. I write notes on what I intend to eat and what I've eaten.

Service/staff: friendly and attentive. Asked us if we wanted our pastas staggered or if we wanted it all at once. Just treated us like any other customer.

Food: delicious Roman cuisine. We tried the amatriciana, their version of alla gricia (with orange peel), cacio e pepe, and veal pan seared with ham and sage.

All 4 were great dishes. This was 1 of my favorite dining experiences and foods in Rome.

Amatriciana was my favorite of the 3 pasta dishes followed by the alla gricia with orange peel. Amatriciana was a pecorino, guanciale, and tomato pasta dish. You get the nutty notes from the pecorino along with acidity and richness from the guanciale with acidity from the tomato. While the alla gricia had a the same base minus the tomato, but with the addition of citrus from the orange zest.

Atmosphere: down to earth and honey atmosphere

If I am back in Rome in the future, I will be going here once more.

Would recommend calling to make reservations. We were luckily able to get a walk in on...

Highly recommend, would come again

Food -5/5 Highlights for me were: Spaghetti with bacon, pecorino, and orange peel Pasta was cooked perfectly and the orange peel pleasantly surprised me, it really brightened up the dish

Lamb shank osso buco So good, the meat was so soft and falling off the bone. Don't forget to scoop out the buttery bone marrow

We also got the grilled artichoke to try since it seems to be a traditional Roman dish. It was executed well but artichoke itself has a heavy taste so with the pasta and the meat dish, it was too heavy to eat together.

For dessert we had tiramisu. It was very good, I liked that you could taste the coffee liqueur without it being overwhelming

Service 5/5 We came at 7pm on the dot (I know, typical tourists, right?) and were welcomed in warmly. Service was excellent throughout the night and our server even explained the desserts to us verbally when the only English menu was occupied (they have the menu on a chalkboard)

Atmosphere 5/5 We ate inside the restaurant, it was well lit and cosy. It felt like a traditional trattoria and was...