Two things to note about Trattoria Monti to start: first, despite the name, the restaurant is located not in the Monti neighbourhood but in the adjoining Esquilino. The location was a big plus for us, as our flat was also in Esquilino, just 7-8 minutes walk away. Esquilino is an immigrant-heavy neighbourhood and on AirBnB reviews and elsewhere you are likely to come across not-very-coded references to it being or feeling “unsafe” for this reason. We found it to be no such thing. We very much enjoyed being in the midst of the Bangladeshi, Chinese, Korean and African populations of the area and getting a sense of a newer, multicultural Rome; in fact, I purchased excellent mangoes from a Bangladeshi store and spoke more Bengali in four days in Rome than I have in many years in Minnesota! And the neighbourhood itself we found pleasant both during the day and after dark. We didn’t have a single sketchy encounter walking back from the metro station in the late evenings; and as we walked back after dinner at Trattoria Monti much of the neighbourhood was watching a movie together in the central Piazza Vittorio Emanuelle II. So much for unsafe.

Second, their calling card is not Roman cuisine as much as it is the food of the Marche region from which the owners hail. Unless you are hellbent on only eating Roman food in Rome, you should not let this keep you from eating at Trattoria Monti. I mean, unless you go to Italy often and travel all over it, how likely are you to come across Marchegiano food elsewhere? But if your interest is in eating good Italian food in Rome you will certainly not go wrong making a booking at Trattoria Monti. And a booking will be necessary. Being on the edge of the tourist zone, the restaurant is very popular with food-minded American tourists and locals alike; and if you try to walk in, even on a weeknight, you will be turned away politely—as many were during our meal. If you do have a booking you’ll be in for a treat.

Our reservation was for 7.30, right as they opened, and they were literally opening the restaurant as we arrived. It’s a small restaurant—though quite a bit larger than Santo Palato. There are two small dining rooms and we were seated in the first, by the entrance. By 8 pm the restaurant had mostly filled up—a mix, as I say, of locals and Americans (I imagine a number of them, like us, may have been directed here by Katie Parla’s recommendation).

The menu, as at most of the restaurants we ate at in Italy, is not over-large. It is supplemented by a sheet of nightly specials. If you are an English speaker you are also going to receive an English language menu. This is both convenient but also not always very helpful as the names of dishes and of ingredients are translated prosaically if not overly-literally, and while you may get a clearer idea of what is in the dishes you’re ordering, you might still not have a good sense of what it is you’re eating—if that makes sense. I had, however, taken a picture of the Italian menu posted outside and by reading both side by side was able to get a better bead on things.

What did we order? As at Santo Palato, a mix of things from the daily specials menu and the regular menu. To start, a carpaccio of baccala (or salt cod) with onion, pink peppercorn and black truffle and a parmesan tortino or flan. Both were very good indeed and went well with the glass of the house white that the missus and I both had (the boys drank Coca Cola). A couple of pastas to follow: from the specials menu, ravioli with potatoes and guanciale in a delicate sauce of butter and chives, and tagliatelle with cinghiale/wild boar ragu. The tagliatelle was excellent; the ravioli didn’t make as much of an impression.

Three mains to round out the savoury courses: from the specials menu, an excellent trippa alla Romana (in my view it fell just a bit short of Santo Palato’s from a couple of nights previous; the missus thought it was on par with it) and a very good dish of rabbit with pork rind and wild fennel. This dish was described in English as a stew but wasn’t; we didn’t see the Italian version of the specials menu and so I couldn’t see what the original was. Anyway, it was quite good with a nice mix of textures. But it was not quite as good as the excellent roast suckling pig served atop roasted potatoes, both done to perfection. Other than a sprig of rosemary there was nothing else on the plate and nothing else was needed. I drank some of the house red with this course.

We were full but greedy and so got three desserts: amaretto ice cream with chocolate sauce; pear tarte tatin; and creme caramel. The ice cream and creme caramel were very good; the pear tarte tatin was excellent.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, click on an image below to launch a larger slideshow. Scroll down for thoughts on service, for price, and to see what’s coming next.

Service was very friendly and very present when needed, even as the place got very busy. There was one glitch/possible miscommunication that resulted in the pastas and the secondi all arriving together. We barely had any room on the table. Another bit of confusion was with the red wine, though this rebounded to my benefit: they brought a carafe and two glasses. When we clarified that the missus wasn’t having any they left the carafe anyway. When the check came I pointed out that they’d failed to charge me for any of it—they then added on the price of less than one glass while running the credit card, which was nice.

With that the total came to 170 Euros. Quite a bit more than our bill at Santo Palato—though it must be said we had a couple more dishes and a bit more wine at this meal. Still, the comparison did make that meal seem like even more of a steal. That’s not to say that this wasn’t an excellent meal in its own right. The ravioli was the only dish that didn’t get us very excited. All in all, I would recommend Trattoria Monti highly as well, though if you could go to only one or the other, I’d suggest Santo Palato. I should note though—in case it matters to you one way or the other—that the aesthetic and service at Trattoria Monti is more formal than at Santo Palato (though not stuffy by any means).

Alright, only two more Rome meals to go: one highly informal one eaten in a market and another in a somewhat trendy trattoria; both outside the tourist center. I hope to get both of those done by the end of the week.