DON'T Eat Here in Rome

 When in Rome, you might assume that all the food is good. That is not true. A lot of places make money off selling mediocre food in crowded areas. 

As a rule of thumb, 

1. Walk at least 10 minutes away from the closest tourist attraction before eating.

2. If the soda is 5 Euros or more, then the restaurant is scamming you. 

3. Look at the menu beforehand. 

Specifically, don't eat at these restaurants:

LIÒN Restaurant 

Honestly, don't eat anywhere in Italy with an American name. When a group of student suggested we go here, I didn't say anything because it was one of our first few nights in Rome, but I was suspicious. The picture below is of their "Margherita Pizza." Although, i don't really know if I can call that pizza. IT was more like cardboard with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of cheese. I don't think I need to explain the pizza anymore if you just take a loot at the picture. Another red flag at this restaurant should have been that no one else was eating there. 

Osteria da Fortunata

If you see a lady in a window rolling dough for pasta, RUN! You might think "oMG thEy makE it FRESH here!". No, they just try to make you think that it is fresh and authentic. For some reason, people do recommend it on TikTok often, but if you dive deeper into the reviews, you will not want to come here. Again, someone in the group wanted to go here early on in the trip, and no one wanted to say anything. When I looked at the menu, the pasta was about 20 Euros for a small-medium plate, which is an absurd price, especially considering the quality. We had a group of girls and a group of guys sitting at different tables. The group of girls were smarter than us, and the four of them split an order of pasta and got wine. 

Bibliothè Indian Restaurant

Two girls in my class and I wanted to try a different style of food because we were getting sick of overpriced pasta and tourist pizza. We decided an Indian restaurant would be a good idea because we could get some chicken and something different. Well, we had a hard time finding the Indian restaurant we looked up online, and Bibliothè was just around the corner. We stopped here, and after sitting down and getting water, we realized that it was a vegetarian restaurant, which was fine, but not what we were wanting. The plates of food were 23 Euros each, so we just split two plates around the three of us. We considered getting up and leaving, but we had already ordered the food. The food came and below is the serving for 23 Euros. We were disappointed, and after this we went to an American-style dessert place to make up for it. 

In conclusion, be smart about where you go to eat. You will save a lot of money and have a better experience. You will run into a few not-so-good restaurants but the majority of the ones you encounter will be good. I recommend trying something different every meal. You want to get the most out of your time and food in any country!