La Cisterna, Rome

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My friends brought me to La Cisterna, after reading about the restaurang in a book, written by the norwegian comedian Fleksnes (don't ask...), and it made out to be one of my best nights in Rome ever!
We got Angelo, about 70 years old, as our waiter, and he was totally fantastic. He switched through italian and english, made sure that we always had food on our plates, and that we wouldn't have to order even one meal.
He fixed it all.

In between giving us a fantastic melon with ham as an antipasti, marvelous white and red wine (not to mention the champagne we got when we arrived) he also entertained us the whole night with fantastic stories about the restaurant and his life.

The restaurant is located in Trastevere and is just a quick taxi ride from the most central parts of Rome. It's actually one of the oldest restaurants in the eternal city (and that's says a whole lot...) and have through the years been visited by many famous people, as Picasso, Miró, Princess Grace of Monaco, Walt Disney and even the Swedish king.

The restaurant was actually founded back in 1632, although then on a four meters lower level, but to save the area from the flooding from the river Tiber the streets were raised later on.

In the info paper from the restaurant it says that the local is crowded with cosmopolitan customers every evening, but when we visited we were the only guests. Sadly, as this restaurant deserves to be full every evening!

In the basement you'll also find a museum, both from the first years of the restaurant, but also from the Roman Empire-time, with underground paths where the first Christians in Rome both lived and hide from their enemies. Really interesting, even if I have to admit that it was a bit hard to fully concentrate after an evening full of champagne, wine and limoncello...

Favorite Dish: Even if the filét was great it was the antipasto that were the real meal for the evening. The melon was just so incredible that I get hungry again just by thinking about it.

Make also sure that you get Angelo as your waiter, an about 70-year-old Roman. He will make your night, for sure!

Prices are a bit higher than at other restaurants in Rome, but still not very expensive, and definitely not overpriced.
We paid 300 euro in total, for four persons, and then we had champagne, three bottles of wine, limoncello and three plates of meal each.