Taberna de Mercanti, Trastevere, Rome

After having had that half-soggy pizza earlier today, we pledged to eat at a real place for dinner. And everyone, from guidebooks to concierges to friends, agrees that the Trastevere area of Rome is home to lots of good trattoria and "ristorante." Not knowing which specific places were good in the area, we asked the cabbie, and he dropped us in Piazza Mercanti, which is slightly off from Viale Trastevere but home to two pretty big and nice looking places. The first one worried me due to the English menu and the band, so I gestured for the second place, Taberna de Mercanti (Piazza de Mercanti, 3a, Trastevere, Roma, 06-5881693). Walking in still worried me a bit as I heard several American accents at the table but not Italian.

But this proved to be premature. The place filled quickly. Europeans of course tend to eat at around 8-9PM, so by the time we left after 9, the place was filled with locals, and they were even queueing.

And the food of course was there to back it up. The mushroom pizza was definitely much better than La Gallina Bianca, as its cheese and mushrooms gushed with flavor. The veal was a really thick cut, and with a great wood-fueled fire taste. The antipasti rustico starters weren't a knockout, but I could appreciate its "homestyle" and rustic approach. A liter of the house wine was only a very low 8 Euros (US$12), and tasted a bit weak, but at that price, who cares? I'm not a huge wine person anyway. The profiteroles were creamy and chocolatey, while the tiramisu was definitely less solid (no ladyfingers - just some little bread bits at the bottom) and more light-cream-filled than others that I've had.

(Oh BTW, do you see that cappucino in the photo? I learned that it is a bit uncustomary to order cappucino in the evenings after a meal here - is that right?)

Anyway, all in all this place was pretty good. But they seem to specialize in pizza and roasted meat, so don't come here expecting to order pasta because it's simply not on the menu.