Tea Time: Ristorante Alle Fratte Di Trastevere

We made Christmas Day lunch reservations at Alle Fratte Di Trastevere because of all the positive reviews we'd seen about it. Plus, it was pretty close to our apartment, another bonus seeing as it was only our second day in Rome and we had no idea what would be open during the holidays.
Alle Fratte Di Trastevere is run by a husband/wife team from Naples. Both of them speak excellent English (the wife told me she'd lived in New York, and I can't remember if her husband had too, but they have at least one child in the US, if my memory serves me right).
We were warmly greeted by the owner upon arrival at 12:30, and much fuss was made over Keila. Italians really do love babies! The interior of Alle Fratte Di Tastevere is very cosy and classic, with lots of pictures on the walls (especially of Naples).
Service was wonderful and very prompt, even when the restaurant started to fill up towards the end of our meal. (Tip while in Italy: eat early at the good restaurants unless you want to wait for a table). The owner even came over several times throughout the meal to make sure we were enjoying everything.
To start, we had a lovely marinated seafood salad (Antipasto di Mare), and a plate of grilled veggies (Verdura Mista del Giorno). Yuki proclaimed the salad too 'sour' but he really doesn't like anything that's even slightly sour, so I got lucky in this case and ate almost the entire plate. Mmm.
We were hoping for an authentic Neapolitan pizza as part of our main course, but unfortunately pizzas weren't being made on Christams Day for some reason. I'm guessing they may have been a bit short-staffed in the kitchen due to the holiday, although you honestly couldn't tell it based on the superb service and quality of our food.
Instead, we shared a shrimp and artichoke risotto (Risotto Carciofi e Gamberi) and some eggplant pasta (Penne Alla Siciliana). Both dishes were solidly good, but not the very best I've ever had. They were probably some of the best pasta we had in Rome, however!
For dessert, we had homemade tiramisu and (again homemade) chocolate cake. These were amazing! Definitely save room for dessert if you go here.
Our bill came to around 55 or 60 euros, not bad at all if you consider that it included: 2 starters, 2 main courses, 2 desserts, a bottle of water, a coffee, and some house wine. Really not bad when you also consider that you're eating in a popular tourist neighborhood.
So when in Rome....visit Alle Fratte Di Trastevere if you'd like some solidly good pasta and simply excellent service. I would definitely recommend this restaurant!

Alle Fratte Di Trastevere
Via delle fratte di Trastevere, 49

Antipasto di Mare (8.50 euros)