Osteria Bonelli
The only salad in sight when Elizabeth Minchilli ate at Osteria Bonelli in 2017 was nervetti, made from veal tendons.
Why go
Patrizio Bonelli runs the osteria with his brother Simone in Torpignattara, by the ruins of the Acquedotto Alessandrino. Gambero Rosso explained its pull in July 2025: The reason is simple, like the formula: good, clear, direct cooking, generous in flavour and in portions, a measured bill.
Its 2017 Rome guide gave the osteria the city's prize for best value (Gambero Rosso). Patrizio knows what he will not cook: Even vitello tonnato with a foamy sauce is almost too much for us,
he said in 2026 (Gambero Rosso).
Katie Parla, who sells food tours in Rome, described a menu on movable chalkboards that circulates through the establishment
in 2014. Horse came on Tuesdays as pannicolo, the outside skirt, and on Thursdays as sausage. Fish led on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were always lots of vegetable sides. She wrote that the food was simple, satisfying and unbelievably cheap by Roman standards; pastas cost €8, most mains are €7, vegetable side dishes cost €3 and the house wine is a steal
(Katie Parla). Gambero Rosso's 2025 card puts the average bill at 45 euros (Gambero Rosso).
Elizabeth Minchilli, who runs food tours in Italy, came for lunch in 2017 and shared the room with customers who seemed to be on breaks from construction sites.
She and a friend stuck to pasta and vegetables (Elizabeth Minchilli). Marco Gallotta, the chef at Primo al Pigneto, gave his reasons in 2016: Osteria Bonelli for the cuisine's simplicity, their offer is clean and basic, and the great quality/price ratio
(Gambero Rosso International).
In 2014 Parla warned that lunch walk-ins end up competing for standing room in the narrow space between the two dining rooms, sidestepping servers as they whizz in and out of the adjacent kitchen,
and that a dinner table is best secured a few days in advance
(Katie Parla). She still goes ten years on: For affordable, abundant comfort food, I visit the raucous Osteria Bonelli in Torpignattara
(Katie Parla).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tonnarelli alla gricia. Elizabeth Minchilli (2017):
The gricia was perfect, with a massive amount of chunky bits of guanciale, cooked just right so that the pork was tender yet crisp.
1 - Order: the pappardelle al ragù bianco di cinghiale e porcini (pappardelle with a white ragù of wild boar and porcini). Elizabeth Minchilli (2017):
fat eggy sheets of pasta bathed in a delicate meat ragu flecked with silky porcini.
1
Good to know
- Where: Viale dell'Acquedotto Alessandrino 172/174, Torpignattara. Take the Giardinetti-bound commuter train from Termini or Porta Maggiore to the Berardi stop (Katie Parla, 2024).5 Minchilli drove, and
the main view is of the parking lot.
1 - When: lunch and dinner. Call to check the closing day. Parla had it open Monday to Saturday in 2014, but her 2024 list of places to eat on a Sunday includes it.5
- Booking: call +39 329 863 3077.4
- What the house cooks: Gambero Rosso listed the dishes that made the osteria's name in 2026: polpette in bianco (meatballs without tomato) with peas and ham, seppie con piselli (cuttlefish with peas), polpetti alla Luciana (baby octopus), coda alla vaccinara (oxtail), polli-in-bocca (saltimbocca made with chicken breast), rabbit alla cacciatora and sausages in sauce.3
- Bonellino: the brothers' tavola calda at Piazza Roberto Malatesta 1, by the metro stop, opened in May 2026 with the osteria's cooking in a faster form.3
Verdict
could-visit — Ride the commuter train out to Torpignattara for Roman home cooking at a fair price, the gricia first. Book dinner a few days ahead and call to check whether it opens on Sunday.