Restaurant Details

Smack in the middle of the Italian Market, Villa di Roma is the eternal answer to “where should we take these out-of-towners to dinner?” It’s also a favorite of locals thanks to its red-sauce charms and a relaxed atmosphere where getting a little rowdy is encouraged. Come here not for frills — the menus are paper and oft tomato-spattered, and the wine is an afterthought — but for the feeling that not much has changed in this joint since it arrived in Philly in the 1960s. Villa di Roma has an array of the classics over many shapes of pasta, but the point here is more the scene, less the food. The exceptions are the eggplant Parmesan; the top-tier, billiard-sized meatballs swimming in sauce; and the tiramisu, rich with cream and laced with chocolate and espresso, which blows fancier nouveau versions of the dessert out of the water.