Cheap Eats in Italy: Traveler's Guides to the Best-Kept Secrets

My wife and I have used this book in Rome on two occasions and were extremely satisfied both times. I believe there is now a revision appropriately entitled "Great Eats in Italy". Both books cover Rome, Florence, and Venice. The book is fairly accurate about the menus so you know what to expect (where to go or not to go based on your preferences). The meals are not cheap. They are reasonable. I think the author does herself a diservice but using "cheap eats" in the title of the book. Cheap is not relevant with this book. These are very good places to eat at reasonble prices. You can a vacation just sampling her recommendations. We let other people borrow this book from us when they go to Italy... I bought her other books for Paris, and Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville). She has another one for Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Keep 'em coming!!!

My friends and I recently went on spring break to Rome and Florence and we took along the cheap eats book. We had the best food of our lives on a college student's budget. Everything in the book was accurate, in our experience, and even the picky eaters among us were satisfied. We knew exactly what to expect at each place we went, which made things much easier. We actually met Sandra Gustafson at a restaurant in Florence where she was updating her entries for a new edition!

We just returned from Florence, Venice and Rome. Everyone in our group raved about Cheap Eats recommendations. The food was always good and the price reasonable. The added bonus was a more comfortable setting and local atmosphere. We are more at ease with a casual, friendly atmosphere rather than stuffy, overly formal environments.

Sandra Gustafson's book is absolutely essential if you are not interested in paying overpriced tourist food when you visit Rome, Florence and/or Venice. Like the title, this book covers restaurants in Florence, Rome and Venice. In each city, restaurants are further divided into several city zones. There are maps to each city zone with numbers corresonding restaurants indicated on the map. They are not the most detailed map but good starting point, nevertheless. I have noticed a few mistakes on the map such as the numbers are placed on the wrong side of the street or mistakenly placed on the next street over. It is best to cross reference this book's map either with your hotel or with a different map.There is a quick reference section next to each restaurant that display vital information: credit card, reservation, cover charge, hours and etc. She also writes a short and personal comments for each restaurant, indicating the history, owner and sometimes what to order. One important note, I think the real strength of this book is in Rome. It almost never failed me. I had experienced with this book that would have been impossible to find unless you are a native to the city or know someone there. Most of the restaurants have English speaking staff, especially when in Rome. There are a few ( these tend to be the best!) places that doesn't so have your Italian Phrase book handy!

My wife and I have used this book for all three cities - Rome, Florence and Venice. You should not go to any of these cities without this book - we relied on it 100% - there is no peer. My only criticism of the book is the title - the book should really be titled - "Great Eats at reasonable prices". We ate at well over 15 of the restaurants recommended and only one had changed from the description given in the book. Our immense thanks go to the author - not only did she save us money, the restaurants we dined at will live long in our memory and greatly contributed to the enjoyment of our vacation.