Users Note: This is a Drinking Review Not an Eating Review.
The food did not look so great here.
But you are not here to chow down.
You are here to get drunk and enjoy life.
The bar here is absolutely superlative.
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Trastevere is a fascinating neighborhood full of contradictions.
It is tourist central - but many of the tourist restaurants are outstanding.
It has some of the greatest austere spiritual churches in Rome.
And it is as much of a party-hearty headquarters as South Padre or Daytona Beach.
In Trastevere, I have done all of the above:
a) Eating well
b) Having intense spiritual experiences in profoundly beautiful sacred places
c) Drinking wonderful beverages somewhere with a good view - all the while being surrounded by hordes of tourist humanity.
Trastevere tourists are not the worst of the worst.
English football fans coming three days early for a match, Cruise Ship Patrons and male sex tourists are far lower than anything Trastevere has to put up with.
But Trastevere does have its crowds. Many of them are here to get sloshed.
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If you are here to get drunk - and this is a fine neighborhood to get drunk in -
I recommend looking for a good bar with a fine selection of Italian specialties.
Good music doesn't hurt either.
A lot of people do aperol spritz, aperol spritz, aperol spritz and aperol spritz.
For dinner they get wine.
You can get aperol spritzes in the United States.
Italy not only has all kinds of wines, but all kinds of beer, all kinds of amaro, all kinds of grappa and nowadays - all kinds of distilled beverages.
Grappas and Italian botanical gins are absolute wonders.
You will NOT be able to get most grappas and most Italian botanical gins in the United States.
(Or for that matter, lots of the best Italian wines.)
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This is where the appeal of the Long Island Night Cafe goes way up.
They have one of the best stocked bars in Trastevere.
The barkeepers judgments are extremely good.
And they play superlative American hard to find hard rock.
Italians listen to rap the way we do. Only - no duh - their rap is in Italian. Good luck trying to follow the lyrics on that.
So given the fact you are shut out of the rap experience, hard to find hard rock is a good compromise.
The collection of bottles at Long Island Night Cafe is absolutely superlative.
From my point of view - a good collection of gins is a top priority.
The bartenders here know their gin backwards and forwards.
They stock about thirty different choices, half of which are Italian.
According to management, the best gins come out of Torino which has long been the Italian center for distilled beverages of any kind.
My gin drinking at Long Island was absolutely positively first rate.
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Add to this, the cafe being on a corner facing a plaza.
The side streets are all scenic - and the plaza is gorgeous in its own right.
So there are no bad views no matter what seat you have at the table.
This is a fine place to spend an hour.
Of two hours.
Or all night until the staff goes home.
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Italy as a lot to discover in a bottle.
Have knowledgeable locals pour you a few well chosen glasses. read more