A Window Back to Rome: Dinner at Ristorante Roma on Veterans Way

Published September 8, 2026

There is a specific kind of restaurant that Midtown Carmel doesn't have many of: one that plates like a special-occasion place but seats you like a neighborhood one. Ristorante Roma, tucked at 89 Veterans Way just off Main Street, is the best example we've found. Nobody is hovering. Nobody is performing. The food shows up looking like it cost twice what it did, and then somebody's grandmother's recipe is on your fork.

The Chef-Owner Is the Whole Story

Roma has been in Carmel since 2013, but the version you eat at today belongs to Raffaele D'Eusebio, a native of Rome who took the place over in July 2020 with his wife — buying it from her uncle, Lucio Romani, who had just retired. D'Eusebio isn't a hired chef who inherited a concept. He made his first tiramisu at seven, standing next to his mother, and was rolling pasta by hand at ten with his grandmother. He then cooked professionally in Italy for his entire adult life before moving here to do this.

He put it better than we could: "We are not trying to be an Italian restaurant for the states. We are a window going back to Rome." You can taste exactly where that line is true. The pasta is made by hand daily. The sauces are built, not poured.

Start With the Spritz

The True Italian Spritz is Aperol, prosecco, and club soda with an orange — no syrup, no shortcut, no Midwestern sweetening. It arrives the exact shade of a Roman sunset and drinks like an actual aperitivo, which is to say it wakes your appetite up instead of filling you up.

What We Ordered

We went straight at the two pistachio dishes, because pistachio is the thread running through Roma's best pasta and we wanted to see both ends of it.

The Ravioli Al Pistacchio E Filet is beef-stuffed ravioli under a handmade pistachio sauce with diced filet mignon and cream. It's rich in a way that sneaks up on you — nutty and savory rather than heavy, with the filet giving each bite a little bit of steakhouse. If you order one thing here, order this.

The Vongole Al Pistacchio E Pancetta is the same idea turned toward the coast: fettuccine with tender clams, pan-seared pancetta, and a white wine and pistachio cream sauce. Clams and pork fat is already a great argument; the pistachio is what makes it a dish you'll think about later in the week. Between the two, the ravioli is the indulgence and the vongole is the more interesting plate.

Dessert Came in a Glass

We finished with the Espresso Martini Bliss , and it earned its place. Midtown has quietly gotten very good at this drink, and Roma's belongs in that conversation — cold, properly bitter, just sweet enough to count as dessert, and exactly the right ending after two cream sauces.

Go When You Have Time

Roma is dinner only, and it is unapologetically slow dining — every plate is cooked to order. That's a feature, not a warning. Give yourself the whole evening, linger over the last drink, and then walk it off on Main Street or the Monon like the rest of Midtown does.

Hours are Monday through Thursday 4:45 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4 to 10 p.m., and Sunday 4 to 8:30 p.m. Reservations are worth making — the dining room is not large, and Carmel has figured this place out.

Ristorante Roma is at 89 Veterans Way, Carmel, IN 46032; (317) 848-4600. Menu, hours, and reservations via ristoranteromaindy.com.