The best way to experience the culture in any city is to do it with a native, avoiding all the tourist traps and pitfalls (also speaking the lingo helps smooth the way somewhat).
The first thing I noticed about Italy is that it is cheaper to eat standing up, most Romans do this for breakfast, they stand and drink espresso while eating their cornetto (Italian for croissant!) before making way for the next person to get their caffeine fix. The moment you sit down at the table then you'll pretty much end up paying double! If the coffee shop you have chosen doesn't appear to have a group of locals huddled around a bar type area near an espresso machine then leave as you are in a tourist trap and the coffee will be awful (and expensive)!
Lunch can also be got on the cheap in this way, from either one of the take away pizza shops (which usually have square trays of different pizza varieties on display and charge by toppings and weight) or somewhere that does apperitivos. These are small bites (like Spanish pixos) which are available for a small cost, you can buy a beer and get a plate and if you stand or perhaps sit on a high stool next to a shelf you can keep getting more (in most places) at no extra cost!
If you want a more sit down affair then there are loads of options, I would probably say it is best to steer clear of anything but Italian and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety even in the Italian restaurants.
I had some amazing meals in Rome, the pasta degustation at Isidor (about 500 meters east of the collesium) is a must and a bargain with 5 courses of pasta available at around 18 euros (most of these came with seafood). We also had breakfast at a crazily busy coffee shop called Parnella most days. The is a little way south of Termini station and is out of the way for most hotels but as I said before, you'll find good breakfast places near you, just make sure some Italians are eating there.
We also had a meal out in Trastevere, which is a small, bohemian area near the Vatican at a nice little bistro style restaurant called cafe la Scala, where I sampled some of the more traditional Roman fayre, this included saltimbocca (veal wrapped in Palma ham, served is a creamy, salty sauce) which I would say you should definitely try at some point if you are in Rome.
The final recommendation, of Marenega in Campo de' Fiori, comes with a bit of a caveat, one of the people we stayed with works there, but regardless of this it was my favourite meal of the holiday. I should also point out we didn't eat off the menu throughout, see the lobster surprise below, which was a surprisingly amazing calzone style pizza filled with lobster linguine, but we did for most of the meal. We had a wide selection of starters and i have to say the meat there was stunning (well cooked and tender) but everything we tried I would recommend, including pasta inside a pizza, which was one of the most surprising meals I have ever had.
Just a quick note on the wine, house wine is usually the best way to drink on a budget, in the better restaurants these are usually pretty good local types, i would suggest getting a 250ml taster on the cheap to try before you go for the full litro. Alternatively I would go for some of the regional Italian wines, my personal preference being a Montepulciano, I know some Italian wines have developed a bad reputation in the uk but I think that is because most of the good stuff stays in Italy!
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