It depends entirely upon your class and occupation.

If you are a slave working on a latifundia (plantation) or in a mine, you get some barley gruel or something like that and spend your evening in whatever slave quarters are provided, perhaps chained, perhaps not.

If you are a household slave with a reasonable owner you might have a decent meal with bread and perhaps a stew of some kind. You might have a pleasant evening hanging around your quarters with other slaves, or your master.

If you are a Roman peasant, you eat what you grow or raise on your farm. If you are pretty successful, the fare might be decent, but probably ordinarily would include a lot of the same type of barley gruel slaves eat, supplemented by bread, meat, some vegetables and dairy products. You eat that at home with your family. You drink wine or beer if you can afford it or make your own.

If you are a typical urban plebian you might eat, as another poster noted, from a street “restaurant” although these really were just mostly food stalls. You would buy whatever they sold, mostly the delicious gruel, or stew, maybe bread. You would eat it where you stood or on a bench or something like that, or take it back to your insulae (apartment building.) If you are a free man, you might eat and drink at a tavern, whatever they have. Wine/beer to drink, bread, cheese, stew, olives, whatever is on hand to eat.

If you are a wealthy enough urban plebian to own a slave or two, and have your own domus (house) with a kitchen, your slave will cook for you. Depending upon your wealth, maybe gruel or stew, or a hunk of meat or fish if you are better off, with bread, cheese, etc. If you are not wealthy enough to own a slave, but to buy that kind of food, your wife and daughters prepare it. Maybe you go to the tavern later. You would presumably have wine and beer at home as well.

If you are an upper class Roman, of the noble classes, you will have your own domus or something quite a bit more palatial, and plenty of slaves to take care of your feeding and entertainment. If you have the money for the ingredients, your slave chefs will fix you elaborate meals, from exotic game animals to dormice prepared in any number of ways to visually whet the appetite, supplemented by fresh fruit, cheeses, vegetables, and sweets. You would have the finest domestic and imported wines.

As a wealthy Roman there is no need to go out for entertainment, the meal is the entertainment. It might last a long time as you recline on a dining couch, and slaves bring you food, while other slaves or hired troubadours perform. Later you can entertain yourself with various sex slaves of all ages and sexes if that floats your boat, or if you are the more intellectual type, retire to your library to read a popular work.

At all meals, for all classes most likely, garum the ubiquitous Roman fermented fish sauce would accompany the meal.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I like to have fun to reward myself after getting a lot done. Fridays seem to be the busiest day, so I don't work Friday evg. Fun with $100? limited options. Any one of the following:

1. Buy a good bottle of Scotch;
2. 5, 6 7 to bottles of wine.
3. Buy 5 silver bullion 1 oz. Coins.
4. Since a good restaurant meal for 2 will be more than $100, we'd go to a family restaurant, or BBQ, to have brisket, BBQ chicken, corn bread, Cole slaw, baked beans, coke zero, etc 2 can eat that for under $100;
5. Buy aporox. 15 Amazon kindle e-books..
6. Buy a toy or toys for 1 or more of our youngest granddaughters.
7. Go to a dinner theater.
8. Donate the entire $100 online to 1 or more favorite charities.
9. Buy $100 in lottery tickets.
10. Go to a live jazz bar.
11. Go to a standup comedy bar.
12. Stay home, order in dinner, and watch a good movie on TV. I air pop the popcorn.
13. Watch my wife play online blackjack with the $100. aiming for her to win $50 and then quit and withdraw the $150.
14. I can afford any of these, but if I ended up with $100 almost gratuitously, it would be just that much more fun to spend.

Ancient Roman breads, reproduced with modern ingredients

In the height of Roman republic/empire, the main meal was the lunch. People woke up pretty early, got dressed, ate some bread fro the previous day, drank some watered down wine (the alcohol in wine helped reduce the risk of contracting diseases from the water, which was often contaminated), then you walk to the public toilet to empty your bowels before going to work (unless you have a shop, an inn or are an artisan, in which case you sleep in your shop). At midday you close down the shop, stop at some kind of inn (there were many of different classes, some very cheap and some very upscale), buy yourself a meal of some kind of hot soup, bread, and vegetables, maybe an egg too, before visiting the public baths.

Roman inns had large heated bars where food was kept warm for clients.

Spas were so cheap that even slaves could usually afford going for a bath several times a week. Male citizens spent lots of time at the spa, not just washing but also chatting, training, getting shaven etc. Slaves just went for a quick wash and maybe half an hour of rest, women could do either, stay and chat with friends or wash rapidly and go back home, depending on how rich they were. Another afternoon occupation of the citizens was visiting the forum, during the Republic to take part to the decision-making processes, during the Empire to listen to which laws had been promoted and to catch up with more gossip and news.

Family dinner at the table

In the evening most people ate a light dinner: leftover bread from lunch, some olives, a salad, maybe some cottage cheese (kind of), and obviously wine. In the city houses were tiny and had no fireplace. Cooking indoors in summer wasn’t comfortable, in winter small braziers provided heat and could help heat up food, but were not used to make complicated meals. Rich families would eat better food, but regular dinners were still pretty frugal and usually took place at the table on stools.

Sarcophagust of the Spouses, Etruscan sculpture

Triclinia were used instead for highly formal feasts to which usually (following the Greek habit) only men took part (if women were present they sat on stools). This way of eating was probably derived from the Etruscans, but Etruscan formal banquets likely included the women too (Etruscan women seem to have had a larger social role than Roman women). During banquets food was often brought in from an inn, or maybe the house owner would hire a famous cook who prepared most food at his or her place and only added the finishing touches at his employer’s home, cooking in a corridor and in the back yard of the house. As a matter of facts, Roman houses didn’t have kitchens.

Food cooked according to Roman recipes at a modern buffet

Roman banquets could extend into the night, sometimes until dawn. Common people had their dinner at sunset or not shortly after. The rest of the evening (rather short as lamp oil was costly) would be spent chatting. The father told the whole family (which included the slaves) what he had heard at the Forum and at the spa, the mother told the family what she had heard at the spa and at the fountain. Maybe the family could play some games, or there was some storytelling, maybe friends from the same neighborhood visited for a chat. Common people went to bed quite early, as they also rose early in the morning.

Foreign dignitaries were forbidden to enter the pomerium of Rome. It was the sacred border of Rome itself. So the diplomatic quarters was on Aventine Hill. There were many temples dedicated to foreign cults on the hill. It's not known how foreign delegates were accommodated. Presumably they were luxurious.

Yes its Friday night in a small town where the sidewalks get rolled up at 8:30PM. I’m part of the social security set now, not to generalise, but driving at night has become a little akward. The nearest town with real night life is about 40 miles away.

What to do with $100.00 hmmm…well I could go to three restaurants, get fancy food boxed up and have enough food for the weekend. Or invite a friend over to share the food, and watch old movies on the TV.

I’ve always prefered the quiet life to the high life anyway, thats why I live here. Or maybe I’ll buy a trail camera with the money that takes night pictures. To watch the wild wildlife meandering by.

Here's what I would do in that situation:

Get into the center city as fast as possible and go to Renato e Luisa (one of my favorite restaurants in the city) for a plate of spaghetti carbonara. Depending what day of the week it is, it should still be open around the time you would arrive there. Have a glass of wine if you're alone, or a bottle to share if you're with others.

After dinner, you'll be in the center city, with incredible architecture and ruins literally everywhere. Just walk around and see the neighborhoods and buildings you want to see. Everything is within walking distance. The city center is extremely safe and most of the external architecture is visible even at night.

If you are in the mood for drinks, stop at pubs/bars while you wander. If you're looking to meet other people, the bars in Campo de Fiori are open late, and are filled with a mix of locals, American exchange students, and tourists. You're pretty much guaranteed to meet people there, but it's also kind of obnoxious and "touristy." Alternatively, you can grab a bottle of prosecco and split it with friends while sitting on the edge of a fountain in one of Rome's piazzas and talk while taking in the view (no open container laws previously, but this may not still be the case).

If the Porta Portese market is open the following morning, I would go to the antique section there and do some treasure hunting before leaving for your flight. It's an experience in itself and you can find some seriously interesting things. People start setting up by flashlight around 5am. Make sure to pick up a porchetta panini at one of the stands there before leaving.

They deposited their money at the Juno Moneta temple on Capitoline hill. It was also the location of the Mint.

During the Gaulic siege of Rome around 500 B.C. The Romans were surrounded on Capitoline hill. In the middle of the night the Gauls attempted an infiltration of the hill. Due to hunger the watchmen and the dogs were sleeping and did not notice. Guess who sounded the warning. The geese at the temple of Juno. The animals were sacred to her.

They started honking like Cain. The rest of the Romans were alerted and repelled the Gauls. Later when they rebuilt the temple in marble. They named it Juno Moneta. Juno warns (us). That's where money and monetary comes from

It would depend on your social class. Workers in ancient Rome were often paid daily, and so they would not have a large amount of cash on hand, as it would have been used to buy food and other necessities. The leftovers were probably kept in the domicile.

In many ancient cultures, Rome included, public buildings used by the government, palaces, and temples often served secondary functions as safe storage places, first for crops, and later for valuables. Of course, some wealthy families kept their valuables about them, protected by the household staff. A lot of wealth was held in the form of land as slaves as well.

However, Ancient Romans did have a form of banking. At first, they were places from which people could borrow legal tender to pay their debts, but later they could also convert currency, and later still do *very* limited depositing (if I remember my history lessons correctly, the investing that modern banks do didn't come about for several centuries). Banks appointed by the government were also responsible for collecting taxes.

The one thing not to do is take a taxi. Unless you agree in advance on the price they will rip you off beyond belief.

My suggestion: Tell the driver where you want to go. Get his price. Then show him you only have X-amount of Euros, a much lesser number than he gave you. Generally that will do the trick and you don't get 'robbed' at your destination.

(The manager at the hotel where I stay insists that his guests call him in advance so he can be at the street when the taxi arrives so he can protect the guest from the taxi driver. The taxi driver will say he is going to give you change for your bill but instead he races away, even with the door or trunk open.)

If you like meat and some typical roman dishes there’s “La Bracerí” address: Via dell’alloro 12.

If you like the typical roman pizza called “pinsa” there’s the “Pepenero” address Via di Tor Pignattara 76.

If you want something more historical and famous but way more costly there’s “Taverna Trilussa” address Via del Politeama 23

You want to be insulted by the waiters that’s a specific thing that made that restourant famous you want the “Parolaccia” address Vicolo ‘de cinque 3

If you want something you can only find around Rome go to Ariccia and go to a fraschetta, which is a typical place that serve only typical food but is the opposite of elegant, in fact was the place for the peasants. Nowdays there you’ll find the best food you’ll ever eat.

A good one is the “Aricciarola” in Ariccia near Rome address Ariccia Via Borgo S. Rocco 9

Edit:

My wife reminded me also “La Gattabuia” address Via del Porto 1

Is quite good but a tad costly. You’ll find typical roman dishes.

IMHO, colorful Trastevere is one of the best areas in Rome for young people. It's a funky, bohemian area that clings to its centuries-old, working-class roots. It's known for traditional and innovative trattorias, craft beer pubs and artisan shops, as well as simple B&Bs and budget hotels. From the pre-dinner passeggiata (promenade) until late, a young crowd buzzes around Piazza di San Calisto and Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, the site of a gilded, mosaic-filled church.

Trastevere in Rome

Visit the most fun popular neighborhood of Rome

On the opposite bank of the Tiber lies the most fun and picturesque popular neighbourhood of Rome. It is a perfect area to wander through the maze of narrow streets and for a hotel in Rome. At night it is Rome's liveliest neighbourhood.

Social Dining can be an option: There are several organizations offering meal sharing/social dining in Rome. You may want to look for "verified" hosts and check reviews on a particular host.

Our Family's Traditional Roman Cuisine | EatWith

Rome: Meal Sharing/Social Dining in Rome

The clubs, associations, and cafe listed below are good meeting points for people arriving in Rome who do not know the language and are not familiar with the city, but would like to meet people and make acquaintances while in town.

HARD ROCK CAFE ROME

Hard Rock Cafe Rome

Finnegan's Irish Pub, Rome, Italy

Piazza Navona

Campo de’ Fiori a Roma

THERE ARE MANY ENGLISH SPEAKING CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS IN ROME, ITALY AS WELL.

English Speaking Expat Resources in Italy :: Complied by the American Business Group

English Language Meetups in Roma

34 Best Local Bars & Nightclubs in Rome

Rome City Guide: 158 Best Local Places & 40 Tours in Rome

Meeting people in Rome

Rome - Hipster City Guide & Travel Tips - Travels of Adam