Nicole in Rome

Updated June 12 2024. There were some spelling/grammar errors! Paolo and I will revisit soon and give our updates.

Occasion: Sunday evening dinner (raining!!!)

Initial Impressions: We were recommended this place to try. We made a reservation online for 8:30pm. I don’t remember what time we arrived. I was a bit annoyed because it looked like it was closed from the outside. The doors were like frosted glass, so we couldn’t exactly tell if this was the entrance or the back of the restaurant. It was about 3/4 full when we arrived and 1/4 full when we left. It’s a small restaurant. I would say difficult to dine inside if you are handicapped, but if you make a reservation they could probably accommodate you in the other half of the dining room where there is more space. There was also a place to put our umbrella and it wasn’t too cold inside.

Once Seated: Its a more modern ambience. I would say giving more chic New York for Italian standards. It wasn’t enough to dress up for, more like a trendy place. There was a tiny table lamp I found cute. In lieu of a paper placemat they had these heavy stone plates. I liked this touch. Actually I preferred this to the tablecloths that are sometimes put out instead of a placemat. The lighting was bright enough. However, the menu was only available in Italian and not so broad. I knew enough to read the basics, but this might be a problem if you don’t know any Italian and/or are with a more picky crowd. There might be an English menu available and they just gave me the Italian one since I was with Paolo hahaha. (When we are together people usually assume we are American or after hearing him speak turn to me and ask if I’m american (the accent in italian hahaha). On a side note, there was no data inside so you have to ask for the wifi. There is a restroom available and I used it. It was downstairs, so this would be a big struggle if you are handicapped or in a wheelchair. But, it was clean and I appreciated this.

The Food: I was alittle worried looking at the menu because it was giving ditirambo vibes, but the food wasn’t bad! We ordered Mezzemaniche alla carbonara (Paolo ordered it with tartufo), Polpette e purè di patate, Creme Brulèe, and Sbriciolata con Crema Chantilly. We were given a complimentary eggplant thing with our bread.

5/5 Piatto di melanzane: Sometimes if an eggplant or zucchini has gone bad it will leave a really disastrous taste in your mouth. It will be bitter but also feel like acid. I was skeptical about this dish, but it was actually very good with the bread! It looks spicy, but it is not. The tomato sauce was perfectly seasoned and not too sour. It was also not too salty. The eggplant was perfectly cooked and not just boiled to a mush. I would say there were a perfect amount of oil in the dish and when we finished there wasn’t pool of oil leftover! This was good because I hate when you eat something kind of tasty and see the pool of oil your food was sitting in. It ruins the memory of the taste. Overall very happy with this.

5/5 Mezzemaniche alla carbonara: Ok so I am torn between four and five stars. However, I give this carbonara because it was actually perfect sans my preference for lean rather than fatty meat. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the carbonara was not too salty!!! Actually the carbonara was perfect. Also the leftover sauce tasted so good when dipped with the bread. I wasn’t a fan of the pancetta, but I realize I’m not a fan of pancetta in general. Paolo’s carbonara with truffle was pretty good too. I don’t know if it’s worth it to order with truffle every time, but if you want and really like truffle, it’s worth a try. Otherwise you might be better off with the regular. 5 stars for the carbonara.

4/5 Polpette e purè di patate: I have to be objective here. The meatballs were perfect. I would’ve appreciated alittle bit or garlic or onion/shallot or something but I can’t say anything bad about the meatballs. What I can say that makes this dish four stars and not five is that the brown sauce did not mix well with the potato puree. Also the potato puree was slightly sweet and I would have preferred it to be more savory. Actually also less pureeing of the potato itself, the dish was served hot but I just didn’t know if the potato puree was meant to be a giant sauce or like a soup…I would still order it again if the menu doesn’t change, although I believe the menu is seasonal/changes regularly.

3/5 Creme Brulèe: I have to give the creme brûlée a 3/5. The sugar was almost perfect. However, the actual creme part of the dish was failed. They overcooked it so it was not creamy, but rather more solid and overdone. I would say this is because there was a low yield, or they used too big of a dish for the portion given, so when it was in the oven, the layer was too thin and overcooked.

5/5 Sbriciolata con Crema Chantilly: The dessert was amazing. The cream was actually closer to the consistency the creme brûlée should have been lol. It was perfectly sweet. The consistency of the cream was addicting. There was a good ratio of the layer cake to cream. Also the layer cake wasn’t soggy and had a good crisp, meaning they made upon order. Overall the texture was balanced and they didn’t make it too disgustingly sweet. There were hints of vanilla and the dessert was cold. The presentation was impractical but cute. I enjoyed eating this particular dessert a lot and would order it again.

Service: The service was good. It’s family run I believe. The man was nice and asked me if I liked the food. I also appreciated the other woman’s recommendations for dessert. She recommended the Chantilly cream. Oh also with bread they gave us a complimentary eggplant thing. It tasted really good with the bread. Our forks and knives were also changed every course with a new pair.

Payment: The bill total was 100 Euros. Originally it was 107, but the owners rounded down and discounted us. The water was particularly expensive at 4 a bottle (we had two). So it was nice to basically have free water. I don’t know for sure if they accept American Express because I was paid for, but the bill was in an amex bill holder so I am guessing this do accept amex. I would say I walked out full. It was definitely a more modern take on what we have been eating in Rome, but worth a visit if you are in Rome for more than three days. Overall this restaurant is closer to 4.5 stars, but I for simplicity I don’t do halves and I rounded down to four stars because of the more limited menu and the creme brûlée. Otherwise, a very fine establishment that I look forward to coming back to during the summer months (presumably when they have steak on the menu etc).

If you would like Paolo’s Italian opinion (hahaha) his version is here. On iPhone there is a way to translate the entire thing to English. Tap , then tap 

https://wordpress.com/post/nicoleinrome.com/647

Hope this helps, sign up for my newsletter below if you liked this or found it helpful, or shoot me a comment for how you found the restaurant! (I only send the newsletters once a month/and I’m pretty sure I give you the option to opt out of my new posts).