Occasion: Saturday Night Dinner
(View from the top floor taken by me hahaha)
Initial Impressions: (This is partly from my aperitif review, for those of you that already read it) I was introduced to Maio by my sweet sales associate Ke Li at Chloe in Rinascente. I liked the ambience very much and decided to come back with Paolo again to try dinner after our aperitivo. He made a reservation for 9:30pm, but I think the hostesses forgot to write it down because it wasn’t in their book. However I do appreciate that it was honored and we had some wait but also everyone else did too. I might add that we were about ten minutes late, but you’ll find in Italy people are usually late. The glass is kept so clean at the entrance that 2/3 times I have been here someone has walked into the glass. It was about 1/2 full when we arrived at 9pm and 1/4 full when we left. It’s a decently sized restaurant. I would say that it is very accessible to dine here for handicapped people and those with wheelchairs. In my opinion it is maybe one of the most accessible in Rome that mirrors American accessibility standard, with not only many elevators throughout the building, but spacious ones to fit several people along with the wheelchair user. Also they real estate is generous so one can shop with relative ease. During the wintertime, there are heaters.
Once Seated: The ambience here is beautiful. I would say this is a very good place to go if you are on a short stay in Rome, but want a more relaxed feeling of the city. The view from the sixth floor is very nice and I enjoyed that it was half covered but also allowed the sunlight to naturally progress as sunset approached. The seventh floor is also nice during sunset, but they do not accept reservations for the rooftop and many influencers are usually in line. If there is no line, I say it is worth it to sit there, but if there is not you are not missing much. It’s a trendy place, you can dress up for it if you want but I would say it’s fine to wear more of your cool night out cocktail clothes or just pop in in the daytime clothes you were wearing while sight seeing. Also past a certain time they do not allow people to dine for dinner at the very top, but you are able to dine for dinner on the second to top floor. The lighting was good. They had mini table lamps that were bright enough, as well as some ceiling lights. The menu is scanned from your phone available in both English and Italian. However, I think they have physical menus available upon request. To be honest the selection is just a tad limited, but its petter than la pace del Palato and they have just enough of the classics on the menu (plus pinsa), so its a pass. The drink selection is good! The restroom is inside and there are signs.
The Food: Overall the food was good, but there are some things on the menu that I will recommend to you more than others. A bread plate was complimentary. Here is what we ordered: Barbie (drink), water, and a bottle of coke, Pacchero fresco al ragù classico, Spaghetto “Mancini”, Cheeseburger di Sakura, and Rib Eye di Angus. (I’m also going to include a dessert here I had complimentary from Chloe the week before).
5/5 Barbie: This drink (alcoholic) was really good with my dinner. This is actually the first cocktail I’ve ordered in Rome because most restaurants have Spritz (I don’t like those) or just wines/beers. I was really missing American style cocktails and since the drinks at the aperitivo were so good during our last visit, I went ahead and ordered Barbie. The glass selection could’ve been better, but the drink was good. It wasn’t too sweet but also not too bitter from the alcohol.
5/5 Pacchero fresco al ragù classico: I’m a fan of bolognese and I loved the giant pasta with the mushrooms. The parmesan flakes were also a nice touch compared to other places that come with the shaved parmesan. For its portion size, I would say the average person would not get full off of this unless antipasti was ordered or secondi, but the taste was perfect and I really recommend this.
2/5 Spaghetto “Mancini”: The spaghetto. is at the top in front of Paolo. Meh skip this, the sauce tasted a bit too much like heavily salted ocean water. Paolo still finished it, but it was a bit disappointing. I think he said at one point he had a bit of sand which is always unpleasant. I had like two bites but the taste paled in comparison to my bolognese. I think Paolo silently wished he also got mine as well hahahaha.
4/5 Cheeseburger di Sakura: This was a good burger. It doesn’t compare to Open Baladin, but it did come with a really good set of fries and a section of three mini Heinz sauce jars which I really liked. I didn’t give it a 5/5 because nothing made me think I have to come back for this or “I’m going to be dreaming about this,” but if I happened to be at the restaurant and I wanted a second I would definitely consider ordering the burger. Lots of other people dining also ordered it.
4/5 Rib Eye di Angus: Everything was good, I liked the two sides, I also thought the ribeye was good. However, the Chimichurri sauce was lacking in flavor a bit. Other than that, it’s still solid to order if you want. I would be between the rib eye or the cheeseburger.
4/5 Fragole, meringa e fior di panna: Now again, this was complimentary from Ke Li and Chloe one week before, but I’m including it under this review in case you might want dessert. This dessert was refreshing. I love strawberries and I also liked the icecream. However one star was taken off because the meringue was too crumpled and I couldn’t really eat them properly. I thought they were also a tad dry, but its meringue, and also the other comments evened it out in terms of moisture. This dish is fun to get if you really want dessert to finish and the other desserts on the menu don’t really sound great to you.
Service: Service was very good. The managers were around making sure things were going smoothly. The waiter was also attentive and kind. They speak English very well also.
Payment: the total cost was 135 euros. This included my drink, Paolo’s coke, the bread/water/service, both our primi pasta dishes, and both of our secondi. Again, this bill total does not include the dessert. They accept American Express. It was a very smooth process and the waiter came to our table with the card reader. Overall, for the amount of food we ate and the quality, ambiance etc, this is a very fun date night spot and I would take my parents here when they visit rome because of the views, the handicap accessibility, service, and the ambience. I will give warning that the coke was super expensive though and I don’t recommend you get the coke here unless you are dying or don’t care. Luckily me and Paolo usually finish everything we order so we didn’t feel too terrible, but the price of the coke bottle was a surprise. I forgot exactly how much but it was like (6 euros).
Nicole in Rome 