Pici Trattoria — Restaurant in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

We arrived at Pici at around 19:50. The restaurant was around 60% full. Hostess was polite and nice and took us to a table whilst also giving us choice to sit at other two tables - what for me does enhance your experience at a restaurant as it does not seem you have to sit at a place someone else designates, I know this can sound weird but anyway.

Waiter was also polite and attentive. Asked about which kind of sugar to add to an ice tea and asked if the water we wanted was a jug of water or bottled water.

Food-wise the restaurant does a very good job with primi piati. They have a very authentic taste of Italy. This comes from someone who lived and studied in Italy and I guarantee I could fault not neither of the two dishes we had. One was the rigatoni all’amatriciana which was perfectly cooked and slightly spicy, as it should be. The second first dish was a fettuccine ai funghi which had a distinctive undertone of smoked spices and was especially creamy for being a butter-based sauce.

I cannot say the same about the second which were polpetone wagyu and Milanese Grana & Pepe. Both of the sides for the two dishes were pasta. It was quite overcooked and broke easily. I personally do not get why serving pasta - again - as all the first dishes are pasta. Serving pasta twice with the secondi was quite an unhappy surprise. I can only believe this comes from the idea that in Italy people eat pasta as secondi with meat as a standard practice, what is not necessarily true.

The dessert, chocolate crostata, was extremely sweet. It was composed of a very thin layer of heavy wheat-based crust, followed by a mix of nuts, milk chocolate, salt caramel and more nuts on top. Was it served with a little bit of lemon whipped cream or anything to help break the extremes sense of sweetness that would have been a little bit better. It was also quite heavy to cut for just the two spoons provided.

I think, and that is only my opinion, that the reason for the overdose of pasta in the secondi might derive from some people coming and having either primi or secondi, what could explain why almost every dish is served with pasta.

It’s a fair 3.5. Total price including drinks was £73.45, or 433,57...

I was really looking forward to some Italian food , and this showed up in the Michelin guide as a Bib Gourmand. I really try to not write too many poor reviews but I would rather help people avoid wasting their money or in my case wasting my appetite during my limited time in Rio, I can only eat so many meals and when I have a bad one it's such a waste.

The food was really not good and I'm not sure if any of the chefs are actually familiar with Italian food or just making things up. Having recently been to Rome this food is so far off the mark its not even funny.

I ordered the suppli and they were the wrong shape, the cheese inside wasn't melted , and the sauce was super acidic and they had a runnier consistency than they should have. I didn't finish them.

I also ordered the Amatriciana. A classic Roman pasta with very simple ingredients, pasta, a simple tomato sauce, guanciale, pecorino and black pepper. I understand it may be harder to get some of the correct ingredients in Brazil but again this tasted so different than the real thing, and not good. The tomato sauce was again super acidic and sour. The guianciale (or bacon) was cut super small and you didn't get the delicate flavour or the pork fat or black pepper in the dish, just an overwhelming flavour of bad tomato sauce . I took three bites and couldn't eat anymore . I'm fine to pay the full bill , there was no deduction from the bill, the staff seemed almost used to it.

The service was friendly and the room looked nice , but the food was...

Visited in June 2024 Brazil. Rio de Janeiro.

I found this restaurant through Google reviews and it was packed when we arrived, which made me feel good about the food, but there were a few things that weren't quite right.

Food:

We ordered an appetizer and two main dishes. For the appetizer, we had ham croquettes. We've tried a lot of croquettes in Brazil, and these seemed too starchy. You could barely taste the ham in the filling, it was mostly potato. They were very heavy. The main course was ravioli with braised meat and gravy. It had a very rich flavor, but I thought it was too salty. The pasta itself was cooked well, nice and elastic, good color, you could tell they added egg yolk. It was a decent dish, but like the grilled octopus with potato and onion, it had some flaws. The octopus was a little tough, especially the top part, but the sides went well with the protein. The potato was nice and crispy and well seasoned.

Service:

The service was good. Even though we spoke English, the waiters were always trying to help and would explain things with a translator if needed. However, the service seemed a bit slow, but it was packed so that wasn't a dealbreaker.

Overall:

It’s a decent restaurant for a casual lunch or dinner with coworkers or friends. However, there are so many amazing restaurants in Leblon that this one felt a little...