Pizzeria da Romolo — Restaurant in Ottawa

Decided to finally try this pizzeria after following it on social media and noticing it appeared to be an authentic Italian pizzeria. I can safely say now that the pizzas are definitely authentic Italian. Lovely and simple tasty tomato sauces and good quality ingredients as toppings. The dough is very nice - light and chewy, good thickness - not too thin, not too thick. The only negative is that there were definitely parts of the crust that were burnt. Almost to the point I would send it back. One of my friends that dined with us said when he ordered take out from da Romolo this past winter, it was also burnt then, so this could this be a common issue with their pizza?

The highlight of this family run Pizzeria da Romolo, however, is the OUTSTANDING service. In fact, I would say this is the BEST SERVICE I've received in an Ottawa restaurant IN YEARS! Very professional waitress. She was very friendly, very knowledgeable about their food and with a great sense of humour. Very “simpatica". For this reason alone, I would go back to da Romolo! Highly recommendable, especially in summer when they have a lovely little patio with sturdy awning.... just remember to tell them not to burn the crust when ordering...

I left the place with the taste of char in my mouth. Some of the pizza was good but the problem is that there was close to nothing but cheese on it. Only go there on a Tuesday because nothing there is worth more than 13$. The priciest pizza (24$) and supposedly their best seller is simply a cheese pizza with a salad on it (fresh arugula, fresh mini tomatoes and some pieces of prosciutto). The service would have been nice if they would have told me that getting a glass of water was going to cost me 6 more dollars. It's not even anything special water. It's basically a scam. The receipt says Aqua Panna Large, but I simply asked for water before they gave me the menu. The water they brought looked like any other restaurants water bottle that they just clean and refill. I don't remember if it said Aqua Panna but it looked nothing like the bottles with that name that I see online. Also, they will not give you a clear receipt if you...

Food is solid and tasty. No complains there. Biggest issue is that during both my visits, they have tried to hide upsell charges without mentioning prices to us.

The first visit it was “do you want a dip to go with your pizza?” - which cost money, fine, but TELL US UP FRONT!

On our second visit, it was the water. When someone offers you sparkling or still water, unless you’re dining at The Ritz, you can generally assume that still water is tap water. Nope, some import stuff that they marked up insanely.

I don’t mind paying for things like this, but it’s INCREDIBLY insulating to try and hide (or at least not mention) these costs from your guests and then have it show up on the bill.

On principle, for these managerial insults, I will not return. It’s a shame because the food is decent.

If you do go, just make sure you know what you’re being asked to pay for.

Disgusting practice that...