NA RUGA — Restaurant in Paris

I never write negative reviews, but I feel I have a moral duty to warn people away from this place.

First, they double booked our table, so we had to wait 25 minutes outside to be seated. (This also happened to every other party that arrived after us.) The waiter handed us menus and offered to bring us a glass of wine while we waited on the sidewalk (nice, right?) and then promptly ignored us until our table was ready.

The waiter asked us–literally as we were sitting down–if we knew what we wanted to eat, and seemed surprised and rather inconvenienced that we hadn’t already decided what we wanted to order for dinner while we were outside waiting to order our glass of wine. We were then informed that the restaurant doesn’t offer carafes of water because “they don’t have any carafes”. The waiter did reluctantly agree to bring us individual glasses of water and had to be reminded of this. (This is a legal requirement in France – if you order a meal, they are required by law to provide water for free, but never mind.)

The pasta was just revolting. The pizza was okay by Paris standards, but it didn’t make up for the noodle-induced trauma we experienced. The Cacio E Pepe was white goo. The Candele Gragnano Alla Genovese was sickeningly sweet brown meat served over boiled-to-death pasta. And the house specialty, the “Spaghettone ‘Na Ruga”, seemed like a puree of boiled broccoli and anchovies with spaghetti added.

(Also, weirdly, the chef emerged for the kitchen and distributed bread on the sly to certain tables and not to others. He seemed to be sneaking the bread to people. We never got bread.)

As for the dessert, the best that can be said of the Panna Cotta was that it seemed like it had been purchased at Monoprix. It arrived long after the server first attempted to bring us a Baba au Limoncello that we didn’t order.

Then the waiter tried to gaslight us into paying for two bottles of water, and insisted we pay for the Baba au Limoncello on our bill we never ordered, and he would reimburse us the difference of 3 euros, because there was no delete button on his ordering system, I guess?

Finally as we left, the waiter let us know that we should consider reserving our table next time, because it was difficult for them otherwise. Thanks for the...

Sleezy drunk owner (who acted in English like he was friendly and welcoming to foreign diners) and his drunk friends spent the entire duration of our meal smoking inside the door blowing smoke into the restaurant and loudly (in French) insulting and mocking the non-french diners in the restaurant. Most especially concentrating on saying racist and offensive things about Americans. The food was also a disaster. Countless far better pizza restaurants in Paris. No wonder this place is empty most...

Are you looking for an authentic Italian cooking experience in Paris? Try Na Ruga. It is tucked away in a side street between the rue St Antoine and the busy Quai des Célestins. But don’t get fooled by the ordinary exterior and simple country side inside decor. The owner will make you feel welcomed and almost expected. The food will make you travel to rural Italy with wonderful, hearty and tasty dishes which prefer authentic to elaborate and elegant presentations. Go. Try. Feel Italy rush...