Romano — Restaurant in Tel-Aviv

What a disappointment, It was the first time that I felt that I just couldn’t leave a tip Never before happened.

We were seated at 8pm, few minutes later the server grabbed the 4th seat (we were 3) sat down and helped us build our order.

About few minutes later our paid drinks arrived (the “Free” water we ordered didn’t, Few minutes later first appetiser arrived - was simple and good, that’s were the saga started Dishes were going out of the kitchen all around, after about 45 minutes from the arrival of first dish, we have decided to ask “What’s the Deal” the answer we got was “The kitchen is backed up” and soon the food will start flowing, After another 20 minutes I got up and asked to speak to the manager as it was really the moment I thought of getting up and walk out.

The manager checked with the kitchen and it seems like there was an issue with our order placement, so about an hour and a half after being seated we got our food.

The food was tasty, we ordered some more drinks and were ready for desert. We ordered Chocolate mousse and a Caramel tart,

We got the caramel tart - that was delicious and the wait started again , while waiting for the chocolate mousse we ordered another desert which arrived fairly quick but the mousse still didn’t arrive same for the Espresso I ordered We ask for the check and another type of desert passing the waiting time

Eventually my espresso arrived, the chocolate mouse did too

The staff seems more interested in chatting among themselves than providing a good service

Asked for the check again and showed that I wasn’t happy for asking again and again

The check was put on our table casually and slipped to the floor - it wasn’t even given

It could have been such a wonderful evening if the flow was more professional, you cannot serve a dish open the appetite and prolong the rest, you cannot have about 45 minutes gap between courses, when there is a mistake (which the server that took the order came and said that it was her mistake) the establishment should take responsibility for ruining for what could have been a great night, but NADA No real apology, not comp’ing anyting not even the espresso

I gave the server my card when she asked me how much Tip would I like to add and I (not sure where I got the nerve to ) say No Tip - there was No Service so I leave no tip She kept asking why like the service was great or even basic acceptable which it wasn’t ,

I blame the managers that aren’t on top of their servers and probably don’t understand the meaning of reputable service

Paid my Bill 880NIS Left a 20 NIS bill and we left

The problem is that most people will leave a tip, wouldn’t say anything and maybe will not comeback, I believe that in order to fix something you have to speak up, Don’t leave a tip and hopefully the restaurant will change its way (I do honestly doubt it, it’s a hip place, the food is good and Peale just accept bad service as you cannot explain it in any other way how come this restaurant still exist and it’s hard to get a seating due to it popularity.

The restaurant is counting on the Israeli crowd that will walk in half stoned, get a drink and all the rest is (as the Israelis will say )...

The location itself is nice, it's nice for a small cozy neighborhood bar. But it's not, it's a fancy restaurant in disguise.

The atmosphere they are trying to create is a chill and relaxed bar, and you can keep this feeling for a few minutes till one of the staff addresses you with a very unwelcoming approach.

After you read my review you will see that it's not a restaurant especially not a good one and with only two draft beers, it's not a pub either.

The service is suffering from a lack of patience, early as in the menu overview process and after a while when the food doesn't come out the answers you get from the crew were terrible and rude. When they cleared our table twice they try to be fast about it that they spilled all the rest of the sauce and liquids on us.

I know that you need some luck in that part, a bad one, but two waitresses at the same evening it is just being careless about the client

The overall approach was just having an angry face and waiting for us to leave. When the food is sophisticated and clever it appeals to you, moreover when it serves elegantly. But here it's not the case, with all this appearance of a street food feel they missed everything.

A street food restaurant can be chick and hipp and still hold restaurant prices as well. But in Romano the food was terrible and lack of finesse. To serve just in the name of a gimmick it's not interesting, when a fish's fin is served with a small portion of meat soaked in a bland sauce and when the nice thing about this dish was the grilled vegetables you know someone missed the point. A salad in a paper bag… it's cool hip and young, maybe. But if it's served without any unique flavor, what is it?

Too expensive for the experience it provides.

We left after three hours hungry and angry…

Grabbed something to eat on the way home…

7 people table from the age of 27-37

Who likes to eat and drink...

Tl;dr: bad food, bad service, small portions, expensive, bad experience

This place is one of the most overrated places I've ever been to in my life. The service was atrocious, with grumpy hipster waitresses who obviously were born for greater things in life than to serve such lowlife sachim as myself, and couldn't even place food on my table without dropping it off the amazingly solid cardboard plate it came on.

To add insult (or I should say INSALT) to injury, every meal we ordered was way too salty, with crunchy salt crystals ruining whatever taste they were going for.

On top of that, the meals all came looking like something my grandma would serve me, on ugly plates that I thought I would never see outside of the army canteens, or just flat out not on a plate at all.

All of this without even talking about the greedy, stingy portions, which have you pay $20 for what can only be described as a starter.

If you think you're coming to a relatively expensive restaurant such as this to have a conversation with someone you can forget about it, the volume will be on the same level as an average Israeli bar. I don't understand why this has to be the case but I assume it's so the waitresses don't have to listen to the complaints of the displeased diners.

I ordered a "balcony seat" for my meal, and I ended up sitting in the balcony but without any view. Not only that but it was very hot and full of smokers, so be warned if you still want to give this scam your money, either order a "high seat balcony spot" or sit indoors.

Overall this place is awful. It's the epitome of everything bad in Tel Aviv. It's loud, dirty, expensive, has awful service, pretentious, and worst of all, everyone swears its the best thing ever, and wants to go here.

Avoid it like a giant cockraoch on...