44 Osteria Quarantaquattro - Ristorante — Restaurant in Rome

Food quality: 2,5 / 5 Food quantity: 1,5 / 5 Service: 0 / 5 Price: 3 / 5

An arrogant waiter, an attempt to trick tourists to pay more, and a ad experience.

We came for a quick meal before heading home. We ordered two pastas (fettuccine, bacon, and tomato sauce & ravioli with pumpkin and sage).

The ravioli was delicious, but the serving was very, very small as for a price of €12. Four pieces were served. For a main course this is not acceptable.

The pasta with bacon and tomato sauce was good and fairly sized for a price of €10. Not the size of an actual main course, but recommendable.

What ensures that the review ends on one and not 2 stars is mostly the waiter, whom constantly attempted to convince us to buy food and drinks we did not like. In addition, he increased the bill amount by charging us for bread, which we did not eat nor ask for (or touch). Being confronted with this, he attempted to lie.

In the menu they state that there is a €1,5/person additional charge fee for the bread basket. Page one. However, you cannot charge people for something that is not eaten (and not ordered or touched). He does, furthermore, not tell it to anyone. As such many of the other people eating there were tricked.

After confronting the waiter with this fact (stemming from their own menu), he tries to lie and say it’s a cover charge and service fee. We did not accept that argument. It says service fees and etcetera is included, and thus we desired that he returned with a new bill. I tried two times to tell it to him nice. But, first after my sister - more firmly and loud - insisted on him to do so a third time, he changed the bill. Really arrogant and bad behaviour. It seemed that only the gazing of other guests could change his behaviour.

I will personally never order food in this...

I came in here with high expectations, but left disappointed. The waiting staff was courteous, but the owner sadly made this experience the worst in Rome. Although he took my family’s order personally, he shirked responsibility when my order came out as a steak filet instead of sea bass. His reasoning was that I said “grilled” sea bass and that’s not in the sea bass order so he gave me the filet. According to that logic, “sea bass” isn’t in the filet name order either so I’m confused how when my entire family of five told the owner they heard me say sea bass, the owner insisted that he heard a grilled steak filet. Quite interesting. I was surprised, he never made an effort to even correct the order or ask if I still wanted the sea bass.

You (owner) took my girlfriend’s credit card that she kindly provided to you at the beginning of the entire meal to use. When the check came, you said she never provided it to you until she had to remind you several times it was in YOUR POCKET before you even made a move to check. How conveniently forgetful—your shoddy memory was a very familiar friend throughout the evening.

Looking back, it’s no surprise there were no other families or parties in the one and half hour span of this dinner. Your lack of attention to detail was abysmal, and I truly am sorry for the lovely workers who choose to work at this restaurant. I wish I could even compliment you on your choices on food, but your recommendations were terrible. The bread was stale, your salad you recommended was alarmingly sour, and even your remarks were distasteful and dim.

Choose to be either a restaurant or a comedy show, but please stop...

The last thing I thought I would be doing on my vacation to Rome would be waiting a negative review about a restaurant, however, I thought I would share my experience at this restaurant as it was quite shocking. My wife and I were greeted by the server at the entrance of the restaurant and she appeared to be very kind. She took us to our table and offered us free Prosecco (which we later learned they offer to all their customers). When she came to take our order, my wife and I wanted to order 4 half orders of pasta as we wanted to try extra pasta without overeating. The server right off the bat asked if we would be ordering any antipasti (appetizer) and when we said no, she seemed upset. After we ordered our pasta, the server mentioned that we should order more pasta as what we ordered won’t fill us up much. When we said that we just wanted to start off with 4 halfs, one whole pasta each of us, she seemed very upset. She also asked if we would be ordering wine, which we said no to, and that seemed to have upset her even further visibly. The entire meal, it was very uncomfortable, as it felt like we weren’t wanted there. We eventually asked for our check, we had to box up one half of the pasta as we were so full and couldn’t eat anymore (we had clearly ordered more than enough for ourselves). When I was paying the bill, I was asked what amount I would like charged, which was very odd. I haven’t been asked this by any restaurant in Rome as gratuity isn’t expected or common and only given for exceptional service. Overall, the experience at the restaurant was the worst that I’ve had in quite some time, let...