Al 34 — Restaurant in Rome

Al 34 was one of the best Italian meals I’ve had in Italy or the US in over 40 years eating this cuisine, full stop. Family of 4 with kids elementary school age. The exterior signage and interior decor was authentic and eclectic; it gave me the vibe of a favorite old school haunt without being tacky, somewhat of a midcentury vibe. Decorations collected over 60ish years in business, even the exterior sign was properly midcentury. Our service was superb (ask for Marco!), very knowledgeable about the menu and alterations that could accommodate kids, along with what adults might like based on preferences. Marco was the perfect amount of attentive, friendly, and personable. Now, the food: really excellent all around. Three of four got a pasta dish of varying complexity, all perfectly cooked al dente and seasoned shockingly well. My very picky young son had lasagne that was never too heavy on any one ingredient. He loved it, which is super rare. I had a very delicate white fish dish that was again cooked to perfection and seasoned very well. I had an octopus appetizer that was sliced paper thin with just enough lemon and garlic to accentuate the seafood with the right amount of acid. The food was just adventurous enough to put a clear and welcome twist on traditional dishes without straying from what made those traditional dishes so wonderful. The culinary attention to detail was the best part of this experience. Fresh ingredients, expertly prepared, the sweet spot of seasoning and flavor; a little adventure without trying to be something it was not. All of the portions were also very well sized, and by that I mean made with traditional European restraint but never leaving us hungry. The traditional tiramisu to close our time was lovely and never too sweet or overly moist. The capstone on the evening was the very reasonable price. I think we ended up paying maybe 50-65% what a similar meal in a major US east coast city would have cost us for the same quality.

Al 34 might not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you want the latest modern decor, booming music you can barely talk over, an overly hip and aloof waitstaff, and a chef trying too hard to win a James Beard/Wine Spectator award or Michelin star, there are plenty of choices to indulge those urges. This is the kind of place more likely to stumble upon those awards occasionally than aim at them with laser focus. But the food is the kind of place James Beard himself would surely love on a regular basis. Zero...

We found the place by google alone. We were walking around the Spanish Steps and wondered what was nearby. This was one of our last nights in Rome before heading back to Australia. Family of four, no reservation and we just walked straight in and got a table right at the height of their dinner service. It was only by pure luck that they had a table ready right at that moment. The stars aligned, because after we left the tempo started to pick up. The first thing we noted that the staff here are on point. No wasted energy. Requests for water/drinks were handled quickly and happily. The staff buzzed around each other like dancers, plates this way, trays the other way, a flurry of activity. Dinner was ordered next, we had a caprese salad to share as a starter and then I ordered a meat main (oso bucco) and my wife a pasta (wild boar), sons had the calamari and spag with meatballs (both were very generous portions). We also purchased a bottle of moderately priced red wine (in Australia what we bought would be considered cheap), but the wines we had in Rome were priced very well compared to home. The quality was outstanding. The cheese on the caprese was delicious. I’d eaten a few for the past couple weeks in Milan, Modena, Venice. The cheese at this restaurant was the best I’d had. What really stood out to me was the oso bucco. It was so good I took a picture of it. Order it, it’s meat will melt in your mouth. The flavors of the sauce will excite your taste buds. I honestly was going to cry into my plate with sadness when I was close to finishing it. Such was how much I enjoyed it. The waiter chose a Muscato for me to have with desert. We were then offered a limoncello, I drank my wife’s because she’s not into it, her loss 😉 I wanted to re-visit this place again before we left but alas there were another 10,000 places...

I had an extremely disappointing experience at this restaurant and feel compelled to speak up.

From the moment we walked in, the attitude from the staff was cold and dismissive. The host at the entrance barely acknowledged us, asked how many people in our group, then just waved us in without telling us where to sit. Despite the restaurant being mostly empty, we were placed at a table right next to the entrance, which felt like we were being shoved aside.

What really stood out – and not in a good way – was the behavior of one particular waiter wearing glasses. While he was laughing and chatting warmly with white customers, he completely ignored us every time we tried to get his attention. We called him several times and he acted like he didn’t hear us at all. The contrast was obvious and made us feel incredibly uncomfortable, like we were being deliberately treated differently because we’re Asian.

There were plenty of staff around, but most of them seemed to be just standing around or pretending to be busy. Only a few were actually working, and it was clear many were just killing time.

As for the food, it was just as disappointing. The seafood pasta had lobster that was clearly not fresh and full of sand. The portion was tiny and completely underwhelming. We wanted to order more food but after being ignored for so long, we gave up. The oxtail dish was served lukewarm, which is unacceptable for any restaurant claiming to be decent.

I came here a year ago and had a great experience, but this time was a complete letdown. Poor service, possible racial bias, and low-quality food – I won’t be coming back and wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone who expects good hospitality and...