Allo Sbarco di Enea — Restaurant in Rome

English tourist visiting. Had lunch here after a visit to the ancient site adjacent. To break this down, the food was great. The fish in my pasta dish was very fresh and tasty and very reasonably priced. I had the fettuccini funghi con frutta di mare which was a large well cooked portion for around 11 euros. The aestheticof the restaurant is also flawless. As someone with two classics degrees, I fully appreciated the ancient Roman decor of famous sculptures, great mosaics and a dressed up waiter.

The reason this is 3* over 5* is that as a table for two at lunch, my friend received his food and ate slowly, but my only course took around 40 minutes to arrive and he was finished long before I started.

Then, without complaint, I tried to pay by card, and even with two years of Italian study, I could not work out what the problem was. He had a card machine, he wasn’t unsure if we wanted to pay together, he wasn’t asking for more, less, anything I can comprehend, but clearly in English, or Italian, We could not work out what the issue was.

Eventually we had to combine our final euros to satisfy and we did not receive any change, any thanks for our custom, nothing. It was depressingly wishy washy for such an apparently pleasant restaurant with a what seemed a positive atmosphere and lovely, reasonably priced food.

Perhaps, as we were the only English customers and the staff did not speak English, it was all just an unfortunate loss of translation...

Price for two low average pasta, pizza and two drinks....😔 I was not sure about this restaurant from start, its kitschy. The food was low average. But the ugly surprise was on the end when we paid. Friend had pasta with tomato souce and it was spicy. It was not suppose to be spicy bcs she cannot have it. She ate two slices of bread to fix her throat. On the end we found out they charge us 2,5 eur for each bread (half of slice)and another 2,5 eur for mini salty sticks they brought on the table on the start. So be careful. This smal package of hard bread and sticks will cost you 20 eur easily. Pizza was 8 eur, pasta 10 eur, water 2,5 as well as Fanta. Which is reasonable. But we had two pasta, one pizza, one water, one fanta. And we have no idea what is the rest on our bill. 🤦 We were so shocked from the bread price that we noticed additional 10 eur on our bill too late. I honestly hope when I visit Ostia again these people will be out of job, bcs they ruin my holiday and disturb my exitement about...

The food here is amazing! We were there under a bit of difficult circumstances for the restaurant, as the water for both Ostia and Fuimicino had been off for nearly a day, though it was just coming back on. It's right by one of the main entrances to the archeological park. We had been to the park there several times, always arriving early in the morning before Aeneas (Enea) opened, and then deciding to eat at the cafeteria in the park (pre-pandemic) or at the vending machines in 2021. What a mistake! Plan your visit around eating at this wonderful place. The prices are a bit less than most in Rome itself, the atmosphere is nice with the garden area, and the seafood is to die for! I can't recommend enough the seafood platter (antipasto di mare), it's really a lunch in itself. So do your day at the ruins early, then leave the park, and spend a long leisurely lunch here before taking the train...