Antico Arco — Restaurant in Rome

I was unbelievably disappointed with my dinner here, especially given the restaurant's reputation.

I went here for New Year's Eve dinner, which was an 8 course prix fixe. Of these 8 dishes, only 2 had any complex, robust flavor; these two dishes succeded purely through the natural flavor of the ingredients alone, not through any thoughtful preparation of the chefs. The desserts were tasteless and honestly worse than something you could get from any chain bakery. One of the main courses had vegetables which were positively acrid and (in my opinion) inedible, although this seemed to pair well with the bland meat it accompanied. The fried exterior of the lamb was reminiscent of a McDonald's chicken nugget, and I was honestly impressed how they were able to make something that simultaneously had no flavor yet somehow washed out the taste of the lamb. There seemingly was no thought to the order of the dishes, as the flavors didn't flow well into each other at all. By halfway through we were just exhausted and wanted the meal to be over, although it continued to drag on thanks to painfully slow service.

I also had an interaction with the staff which I perceived as quite rude and confrontational, although I don't factor this into my appraisal of the restaurant. Perhaps I'm being ignorant of culture, but I intentionally made an early reservation so that I could spend New Year's with my loved ones, but the restaurant seemed to think that we wanted to spend 5 hours having a mediocre meal and "celebrating" with them.

Frankly, all of these complaints about the quality of the food pale in comparison to the chief sin -- the price. I was certainly expecting a high bill given the menu insisting on use of expensive ingredients to compensate for any skillful prepration, but I have never been so offended by a restaurant when handed a check -- 240€ per person at a restaurant where the normal 7 course prix fixe is 78€, or a traditional 3 course meal is 60€. I understand charging a premium for the holiday menu, but triple the price? You could literally go to La Pergola and get a 10 course dinner at a 3-Michelin star restaurant for nearly same price, or go somewhere like Ristorante Il Boncompagni and have a fantastic prix fixe every day for a week and still have money to spare. Someone needs to tell this restaurant that charging 3-Michelin star prices doesn't fool patrons into believing that you have the skill of a 3-star restaurant. Frankly, I can't feel anything less than scammed, even if the dishes would have been excellent, as this price was not advertised anywhere obvious. This was my least favorite meal in Rome before I got the bill, but after I was debating if it was my worst restaurant experience ever.

I've had the pleasure of dining at many fantastic places, but unfortunately Antico Arco seems to be masquerading as a nice restaurant through pretentiousness and "Instagram-bait" dishes. Based on the actions of those sitting around me, taking one bite of a dish and stopping or visibily reacting when I read the price off the bill, I don't think I'm necessarily alone in this appraisal. Severely disappointed. Perhaps the normal dinner is better, but I certainly won't be...

This is a cross post from Yelp....

I agree with the few bad reviews that you'll find here on Yelp and on Google. I really don't understand what the fuss was about but this was the worst restaurant we ate at in Rome. It's totally mediocre, uninspiring food. I usually don't mind sub-par service if the food is good but neither was the case on this particular night. Perhaps it was a language thing but the waiter we had was totally emotionless and incapable of suggesting dishes. He simply read the menu when we asked for his favorites.

The restaurant seems to try to do mash up/fusion food and fails spectacularly in my opinion. Why would you take ceviche and put it on top of risotto? Why would I want to eat guacamole cream and corn crumble on top of fish when in Rome? Most dishes lacked something tying them together, usually some sort of acid, not to mention the use of too much salt. They put "spicy breadcrumbs" in the amuse bouche, my wife's entree and one of our appetizers. Reusing the same ingredient across various dishes as if you're doing something creative is the exact opposite.

I understand wanting to try something other than a typical trattoria after a few days but this definitely isn't the place. Please don't waste your money there. Also, as someone mentioned, the robot waiter brought out the card machine and set it to the tip screen and handed it to me. Nobody else had done that...

I’ve had probably 5,000+ meals in my life varying from dinners my mom would make my sister and I to 5 star restaurants… and I can confidently say this was the best meal I’ve had in my life. Rarely do I eat something so good that I am sad to be finished, but today was such a day.

The restaurant itself is quite elegant and the entire staff made me feel like I was dining with friends at a stop on the corner. Not only did they constantly bring my girlfriend and I small dishes of things we didn’t order, but they even made a small little dish of my carbonara so that she could try some too. If I could give this restaurant more than 5 stars I would.

If you’ve ever seen the movie Ratatouille, taking a bite of my meal for the first time was similar to when the critic at the end of the movie tries his dish and has a flashback to his most fond meal of his childhood. Except I’m not Italian and my mother never made a Carbonara even within the realm of this dish.

We somehow just stumbled across this restaurant while trying to kill time until we had to head to the Vatican and this was the best luck we’ve had on our 3 week Europe trip so far.

To the entire staff of Antico Arco, thank you. You’ve set an impossible bar to meet and wherever I’m in Rome again, I will be coming here with whoever I’m with so I can share this amazing experience...