Armando al Pantheon — Restaurant in Rome

This place comes really highly recommended, and Katie Parla's numerous glowing reviews had me curious enough to go to their website 28 or 29 days out from our travel dates where I happened upon a 9 pm reservation for a Monday night. I will start out with stating that the food is excellent - no complaints.

However, we really struggled with the service (please note, this was not my first rodeo - I've been to many restaurants around Europe and understand that ordering and service can be very different than in the US). The wine menu is enormous and we asked our waiter for a recommendation only to be vaguely told that that was someone else's specialty - the woman he indicated was practically throwing a private wine tasting for a couple a few tables away. We sent him away because we hadn't looked at food yet and when he came back we had chosen food, but still had no guidance on wine. We eventually ordered food and finally somewhat blindly picked out a wine ourselves (based on a recommendation I'd found online) and had to wave him down to order it because our food was definitely going to start coming out before we were going to be able to order drinks. The sommelier came over to deliver our wine (it was very good), but it felt awkward, like I'd broken a rule of ordering, and then she went back to the first couple and their random wine tasting (the couple next to us had been there longer and she didn't come to them until they were halfway through their meal). Then our waiter kept disappearing for long stretches, rushing through the room so fast I couldn't make eye contact, even when we'd been done for quite some time and just wanted the bill. At one point a second waiter came over and asked if we'd like dessert and we politely declined (we wanted to go get gelato) and asked for the bill. And then sat there for another 15-20 minutes while no one made moves to get our it. We flagged down the second waiter again and finally got our bill, but I was just baffled by the process at that point. When we left our original waiter was leaning on the wall outside smoking - what?

While the food was great, there are so many other restaurants in Rome that have food just as good and much better service. Maybe we just kind of fell through the cracks that night, but it was a disappointing experience and didn't live up to...

I am very grateful to this place for seating us when they seemed to be full but the experience was underwhelming.

I had two young kids and really needed to find a place for lunch and this was in my Lonely Planet book so I thought why not try it. But when I arrived there was a sign posted on the door saying the restaurant was fully booked and the waiters who saw me there just ignored me and I figured they were ignoring me since the sign already stated they were full.

However I was so desperate because my kids were so hungry and we'd be walking for ages so after standing there for 5 minutes or more I just asked the waiter if he could somehow accommodate us. He went in came out 2 min later and said okay but then realised there were 3 of us (he didn't see baby in pram) so went back in came out and finally said okay. He was kind and helped me with the pram but when I walked in I realised the sign outside was evidently not accurate because they led us to a nice empty table for 4 (?!). For the food: we ordered roast lamb, cacio e pepe and an endive salad. The lamb was quite chewy and incredibly hard to cut or bite into, the salad was just a few endive leaves with some olive oil and cashews thrown on it, and while I am not a connoisseur of cacio e pepe it simply tasted like pasta that was quite chewy with some cheese and pepper, it didn't stand out in any way.

I asked for a natural wine and was pleasantly surprised they had one as its very hard to find natural wines in Rome. It was quite nice and the lady (maybe the manager) was very nice and very friendly towards my children which I really appreciated.

When we left again I saw empty spots, it's possible other people were about to take those tables but I got the feeling that saying the restaurant is full is some sort of gimmick.

To summarise I think the staff were all quite nice (which is alot in touristy places) but I did feel the food was average and i couldn't...

We have been trying to get a table at Armando’s for several years on every trip to Rome. This year we finally managed to get a reservation and albeit it was for a late time - 10:00PM - we were excited to be able to finally taste the food at this famed restaurant. Upon entering we were warmly greeted and sat at our table and quickly serviced by our waiter. We started our meal off with the appetizer of the day which was lamp organs with sautéed chicory and served on a fresh bun. It was nicely presented and tasted delicious. Off to a good start. For our main course we ordered the Roman traditional Rigatoni all’amatriciana (my wife’s favorite) and for my self the daily special which was a cooked veal dish plus a couple sides. When the food arrived it looked nicely prepared but unfortunately with the very first bite disappointment struck. My veal dish was way overcooked which made the meat very dry. So much so that the flavor and moisture of the sauce and the ricotta got lost in it. While my wife enjoyed her dish, having taken a few bites of her pasta I also found the Guanciale to be over fried and charred (my wife likes it that way) leaving a bitter taste. The side dishes were good however. Nevertheless, I had high expectations for this place based on what I have heard from friends and read in reviews and felt let down despite the good parts. The mistakes made were too big and essential. Knowing that I likely won’t be able to revisit to give it another shot I’m left feeling cheated out of an experience that should have been one of the highlights from this trip. It is worth noting: We had a group of friends that had been able to secure a lunch table a couple days later. We recommended to stick to their staple dishes like Carbonara and the Osso Buco. They shared with us afterwards that the meal and overall experience was great. I hope to revisit the place in the future and to be able to share a better review next...