Babette — Restaurant in Rome

A very disappointing dining experience! Even though I had booked 3 weeks in advance, I was told that they they did not have my reservation on arrival. However, I spotted my name on the list and when I pointed it out, I was curtly told that my booking was for 4 people and not 5 (we were 4 adults and 1 child). All of my restaurant reservations were made for 5 people prior to our trip, so the mistake was most definitely with the person who took the booking over the phone.

Reluctantly, we were sat at a table inside which was quite depressing, so I asked (very politely) to be moved outside into the courtyard. This is where I had originally booked after reading reviews of the beautiful courtyard. The lady who was making the decision did not want to move us but only did so when I said we would prefer to leave and come back another time when we could be seated outside.

We ordered a steak, pesto pasta with saffron zucchini, a chicken dish and a salad. All but the chicken were below average. The steak was very very chewy, the side of potatoes it came with were far too salty. The zucchini was undercooked and had no flavour of saffron. The salad dressing was poor. At no point were we approached to ask if we were happy with the food. Furthermore, they took a very long time to serve the mains. Eventually, after asking twice, we were informed that it was the steak that was causing the delay.

I would definitely not recommend this place. Food and service was disappointing to say the least. I had high expectations but was sadly let down. I rarely write reviews but in this case I felt compelled to share...

In our few days in Rome we experienced six restaurants. This one was by far the worst . While the atmosphere in the courtyard is nice, the white table cloths and menu covers born out of the early 90's foreshadowed what was to come. I'm going to focus on the food here, but I actually had to pull the waiter aside to have a frank discussion with him about his unprofessional behavior. Ok, so let's get on to the food. We started with a salad, which was unremarkable - perhaps outside of the strange very generous dollops of soft cheese on it. That said, it's the mains where things really fell apart. The white truffle risotto is not truffle risotto. It's five very small McDonalds hash-brown like discs, however they're made of rice instead of potato. I could not detect any truffles in the plop of cream in the middle and suspect the use of truffle oil. The chicken that the waiter recommended if you're hungry, was maybe 175 grams, but that's beside the point. It was like eating bland puréed reconstituted chick with jam on it. It was cooked using a fancy sous vide machine and then meticulously coated with several sauces and garnishes artfully applied around the plate with a squeeze bottle and tweezers. The branzino was exactly the same, but it was fish instead of chicken. We left most of our meals, paid the bill, and now that I've taken the time to help others, will put this experience...

We were pleasantly surprised by this restaurant. We started with a brie and ham appetizer, which was basically a deep fried ham and cheeseball.. It was delicious. The fettucine bolognese was a little salty, but was very rich and meaty. The pasta was cooked perfectly. While it didn’t sound (or look) like much, the pulled chicken appetizer had a nice flavor to it. Of course, we had to have some ravioli for the table. They were nicer and light and filled with spinach and cheese. For dinner, I had the duck breast. While the portion could have been a little larger, it was nicely cooked and had a nice orangy taste to it. The grilled sea bass was also well prepared and tasty. The waiter was very nice and the service was quick. In fact, they were so attentive to a nut allergy, that on their own they swapped out a side dish that might have been prepared in the same fryer as a dish with nuts in it. Quite impressive. Overall a very good meal. I highly recommend this restaurant, although on a very hot day in Rome, we could have used a little more air...