Barnum Roma — Restaurant in Rome

My family and I recently visited Rome and heard a lot about this "famous" breakfast and brunch spot. Over the weekend, we couldn’t even near the place because there were long lines for both takeaway and outdoor seating on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It looked like the people waiting in line for general admission at a hot Las Vegas night club. So, we ended up at Escosazio (around the block) on those days, which, looking back, was 10 times better than this place. The food was great, the staff were friendly, and the background music was pleasant.

Back to Bar-None—on Monday, there was no line, so despite our initial hesitation (since we often assume places with long lines in Rome are tourist traps), we decided to give it a try. The place looked nice, with a variety of pastries and treats, and it even smelled decent. However, within five minutes, we realized this place was underwhelming. The “Brooklyn NY” vibe felt fake, the hip-hop music didn’t fit the atmosphere, and the crowd felt like a mix of forced hipsters and Insta-famous types, with no Italian accents—just Americans and Brits that like taking pictures for their friends approval.

We ordered simple dishes: scrambled eggs with bacon and hash browns, and avocado toast (which looked great in the photos online). The food came out in two minutes. The eggs were cold and watery, the bacon was a sad pile of microwaved pork, and the hash browns were also cold (it was a patty, the kind you get in the frozen section of a super market). As for the avocado toast—the avocado was dry (something I never thought I'd encounter), and the spread underneath was strange and cold. The toast itself was plain.

In short, this place was pretty disappointing. I have no idea how anyone could rate it over 4 stars. It seems like the kind of place people go to take pictures rather than enjoy a good meal, or folks that follow the crowd because influencers on Instagram call it a “must-visit.” Hey, we fell for it too.

That said, the staff was friendly, the hip-hop music was good, and the location is decent. But if you're looking for a satisfying meal—or even a quick bite without dealing with touristy food—there are countless other places offering better food. My rating reflects the overhype and the lackluster quality of the food.

For a clear definition of tourist trap since the owner didn’t read the review thoroughly and was defensive. Tourist trap signifies places with below average tasting food, English speaking only throughout establishment, from customers to workers to people within 15 fee of this place (waiting in line). Farm fresh, organic, specialty or not, the food didn’t taste great. You can be “speciality” and still taste good, but this one missed it for me. To each...

Totally overrated. It looks just on instagram good, but the reality hits hard. We had breakfast today. I have ordered the scrambled eggs with bacon and sausage. They made them with hash browns. The portion was big, thats the second star in the rating. The bread was sure from yesterday, as chewy as it was. The egg was good and the bacon to. The hash browns have been undercooked, raw inside. The cappuccino was blend. I ordered a second one, because i thought it might get better, but the second one was even worse. Also I have ordered a pistachio croissant. No taste of pistachio and the cream went sour. It tasted really off. I cannot recommend it. A disappointment, not worth the time. Also quite pricey for rome. More at the top higher price range, with 3€ for a cappuccino. Also the instagram postings doesn’t match the actual menu. You wont find the food presented on the page, at the menu. Its outdated.

Edit: 20:05, 05.11.2023 ————————————————————- Thank you for your response. I dont think so, old bread is old bread. Otherwise proof me wrong and show your bread production. I dont think that that you made your bread fresh, everyday and if so, then it was really bad for fresh bread. It was not only mine bread chewy and old, i was not alone at the table. Hashbrows have been undercooked. The cream was off in the pistachio croissant. I have had a second one right after I left your house and the taste was not comparable. The cream will get sour if you leave it to long outside while processing it. The cappuccino was blend. I saw your barista while checking out. He did all them with to much milk, he was really generous. I dont have the recipe anymore, it s not about the money. Thank you for...

After seeing social media posts and recommendations about this place, we were very excited to try it. There was a line outside but I saw that was common for this place via reviews. We waited about 15-20 minutes outside on a street with narrow room for pedestrians. Their outside patio is on the opposite side of the street and they did a good job at shading it as well as they could from the hot sun. We were seated in the outside patio as that was first available. Service was great and we have no complaints there. However, our food was a different story. We ordered the fruit bowl & it looked beautiful (only to see a maggot crawl out of a pineapple piece at the bottom of the bowl). We had already eaten majority of the fruit but were very grossed out by this. We each ordered the vegetarian breakfast entree and the vegetables had a tiki masala type of flavor which isn’t bad but it didn’t work well for a breakfast. The toast was the best part of the plate. The hashbrown was stale and cold and could barely be cut into even with a sharp knife. The fried cheese sticks didn’t have much flavor and you could also tell that they were premade and not as fresh. We tried to order croissants but they were sold out (which is fine!) so maybe that’s the big part that we missed. Our espresso drinks were good. Overall, we were very upset with the outcome of this restaurant as we were only in Rome 2 days. My take would be for you to get a croissant or pastry to go but be sure to go early. However, we would not recommend eating here for the...