Caffè Vaticano — Restaurant in Rome

The café’s atmosphere exudes a delightful blend of comfort and sophistication, making it an ideal spot for relaxation and social gatherings. The menu offers a variety of sumptuous dishes, each bursting with flavors that tantalize the taste buds, elevating the culinary experience.

Unfortunately, the otherwise inviting ambiance and mouthwatering cuisine are overshadowed by a regrettable incident involving the surly owner. My interaction with the owner escalated into a distressing altercation, souring the entire visit. This negative encounter cast a shadow over an otherwise wonderful café experience, leaving a lasting unfavorable impression due to the unprofessional conduct of the owner. I believe I was stereotyped by his referring to me as a football player and he clearly stated he didn’t like football players. How he arrived at that conclusion is beyond me because I don’t play football, and I was basically put out of his restaurant. All of this came from me ordering inside his establishment and sitting at a bistro table outside. We ate, I went back inside and ordered dessert to go. Upon walking out he says to me, “You don’t sit, get your food and go! You hear me! You go!” I ignored him because first, I did not think he was talking to me, then upon realizing he was, still ignore him because you will not speak to me as if I am a child. Upon walking way and his still expressing his dislike of football players I replied “I don’t like crotchety restaurant owners so today we both encountered who we don’t like!” Grant it I found out after the fact you had to be seated at the bistro table and had he approached me and said “The tables are reserved for dine-in customers only.” the whole incident could have ended differently. Several servers walked past us several times as we ate, and not one of them informed us of this.

While the food and ambiance are praiseworthy, the unpleasant confrontation with the owner marred what could have been an otherwise...

If you’re ever in Vatican City and find yourself wondering what purgatory feels like, just grab a seat at Cafe Vaticano. Congratulations—you’ve entered the overpriced, underwhelming seventh circle of tourist hell.

They lure you in with the illusion of a quick espresso, then ambush you with mandatory table seating so they can hit you with a cover charge. Not a polite one, either—this is the kind of fee that makes you check your passport to make sure you haven’t accidentally crossed into a casino.

Now, let’s discuss the “fruit plate.” And I use that term loosely, because this wasn’t fruit—it was punishment. A few depressed cubes of melon were tossed on top like a garnish to disguise the horror lurking beneath: a soggy mess of cheap canned peaches and pineapple straight out of a 1993 school cafeteria tray. Sweet? Sure, in the same way betrayal is sweet. This plate was 90% syrupy filler and 10% shame, all for the low, low price of over $20. I’ve seen better fruit arrangements at gas stations.

As for the staff? Imagine you’re interrupting a team-building workshop on how to actively hate tourists. Cold, rude, and impossibly annoyed by your very existence. One waiter actually sighed at us like we’d just asked him to explain the concept of gravity. Asking for a napkin felt like requesting a kidney.

And the “double cappuccino”? A tragic, flavorless puddle served with the enthusiasm of a funeral. I wouldn’t even call it coffee—it was more like brown water with abandonment issues.

Cafe Vaticano isn’t just a tourist trap—it’s the bait, the cage, and the guy charging you to leave. You’d have a more authentic Roman experience eating grapes off the...

What a shocker! This place will show you an arrogance that is not normal to Rome. The restaurant was virtually empty, we asked if we could buy 2 bottles of water (no drinking glasses) and sit, to which the woman behind the counter, while eating, said was fine She said the 2 bottles of water would cost €10 and for us to pay cash. We sat and had a drink of our water and both my wife and realised it was warm and not yet chilled. We didn’t complain and just accepted it. After about 10 minutes, a man suffering from Small Man’s Syndrome came and told us that drinking 2 bottles of water only was not allowed and we had to go. I tried to explain the lady said it was OK but he wasn’t interested and aggressively, more or less, threw us out. As I was leaving, I threw the €10 on the counter. He went berserk insulting me and my wife calling us a heap of names. What he didn’t know was I speak Italian so I understood everything he said. He threw the €10 back at me and showed me the receipt. They lifted the price for the 2 bottles of water to €13,20 (because we had it inside sitting down) and threatened to call the police. This guy is a nut job. I paid the €13,20, gave him a few words back in his own language and made for the door. He continued insulting us loudly, calling us stupid, ignorant and more names, drawing the attention of everyone in the restaurant. When we got outside to our tour guides, they told us the water should have been around €3,00 each and they were disgusted in the way we were treated and ripped off. This is the worst I experienced in Rome. Skip this joint. The rest of the places we have visited have been...