Chinappi Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Rome

In extreme synthesis: seafood was exceptionally fresh and well prepared, and that’s the only thing you really care about if all you care for is what you eat. Now, some more details if you’re looking for additional decision making factors. The area is extremely central, being close to Castro Pretorio and Piazza della Repubblica. The restaurant is in a tiny (although not too small) place which looks to have been recently refurbished, with ca 10 tables which makes for a space that is somewhat intimate. When walking through the door you literally enter another space and the effect is quite stunning: this area of Rome, although extremely central, exudes Romanity, within a decidedly historical atmosphere plagued by traffic, the not-so-occasional litter on the streets, and run-down infrastructure; the restaurant ambiance is pure white, shiny, projecting an idea of cleanliness and, to a point, aseptic, which I found a tad too impersonal. Although varied, the menu is not huge which allows for the quality to be kept in check. Don’t ask for fried shrimps and calamari, though, this is not the place for that. Many people working in the restaurant (I counted 10 within and out of the kitchen, which seems to be exaggerated for such a small place), despite this, and while it was good, the service was not really great: for a restaurant that clearly wants to position itself as a luxury experience, service was somewhat average. Last but not least, prices: it is expensive and you will easily spend 60-100...

DO NOT BELIEVE ALL THE NICE REVIEWS, after my experience here I'm fairly certain half of them (maybe more) are fake. I've travelled around the world and been to many amazing restaurants as well as truly terrible ones. Yet, somehow this one stands out from the rest and is the worst of them all.

Starting from the food itself, which is disgustingly prepared (either overly salty, sour, or just simply overcooked), is charged the same price as many top restaurants in Rome. My prawns were extremely sour and tasteless, while the pasta we ordered was dumped with so much salt that you can't really taste anything else in the dish, as well as the pastas themselves being so undercooked that some of them are still hard in the middle.

Secondly, the quantity of food is just plain embarrassing. For 33 euros, you get a grand total of 6 shrimps that's half the size of your pinky, cooked with what seems like a gallon of lemon juice. Funnily enough, the portion of our appetizer is significantly larger than my entree.

Lastly, the menu descriptions are extremely deceiving. The linguini with crab meat has no actual crab meat nor any taste of crabs (if there were any they are covered by the overwhelming saltiness).

In conclusion, I definitely would not recommend this place and advice anyone thinking about going to go elsewhere. Rome is big, there're plenty of places that has way better food than this place at half...

I went in this lovely restaurant with my mom once I got back to Italy for vacation. The first thing that surprised me was the nice atmosphere and the warm welcome from the Owner, his name is Stefano and I swear he is the nicest person ever! After he showed us our table, he introduced us the menu which is really refined and tasteful. We really trusted him and he took care of us for the entire dinner. Before choosing this restaurant I read the bad reviews where many costumers said that Stefano wanted to forced them to order what he wanted, but I totally disagree with them!!! If it seemed like this, it's just because Stefano wanted to suggest them the best dish and guide them in a 5* dinner experience. I love food and so I loved this restaurant! We've got various selection of raw fish, the taste was great and the fish was super fresh... but the best part was the main courses! My mom got a grilled octopus, and I got a Spaghetti with clams that was amazing! Chinappi is a family restaurant, and it was nice to talk with Stefano's wife and their sons. I'll definitely recommend this place to my friends and to whom will read this review!

Grazie...