Colline Emiliane — Restaurant in Rome

【This is not a place I would recommend】

While staying nearby, I happened to see an elderly person earnestly making pasta at the front of the restaurant and noticed people lining up outside. I thought, “This might be an authentic and popular place,” and decided to try it. It seemed to be a popular restaurant, and when I tried to make a same-day reservation, I was told that there was only one table available at 21:15, so I went at that time.

Upon arrival, I was seated promptly, but the receptionist prioritized taking a phone call and didn’t even glance at me as I entered. My impression of “poor hospitality” started right then and there.

As I feared, the worst part was the server at our table (a white man with black-rimmed glasses and a shaved head). Below are the unacceptable aspects of his service:

Since I was with a child, I asked about the portion sizes. His response was shockingly dismissive: “It’s one plate per person, right? How should I know if the amount is right for you?”—something no hospitality professional should ever say.

He refused to discuss the portions, so I decided to observe how my child was eating and planned to order another dish later. However, when I tried to place an additional order toward the end, he snapped, “You can’t order piecemeal like that—it’ll trouble the chef.” I was appalled that a mere floor staffer would prioritize the chef’s mood over the customer’s experience. If that’s the policy of the restaurant, it should be clearly stated in advance. If they don’t want à la carte orders, they should operate as course-only.

At checkout, I noticed the bill had the Amex logo, so I offered to pay with my American Express card. The waiter clicked his tongue in disapproval, went to fetch a separate terminal, and after completing the payment, flung the card back onto the table and left without a word. He didn’t even provide a receipt until I asked. I suspect this might violate Amex’s merchant agreement. I plan to report this incident and request an investigation or possible revocation of their merchant status.

On the positive side, the tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce was excellent—so much so that my child even asked for seconds. The pasta was clearly handmade with care, and that point deserves praise.

In summary, the chefs are diligent, but the service—especially the black-rimmed-glasses man who seems to be the floor manager—was absolutely terrible. If the restaurant prioritizes local regulars over first-time customers, they should clearly state so. If they refuse additional orders, they shouldn’t offer à la carte dining. In the near future, when robots handle service tasks, staff like this—who lack even the slightest hospitality—will be replaced. A server without a spirit of service has no reason to exist. His behavior made it clear that he is just going through the motions after years in the job.

Lastly, I noticed the Michelin sticker on the door before entering and thought this might be a top-rated place. On closer inspection, it was from six years ago. After this experience, I clearly understand why they lost that honor. The food may be good, but the service ruins everything. The price felt excessive, and I walked away with deep...

This may be a long review. We got to italy and we just kept having bad food. I did so much research. I knew what to look out for so I don't know what the issue was. There's just a ton of bad restaurants. We were about to give up when we just signed it to come here. Now unfortunately this place Only has a few tables, so it's basically required that you have to book ahead of time. They were booked out for the next two weeks when we arrived. However, we got very luckily and that we arrived right before nine thirty. They have a 7 and a 930 reservation time slot. The 930 for 2 didn't show up so we got their table. We saw them turning so many people away to. We honestly may not have waited except the couple. That was leaving told us the food here was amazing. The host (possibly owener) was so nice to us and just cool and friendly. The wiator was great to. We had the best wine from here. The listened to what we wanted and brought something out. The starter was thinly sliced cold meat and crackers, which had amazing flavor. I got spinach ravioli which was soooo good. He got some pasta soup which was also so good. Then he ordered duck, I believe. Finally, we got to dessert. He was sooo excited for the pear cake but it was gone. They did tell us about a blueberry cheesecake special which he ordered (even tho he hates blueberries). This was probably the best dessert we had at any restaurant, it was very good. I. Got the tiramisu which was OK. Maybe I was too tipsy at this point but I don't think there was any fingers. It doesn't matter, everything else was great. Freshly home-made pasta. Amazing service. Reserve here if you can!!!!! You will not regret it, I promise. I think it was about 120 for 2, we did get a bottle of wine. We think the reason the food stayed so good. Here is because the restaurant is so small. I think what other places in Italy do is, as they get more demand they expand the seating area. So they end up doing more than they can handle, and the food declines. As a business owner can understand wanting to do that. But this place is amazing because they didn't. Quality of food comes first. Out of 20 places we tried this was by far the best food...

Our family was in Italy for 10 days, and here is our list of best restaurants (of the places we went, of course).

1st - Colline Emiliane – Rome The pasta dishes here are incredible and our entire family agreed it was the best meal of our trip. Dessert is an important consideration to our family, and Colline Emiliane didn’t disappoint with how you finish the meal. Based on dishes we had (we ordered 5 pasta dishes to share between the 4 of us), we would give Colline Emilane 4.9/5.0.

2nd – Osteria Vecchio Vicolo – Florence 2nd – al42 by Pasta Chef rione Monti – Rome We couldn’t choose our second favorite restaurant, but since they are in different cities we think it is fair to give them a tie. Once again, our choice is based on the pasta (a theme with our family) dishes at each restaurant. For Rome, we would definitely suggest al42 over some of the places (like Tonarello, which we also went to) that have massive numbers of reviews. It isn’t fancy but the food is amazing and the people who work there make you feel welcome and go out of there way to make sure you enjoy your meal (they don’t wait on you at the table per se, but they were attentive and made sure you had everything you needed). Osteria Vecchio Vicolo in Florence is also a fantastic place, and we highly recommend it. Once again, not as fancy as other places we went but the food was as good as the most expensive restaurants. This is another place where you shouldn’t skip dessert – the desserts aren’t as big as we would like (we are Americans who love our sugar) but they are really good.

3rd (or 4th depending on what you do with the tie) – Trattoria Dall’Oste Amazing steak, great sides, and nice setting. Our primary complaint is that the desserts were average. But if you don’t have a sweet tooth like our family, then you will be...