Contrario. Vineria con Cucina. — Restaurant in Rome

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

This was probably the worst meal we had in our whole trip to Rome. As we sat down we were passed a bowl of stale bread with some bar snacks before we had menus, which when reading the menu noticed in fine print that it was charged as 2€ a head, if you wanted oil & balsamic vinegar that became another 2€ per head. At 5€ a drink for soda they were clearly looking for any opportunity to bulk up the prices and cash grab tourists who were visiting the Colosseum. This was the cheapest drink on the menu other than 3€50 water. Our bill totalled ~44€ whilst the main dish was 13€ each. There are much better restaurants in Rome charging 30€ for a main and drinks for two people. Do not fall for the servers trap of pushing a starter on you when ordering. Our server suggested a caprese salad and the table next to us was pressed into ordering fried artichoke flowers. The owner clearly has asked the servers to do this.

Both my partner and I had the brocoli and sausage pasta, which was incredibly salty, lacking sausage and overall underwhelming and disappointing. Having read other reviews this seems to be a consistent problem with their pasta dishes.

The restaurant itself was hostile towards tourists too. A German family that was sat behind us had specific gluten free dietary requirements and the staff were difficult with them. It's also worth noting that this hostility is noticed when reading through the reviews of this restaurant too with the owner responding poorly to honest negative reviews.

Whilst I'm sure the non-pasta dishes on the menu are lovely and the massive selection of wine is impressive they don't get the basics right.

EDIT

Response to owner:

As expected instead of taking on board some valued information you choose to insult, downplay and avoid any criticism put to you. If multiple people are saying that specifically your pasta is too salty, maybe your pasta is too salty. As I said, I'm sure the other food is good!

As someone who doesn't often post reviews it may be worth noting that I have gone out of my way to post this review simply because of how poor this experience was.

It's difficult to avoid what is happening on other tables when one family was clearly upset with how they were treated. The job of a waiter is to assist their patrons, not to sell and pressure them to order more, this is clearly a tactic the owner has told the servers to do to milk as much money from tourists as possible and refute any criticism by telling them they don't know better.

This is the only pecorino pasta dish we have had that was too salty on our trip and I'm sure it will be the worst meal we have here.

Owner commenting on multiple negative reviews being left by myself yet this is the only one...

15 minutes ago I entered to have a nice dinner in this restaurant and i showed my antigen test just did this morning. The application didn’t read it as validated because they didn’t choose the right option “Base”. They told me that my test result is not accepted that I have to have the third vaccine. I offered to eat outside and they told me no in a very mean actitud. Now, i am sitting in another restaurant and the waitress told me that probably they have chosen the wrong option so it appeared as not validated. So, as you can see in the attached picture my vaccine is validated and they lost a client and also put me in a difficult situation. Please be informed to avoid this happens again. Anyway, i am so happy that i am not having dinner there.

Edit: i think instead of asking my motive, you should have apologized because as a citizen you are not informed correctly regarding italian covid health law. Just to inform you in Italian territory if your covid passpord is older than 6 months you are not obligated to get third vaccine and an antigen test or pcr test is...

Update: After reading the response that is half excuses and half personal attack - I stand by my initial conclusion of not being able to recommend this restaurant based on the response as well as our own personal experience.

We ate here New Years Eve. The food was extremely over priced, prepared poorly, and presented even worse. The highlight of the meal was our bottle of wine. My plate of roasted veal was cold and dry. My wife's tuna pasta was not fresh in smell or taste. It seemed like there was no cook in the kitchen, only a small team reheating food from the days before. I should note that I live in Turin, Italy. This stop in Rome was a quick break point while returning from our family farm in Basilicata Italy. Please look in detail at my past reviews and you will see the types of meals and experiences that have shaped my opinions. (spoiler having 300+ euro meals in Michelin star restaurants can be completely justified when the food is prepared well...)

This restaurant was a disappointment and I could not recommend visiting in its...