Cucina Pepe — Restaurant in Rome

Tl;Dr: do not patronize this restaurant unless you are white and straight.

I arrived with my friends a group of 2 gay men, and a straight couple, Asian and American, and were told “we are full”. Not “it will be a few minutes” or even “we are closing early tonight”. As someone who has spent many years in hospitality I picked up right away that we were not welcome in their restaurant.

Others in my group gave them the benefit of the doubt as it was possible they may have been understaffed, but they changed their minds as soon as they noticed that they had many available slots on their online reservation system.

Reading other reviews it seems that we are not the only people to have this issue, and we can only be left to assume the reason we were turned away was due to some issue with our ethnic statuses or sexual orientation.

I would say there could be some level of “lost in translation” happening, but as a group we speak nearly 5 different languages, and regularly eat at establishments who fluently speak other languages, so I can with certainty this isn’t the case. The owner also seems to be able to express themselves quite fluently, in English, to negative reviews about their restaurant. I would steer clear of this place if you are looking for a welcoming place for dinner.

I would recommended taking a taxi to Luciano’s if you want amazing food and great drinks, and a welcoming atmosphere.

Response to owner reply: the reservation time slots were available for the time that we showed up to the restaurant, yet you said you were “full”. Not “please make a reservation”, these two statements are very different. It shows in your in person interaction and your replies that you have no desire...

🌟 Tao's Google Restaurant Reviews 🌟 TOURIST TRAP. I genuinely cannot for the life of me understand why there are so many positive five star reviews for this restaurant. It is located right by the theater and is an easy place to grab food afterwards so I imagine it collects a lot of patrons and restaurant goers here. My partner and I decided to try this restaurant because of the reviews.

My partner and I ordered the carbonara, gnocchi in ragu sauce, and broccoli. I was immediately drawn to the fact that the carbonara was extremely salty with parmesan and also extremely creamy suggesting that cream was added instead of using egg only to make the sauce. I could not finish the dish as this was straight up the saltiest and unauthentic carbonara I have ever had. I can make better at home. The gnocchi with ragu was less offensive of a taste, but it tasted off-putting. The brocolli was the only thing that wasn't horrible, though it was like boiled broccoletti and hard to mess up.

Overall, tourist trap, doesn't taste good.

🍲Food: 1 🧑‍🍳Service: 3 🍴Atmosphere:...

Racism or perhaps he has a problem with women’s dining alone! Although they had plenty of tables. The old man said; it was all reserved although just minutes ago one of the waiters was looking for a place to seat me down. All of the diners in the restaurant were white! Crazy racism is still happening in 2025! And I can’t count all the Italians we welcome in Latin America without prejudices. Perhaps I need to become hostile with all Italians visiting Latin America from now and on! Although that would mean I would have to walk onto the mere basic education my parents taught me. Racism should never be ok. No one should ever be judge by their race, skin color, religion ect. Although our adn is 99% animal. We have evolved. Do not behave like you’re still an animal, you know better! I’m happy I didn’t spend my money in such decadent and...