Dal Pollarolo 1936 — Restaurant in Rome

This restaurant seems to be on both sides of the street -- a bigger outdoor seating at the location closer to the Piazza del Popolo, but we kept walking (away from Piazza) because it was too busy/loud. We sat the smaller location, with 4-5 tables outdoors. Servers wanted us to sit outside in the cold and they didn't even turn on the heater next to us, to attract attention, even though their inside seating was empty. We ordered a Minestrone (this evening was chilly), Calamari, and Polpette Funghi (meatballs w/ mushrooms). I had ordered meatballs at a different restaurant a day earlier so husband wanted more. These were bigger size but smaller quantity, and more game-y. I didn't like them as much as the smaller meatballs from another restaurant, that might now have as much meat. No complaints on the other orders. Head server was fluent in English and, while service here may not be up to American standards as mentioned by a previous reviewer, we had no issues. Can't expect same in Italy as in USA. Our location did put "2 Servizio a persona"...

Unfortunately, a very bad experience. We found it a bit difficult the get the attention of the waiter to ask for information for the food and then order, even though we were one of only three groups of people there. The cutlery were placed directly on top of the table, without a tablecloth or even a napkin underneath and when we politely pointed that out, the waiter took the fork and the knife and placed them on my napkin with an attitude. One of the two pizzas came completely burnt (the other almost burnt) and when we pointed that out the cook himself came and told us that it is normal (maybe for coal, not for pizza). When we asked him if he would eat it, he didn't respond, and only after they tried to persuade us to eat the black pizza, they offered to cook another one, but we declined, too tired to gamble further with the service of this establishment. Point of the story, when you are serving customers in any business, you are allowed to make mistakes, but you are not allowed to refuse to fix them, when...

This is an okay-ish place near Piazza del Popolo. We were desperately looking for a lunch spot and came across this osteria.

We ordered 2 Aperol spritzes, sparkling water, bruschetta, side salad and a steak. The bill came to €41.

Generally, the restaurant was as expected for a place in the middle of the town: okay food, reasonable prices, and good service.

However, we have a couple of notes:

1. the spritzes were not good; way too sweet
2. the steak was too fatty and chewy (it could have been a very last minute cooking as the kitchen was about to shut down for an afternoon
3. We asked for a sparkling water, but received natural instead.

Excluding the aforementioned, the restaurant was good and the service and waiting staff...