Divinostilia food&winebar — Restaurant in Rome

Seemed like a good place since there was a line waiting to dine here. Waiting wasn’t an issue at all, but the guy who seemed to be in charge was awfully rude to everyone. He then forced us to buy a bottle of water even though we didn’t want it. We then ordered the bruschettas , which actually were delicious. The Carbonara was SALTY like overly SALTY! Not enjoyable at all. The tiramisu was decent too , not too sweet not too bland.

The only reason for the 2 missing stars is for service and overly salty food! Do better …

RESPONSE TO THE OWNER: Your attitude shows well even on the reply to the review. 2 stars now. It’s not about the 1.50 water, it’s that you pushed it on me, what if I wanted wine? Instead you make me pay for water lol. It’s a principle. How could I have sent the salty carbonara back , when all you were doing was telling people off and being rude, for all I know you would have yelled at me for that too. If I wanted to be salty I would have bashed on all the food I ate. Instead I spoke highly of the bruschetta and the tiramisu. Not my problem you work 16 hours a day, it would probably be better for you if you worked 8 hours and act friendlier and happier and truly give good customer service, because I can assure you, you don’t! I always tip at establishments that don’t charge service fees, especially coming from a country that we add minimum 18% tip for good service. Your establishment did not provide good service , therefor you did not earn a tip. Your body language speaks 1000 words. Anyways , good luck to you...

Divin Ostilia is a pretty little place of about 20 seats. We arrived with a reservation and got our table right away. Not bad for a friday night. But the fun more or less stopped there. We waited about 15 minutes for one of the two waitresses or the guy behind the bar to give us menus. They were dropped off with no ask about drinks...despite this place billing itself as a wine bar. Another 15 minutes rolls by and we order.

The bruschette came and were pretty good. Basic tomato and another of anchovies and fresh mozzarella and the toast was crispy and chewy at the same time. Good combo. I had ordered tonorelli with shaved black truffles and when it came it was quite mediocre. A good sized portion to be sure but the pasta was quite over done as in soft and sloppy- not al dente as I have happily become accustomed to. The sauce had enough pepe to be interesting but was really floury so ended up quite disappointing.

My wife had something that may have been octopus tentacles in a chick pea puree. It came cool or cold. No idea if this was on purpose or not but it didn't help this quite small, fairly tasteless dish.

So all in all, despite the many positive reviews, this place seemed just like any other of the tourist restaurants in the Coliseum area. Look further afield if you want...

We were asked to leave arbitrarily after we placed our food order - their rule is that we must order some beverage and pay for it. As we didn't want to order any beverages, they asked us to leave. It was a ridiculous experience and they were very rude with enforcing it.

We tried to talk to them calmly and ask them why they're forcing us to buy something that we do not want. The response is ridiculous - why would we fill water from your restaurant's toilet when all of Rome's fountains have drinking water? It's laughable how they're trying to do damage control after treating us so disrespectfully.

At that point it wasn't about the 2 or 3 euros that we'd pay for a beverage, it was about not being given a choice in that matter. It was about being forced to order and pay for something that we did not want. It's about the right to choose.

If your rule is that customers should order both food and beverages mandatorily, then at least mention it somewhere, write it on a board outside your restaurant, or write it on your menu. Don't enforce it arbitrarily and after you make the customer wait for the table and after they take time to decide what to order and after you take the order. And whatever the case may be, be...