Eataly Roma Ostiense — Restaurant in Rome

I usually never review anything out of pure lazinss unless something was fantastic or exceptionally poor. I went to Eataly in NYC and was curious as to how its counterpart in Rome compared. Rome's Eataly is HUGE and grand. I actually visited Rome's Eataly twice while on vacation since my first experience was pretty good. First night, my husband and I ate at one of the few restaurants within the store. It was fine. I don't know if it was better than any of the independentt cafes/restaurants/bistros all over Rome. I appreciated being able to go to the pastry shop on the bottom floor and getting a packaged dessert from the counter for take away.

On my second trip to Eataly, my husband and I ate at a different restaurant. Again, food and service was fine. I wanted to get Tiramisu to go as I did with my dessert my previous visit. This time, I noticed the Tiramisu at the pastry shop on the 0th floor was 5 euros and decently smaller than the tiramisu at the cafe adjacent to it; the cafe tiramisu was 5.50 euros. When I asked the pastry store worker why this is, he said they are different companies so he cannot really say. Fair. So, I asked the cafe worker for the 5.50 euro tiramisu to go. He said he could not make it to go and that I would have to go to the 1st floor (one floor up) to the "Gastronomia," where I would be able to get it to go. Fair. I go there. The gastronomia is a savory to go place and they have no tiramisu. But, the gastronomia worker tells me that I can get to go tiramisu upstairs at the wine and pastry shop. Fair. I go the 2nd floor.

By this time, it is 21:25 on a Friday night. I wait for the worker to return from somewhere and ask for tiramisu to go. Although they have tiramisu here, the worker said he cannot give me tiramisu to go and that I would have to go to the 0th floor flor that. I explain - or try to explain - to him everything I was told previously. Granted, I was trying to convey the story in English, which he didn't seem to understand or care to understand. This worker was not helpful. He was not accommodating. He was not nice. He was rude and the worst representation of a company you would want. He would cut me off when I tried to ask him why I was told different things. He would not even offer a smile. I worked in the food service industry for several years and not in a cool glitzy way; I get it. The lack of customer service was abhorrent. After this experience, I will not recommend Eataly Rome nor Eataly elsewere to anybody and rather, hey, I don't know, tell foreigners to go to actual local Italian restaurants as the quality is not different. I didn't even bother going to the 0th floor pastry shop as I did not want to give another cent to Eataly.

//Edited in response to Eataly. Thanks so much for the follow - up! Another...

It is one of my favourite grocery stores in Italy. The ample space and local produce makes it a great spot for food-gift shopping.

This review is however specific to my dining experience on Aug 13 , 2021 (8 pm) at Eataly in-house pizzeria. Again I have to say it is a great place for a pizza: the ingredients are of better quality than most pizzerias, and pizza dough are consistently well proven.

But on the Aug 13, the service was utterly dissapointing. I ordered the summer's featured Latium dishes: fresh pasta with wedge clams (telline) , a Latium coastal delicacy and a glass of chef's recommendend chardonnay from a wine producer in Latium.

The pasta dish arrived and upon the first bite, I realized the dish was unsalted. Being uncertain if that should be the case, I asked the waiter for salt (a request I have never made at any restuarants). I also highlighted to the waiter that the chef might have forgotten about adding salt to the dish. He relayed the my comment to the chef (the cooking station was visible from my table) and that was that no futher follow-up. The clams were also sandy. As I thought it could only be one or two of the clams, and also given that none of the staff even bothered to offer to change my bland pasta dish, I went ahead to try to finish the dish.

However I as continued, I found more clams that are sandy at each bite. (Sandy clams aren't visible, one had to take a bite to discover that clams are gritty)

I gave my feedback again to another waiter who thanked me but didn't seem to relay the message to the chef as he had promised to do so. He took the plate away and casually passed on to me the full bill, without apologies.

I wasn't expecting a discount or waiver for the price of the dish. I would expect that a brand name like Eataly would be esigent enough to offer to find out what was wrong with my dish at the very first moment I mentioned that the dish came completely unsalted!

I also have to add when the wine was served, the waiter casually left the glass at the far end corner of our table...instead of leaving it next to me. That I found odd and rather impolite too.

Whatever has happened that evening, the team at the resturant has definitely succeeded in changing my mind about recommending the place to fellow visitors to Rome.

Create a pleasant and welcoming ambience for the clients and the good food will taste even better! And unsalted pasta is definitely a no-no especially in Rome! When serving clams, clean well or take it off the chef's recommendation list! Last and not least, have a feedback page on your business website and make effort to find out more when customers' gave...

Our experience was not very good at all. This was my first time here and heard some good things and they were offering regional menus each week through the month of August and I believe into September. This week was Sardinia and the offering sounded very good, so we opted to make a reservation for this evening and in the comments of the reservation, noted we were coming in for the special menu. When we arrived and were seated, we ordered and two minutes later, the waitress came back and said they did not have the dessert, so I asked why not, when we specifically commented in advance on the reservation, we were coming in for the special menu. Then they offered something else, but wanted to charge us the regular price. This was changed after she checked. Then she came back and said they did not have the ingredients for the main dish. At that point, I wanted to walk out, but being with my fiance for a special occasion, instead asked them to try to create something that would be acceptable. When the food started coming out, the bruschetta was tasteless, the seafood dish was oversalted and then, when my fiance said she did not even want the dessert, they somehow found one special dessert, but still charged us for two. In the end, and she is Italian, I expressed how disappointed this experience was and I would be posting reviews and not recommending the experience to my clients. She explained in Italian my feelings about this experience and she also added in that, she as an Italian was very disappointed. This experience did not reflect the region, nor did they attempt to contact us, given they had ways to do so to let us know they could not do the menu and also, in the end, did not offer an apology or even take something off the bill. I realize that Italy, things are done differently, but bad service and bad food are universal and no one at the restaurant had the power to do anything. For the record, I currently live in Italy and experience in this area, both in the food industry and in the hospitality industry. Neither area excelled and the prices are higher for such an experience, so that is my reasoning for this 2 star, at best review. No one took responsibility and came up with a solution that...