Felice a Testaccio | ROMA — Restaurant in Rome

My wife and I had dinner at Felice on September 6th, 2024. The food was above average, but the service and overall experience was pretty much a disaster and proved to be a sad end-note to our time in Italy, as we flew home the very next day.

A friend whose family owns a restaurant in the suburbs of Roma had recommended Felice for good Carbonara, etc., as their own restaurant was closed for vacation during our trip to Roma.

We could only get a 10:15pm reservation about 5 days ahead, which we gladly accepted and thought was a good sign.

We arrived a little early and fortunately there were lots of open tables at the late hour and were seated right away. Despite all the empty tables inside and out, we were seated in the cramped entry room with the reception podium/desk, which held only 3 tables (all vacant), and access to the toilets.

After a careful study of the menu, we ordered the suppli, a mixed salad, spaghetti with carbonara, tonnarelli cacio e Pepe and a nice bottle of Chianti wine. Unfortunately the suppli was sold out and our now second server recommended their eggplant parmigiana.

Fortunately the Chianti came relatively quickly and was delicious, followed shortly by their complimentary bread with oil & vinegars, then the eggplant and mixed salad. The Eggplant was nothing to write home about, which was disappointing and the salad was fine except the tomatoes were rock hard and clearly far from ripe.

This is when the wheels came off - after finishing the eggplant and salad, we had to wait about 53 minutes or more to receive our pasta dishes, despite after only 15-20 minutes of sitting idle another server who had walked by multiple times stopped and ask what we were waiting for. Then yet another server came out to explain our order was not fully put in, a mistake they admitted readily, but as the time continued to drag on we couldn’t understand the continued hold-up.

The perplexing thing was the entrance podium/desk was occupied the entire time by a restaurant staff member only feet away from us. She never intervened or chimed in until we ordered dessert. But perhaps the strangest of all, was the manager sat at a table right next to us, not 2 feet from ours, and enjoyed a two course meal, including pasta, while we sat idle, waiting and waiting and waiting for our own pasta dishes. He didn’t seem to notice our wait time or discomfort turn to aggravation. (BTW the service we received in Florence was universally very good and engaging. Roma was much more hit or miss.)

Finally the spaghetti with carbonara and tonnarelli cacio e Pepe arrived, the later they mix table-side. The infamous carbonara was good, though very heavy; the cured pork bits added a crunchy texture and a salty meaty flavor. The cacio e Pepe was even better and rivaled the same dish served two nights prior at another highly rated restaurant also in Roma.

We ended our meal with Felice’s unique version of tiramisu, which was excellent and 2 glasses of limoncello that helped to settle our full meal. Upon ordering these final items our server and the podium staff member made it clear they would be comped due to our long wait, which was appreciated, but at that point we were over it and just hoped to get out of there as quickly as they could serve us.

Over the course of the night we had 4 separate servers, as well as the manger lending service. I wish we hadn’t been seated in that entry room, as it made me feel like a kid in grade school forced to stand in the corner for being wrongfully accused and, the parade of customers by our table to and from the toilet was beyond annoying - that alone dampened our experience. But our near hour between courses, in an almost empty restaurant mind you, was simply inexcusable and a sad end to our...

I was responsible for making a reservation for 4 people including myself. Two of them are very good Italian cooks (myself included). Although, I do not have an Italian Cook Book like a dear friend of mine does. We both grew up in the New Jersey and Philadelphia area. Therefore, we do know the difference between below average, average and great Italian food. I do believe that the reviews online are lower than what our experience was at Felice a Testaccio. Possibly because once in a while, you could get a rude/short/kurt waiter. Which was slightly our experience from one of the 40 something year old bald, male Italian waiters. I do not recall his name. However, Enricco and Denise were very good and very nice!

When it comes to the food, this place is as authentic and as good as Roman food gets!

Wines: We decided to take a little East Coast USA Billy Joel “Bottle of Red, Bottle of White” action for this meal. We decided on: Villa Bucci Central Italy White €90: Very nice minerality with clean balance and it did not disappoint. Habemus Riserva at €155: “When in Rome“ had to apply. Therefore, I chose this exquisite 4.6/5 rated on Vivino bottle from the Rome region (Lazio). This bottle is phenomenal and will pair with anything that has cheese, meat and even some acid that you would not expect it to.

Meatballs al Sugo: The meatballs were good/very good. Although the sugo was PHENOMENAL!

Melanzana Parmigiana: This eggplant parmigiana was phenomenal and I highly recommend it. For parmigiana it was on the cleaner, not so heavy side! A must try if you like eggplant parmigiana.

Cacio e Pepe: One of the Top 2 versions in the world that we have ever eaten! The only other place that may rival this is Er Piu in Cernobbio (Lago di Como aka Lake Como) a few years ago. Therefore, maybe # 1!?!?!

Bucatini Amatriciana: This is not a dish that I eat super often. However, on trips like this, I will eat just about whatever my friends cannot finish. Therefore, I was consuming this 1-2 bites at a time mid to late through our meal. And, there is no doubt that this rendition is UNBELIEVABLE and I rate this THE BEST Amatriciana that I have ever had! It therefore gets a “faghettaboutit”!

Rigatoni Carnonara: I tend to try to eat on the healthier side. Therefore, do not order this pasta all that often. That being said, it was absolute Carbonara Perfection. The perfect amount of everything coming together in a Vivaldi Type Extravaganza if Carbonara were Italian Clasical Music. So, one of the Top 2 versions that I have ever had and probably number 1!

Dessert: Tiramisu: This is one of their signature homemade desserts and it is a phenomenal rendition. If you like Tiramisu, it will not disappoint!

Semifreddi Vari: This dessert was definitely worth ordering even if it is not your favorite type of dessert. It ranks up there with the best that I have ever had.

Felice a Testaccio overall as a restaurant… If you want authentic Roman food, and you’re willing to go off of the beaten path a bit (not many tourists is a good thing for food quality), this restaurant is a phenomenal choice! I think the reviews of 4.0 on yelp are low. Perhaps maybe there may be a vibe from one of the servers that prefers locals to tourists. Which, knocks the rating down. However, when it comes to the whole experience of the food, the restaurant being nice on the inside, most servers being very hospitable, generous, and wanting to please you, this restaurant should not be rated anything below 4.3 - 4.5/5 on an average to slightly bad day for the restaurant. Grazie Mille e Cent’anni, Felice a...

NEVER AGAIN. Disappointing, from the first moment we were approached by the waiter, rudeness at this level only in places famous for this type of insults. but at FELICE a Testaccio you don't expect it.

And what you hope will be a pleasant evening with your friends, recommended by you to try one of the most beautiful food experiences in Rome, it turns out to be really in bad taste, a nightmare.

The entire table was embarrassed all evening, forced to suffer the outburst of a frustrated and rude waiter, and of a sommelier who, having to deal with non-local customers (Italian but not from Rome) feels entitled to show off all her ignorance, suggesting a couple of wines far from our request, and still doing his show, bringing a different wine from the one ordered, yes that one as much as you want us to believe it, quoting: "they didn't write "superiore" on this bottle that year", in fact it wasn't a superior Frascati, but you still priced it as if it were, because if you're there as sommelier you certainly know more than us, but I suggest reading the wine list a couple more times and double check your wine stock, if I were you.

Every experience teaches us, and it is certainly not the extra 40 euros on the bill that makes the difference to 3 Italian guys who have been working abroad for more than 10 years in the same sector, hospitality, as the same clowns who served us the other night . Unfortunately, the people who work next to them are affected and are forced to see and endure the disgust that these characters heap on unsuspecting guests. I suggest to the management that they review their priorities, which must have changed from 10years ago to today.

To the waiter, I hope you find your way, because the job you convince yourself you're good at is hurting you on different levels.

To the bottled alcohol shopper, i'd say to keep doing this, I don't think you can find another job which allows you to steal the salary more than that one.

Nice location, Average food.

p.s. to the showman aka the "waiter", if being rude and frustrated helps you with tips keep doing it, but you certainly hit rock bottom when, after an innocent joke (to call pancetta the "guanciale" omg) , you decided to take away the plate of cacio e pepe in front of my friend, right before mixing it in front of the customer, quoting: "this is not good", and sneaked around the corner with the dish in hand, leaving us in dismay, only to reappear a moment later, with the same dish already mixed, claiming to have added some cheese...we all thought that something was added to that dish, and no, We don't think it was the cheese.

Watch out for this figure who gets paid for this at the end of the month!

Less than 1 star to...