Hostaria Romana — Restaurant in Rome

Osteria Romana had long been a favorite of mine, a restaurant that I had frequented five times over the course of seven years, each visit marked by consistently great food, excellent service, and a warm, inviting atmosphere. It had become one of those rare gems that you could always rely on for an exceptional dining experience. However, during my most recent visit, the restaurant let me down in a way that was both surprising and deeply disappointing.

My wife and I were seated, not in the familiar cozy dining area we had come to love, but rather in a basement space that was nothing short of a disaster. The setting was harshly lit, with bright, almost clinical lighting that cast an eerie, unwelcoming glow across the room. The ambiance, which had always been one of Osteria Romana’s strengths, was completely absent. Instead, it felt as though we had been banished to some forgotten corner of the restaurant, a far cry from the warm and inviting environment upstairs. The basement felt oppressive, more akin to a WWII bomb shelter than a romantic Italian restaurant.

The stark contrast between the refined, intimate dining experience we were used to and this cold, impersonal space was jarring. In fact, the setting reminded me of something out of the third-class quarters on the Titanic—a subpar experience reserved for those unfortunate enough to be placed there. It was baffling that a restaurant of Osteria Romana’s caliber would even consider offering such a shabby, uncomfortable space to its guests.

What made it even worse was the fact that we had come to expect so much more from this establishment. The food may have remained up to par, but the overall experience was marred irreparably by the poor choice of seating. It’s astonishing that such a prestigious restaurant would allow a space like this to exist, let alone seat customers there. This kind of accommodation is unacceptable for a restaurant that prides itself on offering a high-quality dining experience. It felt as though the management had completely disregarded the importance of atmosphere and customer comfort, reducing what should have been an enjoyable evening into a regrettable one.

After this experience, I can confidently say that I will never return to Osteria Romana. It’s truly a shame that a restaurant I once held in such high regard has allowed its standards to slip so dramatically. Osteria Romana should be ashamed of offering such an unpleasant space to paying customers, and it will no longer be on my list of places to dine...

I'll start by saying that the location is great: right by the Spanish steps and moments from a lot of shopping. We had a spritz from a local bar before coming to this restaurant, because it only opened at 715. We were lucky enough to get a table for two without a reservation, but it seems as though that's where our luck ended. We didn't get a server to our table for approximately 20 minutes, while the tables on either side of us were served instantly and repeatedly visited by servers. The other tables got aperitifs and little tasters, we didn't. We finally got visited, and we ordered our food and house wine, having had plenty of time to look at the menu.

The food was salty. Both dishes had some kind of stock as a base, and it made the whole dish quite salty. Not that bad though. What really soured our experience was repeatedly being treated differently than our neighbors. Everyone saw their waiters more than once, got treated to tasters, was asked if they were happy, etc. We didn't get that. We wondered if it was our age, but there were a few people in their mid twenties getting good service. We wondered if it was our accents, being from Canada some people tend to mistake us for Americans (against whom some people discriminate, which is a real shame), or my ethnicity as a South East Asian. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive with his other tables, so not sure what it could be. If he was worried that young folks wouldn't tip, he created a self-fulfilling prophecy with his bad service. Wouldn't recommend, too crowded, too pricey, cheese was good but mains were small and overpriced, you can get awesome food everywhere for ten euro less. Stay away if you don't want a stuffy experience.

Visited...

We have traveled in Europe for more than 2 weeks and have been eating out for every meal. Everything has been very enjoyable until the dinner last night. We walked in the restaurant assuming we would have same great experience as the last two week; walked out extremely disappointed. The waiter took a long time getting to our table, and seemed either condescending or flippant--laughing at our orders and making comments to himself. There were three of us, we ordered the mixed grill, buccatini, cow tail, Roman artichoke and tiramisu for desert.

The main order took 30-40 minutes to come out. Three tables around us had checked out before the food finally came! When it finally came out, the waiter--this is no exaggeration--stopped at two tables around us and asked them if they had ordered the dishes before finally arriving to the "correct" table. He sped off without a comment and a moment later, the table behind us, which arrived about 20 minutes after us and had a much larger party, was served their order without a mistake. It's hard to believe that this was a simple accident on the waiter's part.

I wish I could say that the food made up for the service, but it was mediocre at best. The portion sizes were decent. The buccatini was extremely over salted, the mixed grill hard to chew. The cows tail, on the other hand, was very nice. However, you don't come to an Italian restaurant expecting the one good to be the stewed oxtail.

Finally, we asked for the check. As insult to injury, we waited another 20 minutes for the check, and still it didn't appear on our table. I had to go to the front desk to ask for the check. This experience was extremely unpleasant and not worth the...