Il Cortile - Cocktail Bar & Bistrò - Pizza Gourmet — Restaurant in Rome

Il Cortile is a true diamond that is just a block off the main drag. My wife and son and I are staying at the Flora and were looking for an off-Broadway gem for dinner (sorry; I'm a New Yorker). The restaurant is run by a genuinely delightful husband-wife team, and they are awesome.

To start: They advertised fried calamari. I prefer it grilled, which better preserves the flavor. Without even missing a beat, the husband Said he could chop it up and grill it for me -- going off the menu to make the customer happy. And it wasn't just "obligingly grilled"; it came out GRILLED TO PERFECTION. It was so good, I told the owner he should add grilled calamari to the menu. 👍

We also had the gnocchi, which they offer in pesto sauce and marinara -- we couldn't decide, so we ordered both. 😀 They were BOTH spectacular.

Everything on the menu is cooked to order, and everything we had was just superb. It is rare that my wife continues to comment on the meal hours later (unless she cooked it, of course ), and hours later she was still talking about how wonderful the meal was and how much she enjoyed the restaurant AND the owners.

If you're staying in the area, I would put Il Cortile ("The Courtyard") on your "must experience" dining list. I'm wheels-up in the morning, else I'd be back for dinner again tomorrow. 😊

Reply to the husband's reply: we are both husbands; we both work to keep our wives happy. 😀 You two are...

We came here looking for truffle pasta, and it was indeed on the menu. Started with the stuffed squash blossoms, suppli, and fried artichokes. All the starters were good, but the squash blossoms were the stand-out item for me. My kids have enjoyed the suppli we have tried all over Rome, these were good but they agreed they weren't the best they had this trip. The pasta dishes were all excellent, I could have eaten another dish of the truffle pasta, but we didn't want to gorge ourselves. We had the tiramisu, panna cotta, and chocolate truffle gelato for dessert. My kids enjoyed the gelato; it had large chunks of chocolate that surprised them. The tiramisu was light and well balanced, but I found the panna cotta to be a bit too dense and sweet. Overall, it was a great meal. Service was fine as long as you aren't expecting...

Been there only once unfortunately while staying at their hotel. I am saying unfortunately because the foos was SO GOOD and I wish I would have gone there sooner. The pasta was amazing (carbonara & shrimp with zucchini). Good wine too and the Tiramisu was to die for. Furthermore, the design of the restaurant on the inside is beautiful with those painted ceilings and the staff is REALLY nicr and friendly. I cannot recommend this enough and during our stay in Rome we've been to all sorts of "fancy" restaurants but this one was the real deal for us. Sorry for the poor picture, but it's the only one we took before...