La Balestra — Restaurant in Rome

4 stars for food, 1 star for ambience. One pet peeve of mine when traveling in Italy is when great places ruin their ambience with horrific lighting. The bright lighting in this place sends me right back to biology class in college, wondering when my pig is going to arrive to dissect. Maybe the locals don’t mind. I was here about early after all (around 7:30pm) on a Friday night and I wasn’t the only one in the there, but I was the only foreigner.

Food was good, ranging from A to B- . The filetto di baccalà fritto was decent but sub-par by Italian standards, with a strange atypical breading. The tonnarelli con guanciale, carciofi e pecorino (pasta with bacon, artichoke and cheese) was so delicious that despite not being a bread lover, I would have liked some bread for a scarpetta to finish off the wonderful sauce. Alas, they bring a crunchy focaccia to the table, which isn’t going to sop anything up unless submerged in a bowl of liquid. The coperto was only 1 euro though, so better than being charged 3 or 4 euro coperto for some bad bread I don’t want. The house wine was also not great, in fact I didn’t finish the quarter liter I ordered (and it’s against my religion to waste wine 😜). If you’re looking for authentic Italian food, made by Italians, served by Italians, at good prices, and you don’t care about atmosphere, this...

Having dined here for 2 dinners and 2 lunches I can say the following. The pizzas are very very good. The pizza is very thin crust and the dough is flavourful on its own without the toppings. Porcini mushrooms were in season so that’s what we had and it was excellent. As for the pasta we tried carbonara, amatriciana and black truffles on 3 different occasions and found them excellent and consistent. Al dente without being undercooked. The sauces fresh and smelling of the underlying ingredients. The whole sea bass was very good and the brill or rhombus sole was beyond excellent.

Service was attentive without being intrusive. One thing to note here in 2024 is that there were very few tourists despite proximity to hotels and as a result there...

We stumbled across this place by chance, and it was perfect, having previously joked about the need for gingham table cloths, candles and traditional food for our final night's food. It had neither gingham or candles, but did have a lovely waiter and beautiful food for a very reasonable price. We since read about what a gem of a place it is, but we found it by accident as we stayed very nearby. When we return to Rome, we would definitely seek it out for a good meal, without the bright lights and fuss that often accompanies restaurants. I had a craving for Carbonara all day and it was gorgeous and my husband ate the special of wild boar...