La Tavernetta 48 — Restaurant in Rome

La Tavernetta 48 is a small establishment in a hidden alleyway just north of the Pantheon. It was both our first and our last restaurant on this trip to Rome. Bless their souls, they don’t take reservations and they open at 6 pm. On both visits, our meals were bookended by entirely unexpected but welcome complimentary offerings of bubbly white wine in cute flutes upon arrival, and a taste of limoncello to conclude our meal. Our dining choices on the first visit included Mezze alla Gricia (Mezze maniche are “half-sleeve” short, wide ribbed tubes) served in large pasta-like shells and Spaghetti aglio olio e pepperoncini con grattugia. A couple of colorful mixed salads combined assorted greens, mozzarella, tomatoes and olives. A liter carafe of house red wine and of acqua frizzante (sparkling water) were nice accompaniments. Service was very accommodating. The tab-for-three came to $110. Read more at: https://www.painperdutravel.com. During our meal, we shared animated conversations with two successive couples at an adjacent table. That’s the kind of place it is. One was from South Korea on their “honeymoon” before their marriage. The other was on a 10-week “walkabout” from Australia. It was a restorative conclusion to a trying day. We neglected to take photos on this first visit, but redeemed ourselves on the last night (below).

Postscript: We returned to Tavernetta 48 on our last evening in Rome. It rose to the occasion. Two of us ordered Saltimbocca alla romana and one ordered mezze maniche amatriciana, as shown below. Saltimbocca is a dish I used to make regularly. It has a base of thin veal cutlets, garnished with sage, and topped with prosciutto. It is dredged lightly in flour and sautéed in butter/oil and finished with a sauce of white wine and perhaps some stock. Both dishes were attractively presented and a delicious conclusion to our...

Well, where do I start? We made a reservation and arrived at the restaurant at 8:40 pm. I am not sure if our table was reserved, but luckily a table for 4 had just become available. We could immediately tell that the service crew was completely overwhelmed and had trouble taking orders. We were still able to ask for a bottle of Prosecco, which came within an acceptable amount of time. Then, when discussing our order, we decided to order only one course as it was obvious that they would not be able to serve us everything unless we waited until 1 am. In the end, each of us asked for only one main course.

After 20 minutes we were told that one of the dishes we ordered was not available, so we immediately changed it. After half an hour we finally got our bread on the table. We were still waiting for our meals and by this time we were starving. At 10:40 p.m. we finally got 2 of the 4 meals we had ordered. Then I had the worst piece of meat that was served a few minutes later. I am sure they forgot my order and took a piece of meat out of the freezer, put it in the microwave and cooked it too long. For the first time in my life I could not chew a piece of meat.

Terrible, terrible experience. I have never seen such incompetence in a restaurant. Worse, there was no manager. There was one poor waitress who understood our pain, but there was nothing she could do.

To top it off, this is not a cheap restaurant. I would advise anyone to stay away. There are thousands of alternatives in Rome that...

Atmosphere was cute, decorated and organized nicely, although upon arrival none of the tables were maintained so they were cleaned upon arrival. We were bombarded with unnecessary glassware, the waitress placed the silverware by grabbing the end (the end you put your mouth on to eat) of the utensil. We then were sat for 10 minutes before anyone had handed us a menu. After getting the menu it took another 15 minutes to get the waitresses attention to place our order. After placing our order the appetizer took 15-20 minutes to come out. The appetizer was alright. We waited an additional 40 minutes for our main dishes. Only two out of four of which came out within that time frame. The carbonara was extremely salty so my friend had to send it back. After some scoffs and faces from the waiter she took it back. I waited an additional 35 minutes for my dish. I had gotten the cod. The fish was disgusting. Had absolutely no taste, was extremely bony and was just a plate of water, fish, potatoes and tomatoes. Not worth the almost 30€. My friend had gotten the lamb dish of which she also found fish bones in her dish. So disappointed to have spent money at this...