Magna Quanto te Pare — Restaurant in Rome

My fiance John pointed down one of Rome's incredible side streets to place that just about screamed, "Come eat here!" And so we did. We checked out the menu and John knew immediately he wanted his favorite dish of all time; Lasagna. I wanted pasta and meat but it was a tiny challenging understanding the menu in Italian so when I saw "beef, chicken and veal" I was in! Upon ordering, the awesomely friendly and happy server asked something that I couldn't understand so I asked him to repeat it. He said, "do you want blah blah blah (still unknown but we are pretty sure potato) or salad as your side? I said, "salad please".

Once he placed that huge salad down we dosed it all up with tons of oil and balsamic vinegar and enjoyed it to the very last bite. And when I say very last bite, I mean John poured the last little bit of vinegar from the bowl into his now empty water glass for me so I could drink it and get the last little carrot bits! (Sorry if that is gross to you!)

Then the entrees got placed in front of us. My first reaction was a tiny bit sad as there was no pasta but moreso confused because my beef, chicken, and veal mental image was not at all the reality that sat in front of me. It was just 3 meatballs and a small bite sized clump of something. Of course my disappointment and confusion was just a normal brain reaction as I had an expectation. I quickly found my joy and excitement of trying new things and figuring out what was on my plate. (In my confused state I forgot to grab a picture. Boohooo.)

I excitedly and happily put my fork in the clump first and placed it in my mouth. Something felt magical. My tastebuds felt like they were in heaven. My soul moved. Energy swirled. Tears welled. I cried out, "John, this is the best thing I have ever tasted!! Dad, I am sooooo sorry, this meatball is better than yours!!" John, being used to me being emotional, but not in this way, looked at me with so much joy and enthusiasm and Dad replied, very quickly, "It's OK squirt. I know they are!" (I am a medium. My father was in Spirit talking to me because his signature dish was homemade spaghetti...

Service here was shocking. We sat down when it was relatively quiet so thought our food wouldn’t take long. The waiter who took our order (I assume the owner) walked off half way through taking our order to help someone else and returned a couple of minutes later to finish our order. I shrugged it off and didn’t think much of it. Waited about 30 minutes and no food and I could see other tables food coming out who ordered after us and then noticed the owner and another waiter talking about our order. We were then told our order didn’t go through the system and we were fine with that as these things happen however it then took at least another 20 minutes for our two pizzas to come out and I think they stuffed up again. I’d expect if our order was initially missed then it would be prioritised but this didn’t seem to be the case. We sat there waiting for almost an hour for two pizzas which were below average. We were never offered any table water when we first ordered or additional drinks to buy while waiting. It honestly felt like we were in just some void and non existent. I went to pay inside and once again was just overlooked. I just stood there like an idiot while they talked over me to other customers and staff. The owner then had the nerve to ask if I wanted to add a tip to my bill. I think the look on my face summed up...

This place should have been 5 stars… until the bill came. The food was excellent, one of the few trattorias that fully cooks their pasta, and the bucatini all'amatriciana is authentic and excellent. But then the bill came, and there was coperto. Now, unless it is stated on the menu, charging coperto is illegal in Lazio. This place is near Castel Sant’Angelo, so perhaps they are trying to take advantage of tourists. I have lived here for 2 months, and my sister is an Italian citizen, so I’m not a fool. I took the bill inside and asked for the coperto charge to be removed. (If it had been removed immediately, I wouldn’t have cared.) The cashier looked confused and asked why? I said “because it is illegal to charge coperto in Lazio unless it is stated on the menu.” He proceeded to laugh hysterically as if I was making something up, and went out of the restaurant to find our waiter (creating a scene). Eventually, the manager removed the coperto, but the entire thing was completely stupid. Train your staff to remove coperto upon request, not laugh hysterically at guests like they’re stupid.

NB: in my 2 months here, this is the only place in Lazio that has attempted to charge a straight coperto on my bill. One place charged me coperto e pane, but that was acceptable since I had...