Maxelâ Coppelle - Roma — Restaurant in Rome

I seldomly take the time to write reviews about my experiences, however in this case I feel almost obligated to. Maxela was by far the worst dinning experience I have ever had. I felt cheated on, neglected and simply mistreated. After being seated by a waitress, our order was taken by the manager of the restaurant, who at first was prompt to recommend a bottle of wine as an alternate option to the one we had chosen, since the last bottle of our choice had just been sold to another customer. After taking our order, it all went downhill from there. Having been served only water after 20 minutes, I was starting to question what was the difficulty in bringing a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses. After all, no cooking is involved in that, right? Well, apparently no, the manager was more concerned in smoking his electronic cigarette instead of serving us. After dodging several of our attempts to call his attention about the whereabouts of our wine, we finally managed to grab his attention and ultimately got served. But this was just the beginning of our frustrating night out. Another 20 minutes later the manager brought our starters, a tasteless steak tartar and in place of o the salad we ordered, he brought a deep fried dish that we kindly told him was wrong. Another 10 minutes later, he finally brought the salad we had been waiting for, but to our surprise a layer of smoked turkey breast slices covered (or should I say, disguised) the greens below. This salad was pitiful, sad looking and tasteless. Let’s remember that we are talking about Rome, a culinary destination that is reference to the world. Unfortunately, this was not the case here. The salad looked like and economy airline dish. My wife and I could not believe at what was happening! I finally got fed up with the terrible service and food and requested to talk to the manager, who once again neglected to give us the attention we deserved. When we finally got the chance to ask him what was going on, he told us that the kitchen was a little off point that night and that things were a bit chaotic. He clearly saw our angst and disbelief and instead of trying to make things right once and for all, he stupidly asked if he should bring the main courses…. to which I kindly responded: “If the main courses are going to be served the same way, then NO.” And that was it, the manager went inside canceled our order and never came back to give us an explanation or an excuse. We were baffled with his treatment and unprofessional attitude and ultimately left...

Food was great- we got the 4 cheese pizza and penne pasta. Wine was good as well.

What was lacking was the service. It was the worst service we got at any restaurant during our 2 week stay in Italy.

When we arrived we were very nicely greeted and given a table. After we were seated no one came over and talked to use for at least 20 minutes but I’d venture to say 30 minutes. During this time we watched 3-4 waiters repeatedly check on all the other tables. The only reason someone finally came over was because I went inside and asked. They came and took our order. We ordered a bottle of wine, pasta, pizza, meat balls, and bread. The waiter informed me bread was included which was great- I asked as some places it isn’t included and I didn’t want to assume.

Food came out pretty quickly. No bread was ever brought until I got up again and asked for that as well. Usually after having food delivered a waiter will check on you and see how everything is going. No one ever cared to ask. When we were finished we waited a long time again. I got up a 3rd time to ask for the check. I even tried to ask in Italian as I thought maybe it was the language barrier and was trying to be respectful. They brought the check. I did let them know I was disappointed with the service but that the food was great. What I will say is that these must be good people as I left my purse there and despite complaining about the service they kept it safe for me- which I am very thankful for.

I was thinking this was maybe a one off and wasn’t going to leave a bad review but after reviewing other google reviews I realized this must be a trend. Not sure why as they seemed adequately staffed and had no problem helping other tables.

Leaving a review hoping the restaurant can make the experience better for others in the future as it really is a shame as they have great food and ambiance otherwise. If you don’t mind feeling like you don’t belong while watching other patrons being well taken care but have good food- then by all means eat here.

I do want to point out that by the end there was one man who seemed to be trying to help after I expressed concerns. He came back to us more than any other man in the restaurant. I do not know his name but he was delivering food to tables most often and this was on 9/7/23. Very nice man. We gave him a tip to thank him for his time. Perhaps if you have video there you can go back and see who I chased after to...

Bottom line: Inauthentic food and a bizarre, borderline disrespectful interaction.

The place was less than half full during peak dinner hours but we decided to give it a go anyway.

The waiter kept trying to get us to change our orders, or get more things. When I asked for a glass of house wine he tried to convince me to buy a 15 euro bottle of wine saying that this would work out much better monetarily - he couldn't register for some reason that it wasn't a money issue. I even told him a couple times that I just didn't want to drink that much. I ended up getting a beer and my wife did not want a drink because she was exhausted from walking around all day - it felt like this upset the waiter even more.

Our meal was the most inauthentic Italian food we have had in Rome so far. Pizza was more like flatbread, flatter than NY style. Pasta was simple and good but extremely salty. Salad was good.

After the main course I asked one of the other hosts for a check because we just wanted to get out of there. Our original waiter came back and briefly tried to offer us more desserts before looking exasperated at our continued refusal. There was a complimentary plate with two chocolates and pieces of cake - we did not try these because we just wanted to get out of there.

He brought the check, again looking annoyed the whole time. He went through the receipt and the credit card charge and let me know that the amount was the same (I have never had wait staff do this in any other Italian restaurant).

Overall: Bizarre experience. Would not recommend it to anyone who values their time and eating...