Mirabelle — Restaurant in Rome

Awful experience in a restaurant at such a level and more than everything, that is in the Michelin guide (even if no star/macaron). Let’s start by the welcoming. Nice but too much kowtows. It’s ok, but in general, the rest of the experience better follow and I am very attentive to it. I can tell you that it wasn’t the case.

We had to chose a menu before ordering and the price on the website was 120€ and on the menu it was 130€. The price isn’t a problem, we wondered to take the 4 course instead but didn’t. The waitress suggested us to share a plate of pasta to have a full experience without eating too much and we appreciated that. So we ordered everything, then the sommelier gave us the massive wine menu, dropped it on a plate and left.

I am used that the sommelier advises me in accordance with my dish. Which he didn’t. The bottle of water and wine were in the same bucket than two other table’s, in front of our table and the waiters mixed them and at the end, asked us to pay for two bottles (11€ a bottle of 75cl).

As amuse-bouches we had some white bread stuff with no interest. Nothing delicate and adapted to the atmosphere.

The presentation of the dishes were nice for the appetizer and primi piatti. The rest was ok.

Then the appetizers come. Roman style artichokes : it was more looking like a supli (fried ball). It was tasty and really good but not really Roman style artichokes. We also had the octopus beside the regular menu : very tasty, the octopus was just a bit too chewy.

Then Primi piatti we shared : black garlic ravioli with tuna. The pasta was very good and homemade for sure. The mix tuna-black garlic wasn’t obvious and the dish was smelling too much fish. It was ok but nothing crazy.

We ordered for main course the cod fish. One person at the table is allergic to mushrooms and we notified it and asked if it was possible to have this dish without mushrooms, and said yes very nicely and wrote in on the order. Of course the two plates arrived with mushrooms. Good thing that we checked. They took it back. But not the other one and we waited with one plate that was getting cold. When the right plate without mushroom arrived, they told us that the plate was very hot. Unfortunately, too hot that it continued to cook the fish that was overcooked. The dish was with no interest and way too salty. We didn’t finish and when they asked us how it was, we explained nicely that we didn’t liked it and why. They proposed to change it but we didn’t want anything else (the only other fish in the menu was salmon and we don’t like it).

Then as a dessert we had only sorbet. When the plate arrived we smelled a very weird smell. Just 4 small scoops of sorbet and few red berries. The sorbet was very good by the way.

At the end they closed with some sweet amuse-bouches. Again, nothing delicate.

The music was too loud, we felt like it was time to leave.

We asked for the bill. They explained us that they couldn’t give us the tax bill and let us pay before 0:07. We didn’t really understand why. We asked to remove the second bottle of water we didn’t drink.

Then the card machine didn’t deliver the ticket properly (it happens) but the waiter lost his nerves, totally inappropriate.

He came back and then the manager asked for the ticket again to make a copy.

Restroom experience : mostly clean and spacious but with a urine smell.

We waited for our coats and at the cashier it looked like a mess. Another customer was asking what took them so long to get a check. So the manager gave us our coats and the scarfs were dragging on the floor and he walked on it. We notified it but was too late.

The final bill was 392€ way too much for such an awful experience. We are sorry, we didn’t leave any tip. It’s very rare for us the the service, even if people were nice, wasn’t at the expected level and too many mistakes happened without trying to fix it with a commercial gesture.

If you like nice places with good food and with a good experience in general,...

Had dinner here on our 1 year wedding anniversary, I could only reminded of how rigged Michelin star system is, as portrayed on the Netflix series "Emily in Paris." Either this place was way better in 2018 when they were awarded their star, or the system is indeed rigged.

The only thing you are paying for in this experience is the view (and I bet there are better places with views). Here the view is nice if the host chooses to take care of you to get an outside table. Some poorly dressed patrons (literally a baggy t shirt and shorts guy was reseated outside with his guest). Otherwise you have the misfortune to be stuck inside which is not that impressive at all.

Also despite the website stating: "gentlemen are requested to wear trousers and shirts. Shorts, men's sleeveless shirts and flip flops are not permitted in the restaurant during dinner." - the dress code is a lie, if it's hot out dress comfortable, not classy, because they don't care.

Yes it's hot in Rome in July but the clientele looked more ready to visit Disney World in Florida rather than a supposed classy establishment with a Michelin star. I went to the trouble of adhering to the dress code despite the heat - it felt more like an overpriced Olive Garden when I looked around.

As for the food - we chose the 4 course a La carte.

course 1 was a cous cous with a raw seafood platter. It was not bad. Maybe a 8 out of 10.

Course 2 was a squid ink pasta with squid and octopus. 10/10 - was absolutely amazing and wish that's all I had was a larger portion.

Course 3 (main) a beef filet that was ordered medium rare but came out medium well plus. After the long wait between courses I just ate it.

Course 4 was a chocolate of some sort - cheated out of ice cream. And ordered order the soufflé but they were allegedly out. 7 of 10 since cheated of ice cream.

Service was very inconsistent - the sommelier was great but the servers were not consistent across the board. One guy greeted us, asked for a drink order, never brought the drinks, but drinks were indeed added to the bill. (maybe a scam to see if you catch it). They also try to tell you service isn't included (scam). Of course you can tip a little extra in cash if you feel so inclined if the service was exceptional, but for 600 EURO, it is surely included and in our case not exceptional.

5/10 overall. Buyer beware. Do your research. I bet there are a lot other better Michelin ranked restaurants in Rome to...

Well my dinner here certainly was thought provoking if nothing else. Don’t eat here if you aren’t comfortable with VERY WEIRD concoctions of food that could mean throwing away hundreds of euros on inedible meals. The service was not horrible, contrary to other reviews. Our server was friendly however we received no compensation even when I admitted to not enjoying and not eating my entree. My food was… ranging from inedible to meh. Nothing on the menu sounded all that appetizing, but I ordered the steak tartare, which was pretty good and fresh however should come with some appropriate crostini or rye bread (I asked the waiter to bring me some bread and he brought the bread selection we had tried moments earlier, which was okay). For my main course I ordered shrimp risotto without quite realizing the shrimp would be raw (though to be fair it did say so on the menu). I did not even try the raw shrimp (call me unsophosticated 😂), and the risotto was not at all tasty to me. Unfortunately I could not eat it. My family members ordered the ravioli with carbonara filling (which my mom didn’t enjoy at all, but my brother did and ate it for her), the gnocchi with anchovies (which again my mom and I did not enjoy whatsoever but my brother tolerated enough to eat most of it), and the lamb, which was absolute insanity because it came with VANILLA ICE CREAM on the plate. At the point when we realized there was vanilla ice cream with the lamb we started laughing and just could not stop at the sheer ridiculousness of this menu. Knowing we had just poured over €400 into it, we could do nothing but laugh. At first, we were upset about mediocre (or straight up bad) food, but it turned into a hilarious night for us so I guess I can’t be too upset. I really wish they would have shown some more concern for my not enjoying my meal, especially considering the exorbitant price tag. Perhaps my feeble American mind is not evolved enough to appreciate raw shrimp risotto and vanilla ice cream lamb, but this restaurant...