Nanà Vini e Cucina — Restaurant in Rome

The worst meal in Italy - stay away! I have eaten all over Italy, from Trento to Trapani, and noone has tried to tell me that uncooked spaghetti is an "al dente" "pasta artigianale" - until today - 1/6/18. In Rome, in this little restaurant. When we (my spouse and two teenage kids) sat down, we thought that the place looked nice: it had outdoor seating and despite the season the day was nice. Also while quite close to the Trevi Fountain, it wasn't overcrowded and the waitstaff weren't hawking on the street. We sat down, and ordered a calamari dish, two pasta dishes (a gnocchi and a spaghetti, and later on a seasonal fruit dish). The service seemed slow, but hey, it's Italy, right? As they were bringing the dishes to the surrounding tables we thought that the food seemed nice. When they brought out ours, my gnocchi and my spouse's calamari were good - they seemed to be cooked well and appeared fresh. However, my daughter's spaghetti were not cooked. She asked me to try and so I did, to discover that the pasta was definitely hard - in fact several strands of the spaghetti were still sticking together and I had to use my fingers to separate them away. We called the nearest water - a short stocky bald man (shown in the pictures included for this place at TripAdvisor over the platter of fish) and asked him to replace the dish. He started off with how they like to make "al dente" pasta clearly implying that we were ignorant but eventually took the plate away. Then he returned it a few minutes later - it was the same plate, with pasta however steaming hot - and it was obvious that all they did was stick it in the microwave! After an hour since we ordered my daughter was starved and ate some of it. The pasta was - clearly - still hard and undercooked. All the while, my son's fruit plate arrived - and it had one slice of melon, a peeled slices of a mandarine, a half of a overripe banana and a few chunks of pineapple. They were merely just tossed on the plate. When the time came to pay, at first they "forgot" about us, and as the restaurant was emptying up (they closed it at 3 PM) they finally brought the check. They hit us 80 euro for the food, water, some soft drinks and a couple of glasses of wine. I paid, but the baldy came to lecture me about what al dente pasta is. That was too much, and I simply told him that I come to Italy several times a year, that I cook myself, and that I know what al dente is and isn't, and that he should stop selling me nonsense stories. I stood up and walked away while the man was still shouting behind me while having brought a backup waiter for extra support. In a way, this was somewhat entertaining, since he really couldn't take the criticism all too well. Yet... he did get my money, despite not earning most of it. As a note, I really got the impression that he was treating Italian-speakers differently (yes, I know that stereotype about spoiled Americans and all that nonsense... However... while I have been living in America for a very long time... I am originally from Europe and am fully aware of the other side of the coin too.) In summary: unless you speak Italian, pass this place up - you will find much better food and friendlier service elsewhere...

Professional conversations need to be had with some waiting staff by management (the service at other restaurants, while in Rome, has been great!).

The eldest waiter, a taller fellow - obviously the supervisor - was offhand and made it very evident that he was frustrated with serving our table because it included two small children. This was from the moment we walked in and he tried to beckon us away by explaining that they had no pizza of lasagne. Everyone in my party was ready to eat, however, so we sat down. Things only got worse…

Upon reflection, I wouldn’t want anyone else with children to suffer the same, hence this review.

To their credit, our girls were nothing but calm and relaxed throughout. My wife was still polite to him even though he was generally rather rude to her.

Other reasons why the service deserved 1 star: pointlessly stern and sighing that we hadn’t quite stored our pram correctly in the corner Not checking in with our table. We had to prompt and call over waiters throughout -Finally, refusing a dash of tap water to top-up our child’s juice at the end once I had paid the €150 bill and we had finished off the bottled water. This would have been no problem at all (they do have to sell their bottled water,), had it not come with a patronising lecture about how Rome’s water is ‘no good to drink for your baby’ - which is not true! I’m sure GruppoAcea would also take exception to this, as they do a fine job of sourcing the majority of Rome’s tap water from natural springs and ensuring its quality, even over bottled water! -Still paid the service charge as I believe it was advertised on the menu. But certainly 1 star service.

The redeeming quality was the food - very flavoursome and fresh. I noticed that the chefs were very conscientious about keeping a clean kitchen and this was constant to avoid cross contamination between preparing dishes. Bravo to the chefs! But what was a tasteful meal was ruined by the wider...

On our first night in Rome in early December 2019 my wife and I decided to stay local for the first meal. As pescetarians we would normally check out several nearby restaurants to see which one offered the best choice of fish or vegetarian meals but we were too exhausted from our flight to care where we ate. We saw Nana's metres from our accommodation and simply walked in. That evening proved to be one of the highlights of our stay in Rome. Indeed, we enjoyed the experience and meal so much that we returned five nights later to have our last supper there. The second time we were treated like family by host Amello. His suggestions, which included splitting a main course vegetarian pasta dish into two entree-size servings, and introducing us to limoncello were "greatly" appreciated. Nana's also set a high standard for the remainder of our three week vacation in Italy, and while we enjoyed some remarkable dining experiences during that time, those meals were almost always more expensive. As a former professional cook I know that any restaurant can can have off nights or be unable to please all tastes - hence the differing reviews published here. So, to have two great meals in the same restaurant gives us a 2-0 scoreline. Which reminds me... how did Nana's chefs keep such great food coming to diners throughout the second night without any delays. Every time I looked in the kitchen all eyes were glued to the football match on TV. It must be an Italian thing. Thanks to all at Nana's for some great memories. Our favourites - the Tuna slices in sesame crust and the way they baked a whole sea bass with cherry...