Osteria Galeassi 1907 | Trastevere — Restaurant in Rome

My mother’s Kipling bag was STOLEN by the staff of this restaurant on May 6th at 10:00 PM. Inside the bag there were two Brazilian passports, five credit cards (all of which were used), two wallets with documents, and an iPhone 13. When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by the waiter FABRIZZIO, a name I will never forget, who directed us to a table in a dark area inside the restaurant. We found this strange because we wanted to sit outside, but he insisted. The waiter was very friendly, talking to us the whole time. The bag was hanging on my chair, and at a certain point, FABRIZZIO called another waiter, and while FABRIZZIO was talking to us, this same waiter quickly took my mother's bag from behind my chair without us noticing. We found it strange that he called this waiter to talk to us since our conversation was with FABRIZZIO and not the other waiter. Shortly after that, FABRIZZIO offered me a limoncello so that I would stay longer in the restaurant without noticing the stolen bag, allowing them to continue using the cards. As soon as I paid the bill, I received a notification on my phone that my card was being used for purchases online at 10:42 PM inside the restaurant by the staff. As soon as I told FABRIZZIO that the bag was no longer there and that my card was being used, he said, "you didn't bring a bag, there was no bag on the chair. You’re crazy!" What kind of answer is that? I asked for a charger and for them to call the police. They pretended to call the police and gave me a charger that didn't work. We were sitting inside the restaurant with no one around, and we never imagined that the restaurant staff could rob us. We were desperate in the restaurant until it closed, and we saw all the staff leaving hurriedly with their backpacks closed. The restaurant owner made no effort to help us, he didn't even get up from his chair. We tried going to the police in Trastevere, but they told us we had to go to another station that opened at 8am. We went to the police the next day, as shown in the attached images, but they informed us that this is common with tourists. For those of you interested in eating at this restaurant, just search here in Google reviews for "credit card" and you'll find a review from a year ago talking about something very similar. Still have doubts? Then search on TripAdvisor for the review from March 2023 about their Revolut card being stolen too. It seems the staff has been stealing customers' cards for over a year, and the restaurant owner does nothing about it. We asked our Airbnb host to call the restaurant the next day, and they simply said they didn't know anything and that nothing had happened. Will they continue to say nothing happened even with the photos of the police visit the next day? We missed our train because we had to go to the police and the Brazilian embassy to issue new passports. It was our last night in Rome, and we suffered more than 1500 euros in losses. They used all the cards at nearby places and online locations like McDonald's, Alimentari Shamim, and tried to buy gift cards online via Google Play. They managed to use 200 euros on the five stolen cards through contactless payments and online purchases, which were thankfully refunded by our banks because of our police report. DO NOT GO TO THIS RESTAURANT AND DO NOT LEAVE...

Beware of your personal belongings as my mother who is 69 years old and my brother were robbed at this restaurant while visiting Rome

You can see the full-detailed report posted earlier by brother, including screenshots of the police report that the owner claimed never happened. This is impossible because, in order to get a new passport for ANY country in the world, you must submit a police report, it's a legal requirement.

He did forget to mention though, that my mother's prescription pills were in her bag that got stolen, and replacing them was a huge problem with her documents stolen. So on top of everything, you let a 69 year old woman go without her high blood pressure medication due to the theft at your restaurant, in a foreign country, without documents.

Regarding "defamation", all you need to do is look at the other genuine reviews by other people that came to your restaurant in the past few years. Every possible absurdity has been experienced by guests, from being chased and physically intimidated by the owner, to classic "overcharging" scams and overall bad quality of the food.

So unfortunately, you cannot control the opinions of people on the internet, because after all, in 2024 there is a thing called freedom of speech.

Furthermore, if you look at the reply's from the owner, to even the most horrible offenses, there is never a hint of apology or remorse whatsover and it seems he believes the "customer is always wrong". Either that, or an incredibly high degree of narcissim/sociopathy.

Last but not least, as I've spent way to much time reading up on this disgraceful restaurant and what happened to people to figure something out, and that this is clearly an organized operation. There is no way these things could happen in a restaurant if the manager wasn't knowledgeable. The credit card theft/photo and transactions happened to guests within minutes in various locations. Obviously the work of professional thieves.

Oh, and why is there not CCTV camera or equivalent in your restaurant, at least covering the outside/patio area? These cameras cost 30-50eu at most electronics stores, and if you had footage of that night, there would be no doubts.

Tourists and travelers, my advice is avoid this place and invest in GPS tags for you bags, belongings, etc that ring an alarm if they leave your vicinity. You can get them on Amazon, find on Google,...

STEER CLEAR!! CREDIT CARD SKIMMERS WORK HERE!! FRAUDSTERS!!

After the meal, they bring a credit card machine to the table which we did not know. The waiter took a family member’s credit card into the back instead of completing the transaction table side. What the waiter didn’t know is we SAW him take a photo of the credit card on his phone. Literally saw him holding his phone up to the credit card.

My family member called out the waiter who of course denied any wrongdoing and said he communicates with the kitchen via text message. Interesting since he goes back to the kitchen regularly. Also interesting as he communicates with the kitchen while at the same time holding a credit card in front of his phone camera.

My family member immediately locked the credit card and by morning there was dozens of blocked fraudulent charges that the waiter attempted to charge.

When we contacted the owner they were completely unhelpful, leading me to believe that there are multiple people working at this restaurant who are skimming credit cards or they purposely...