Osteria Oliva — Restaurant in Rome

I was referred to this restaurant by someone who gave it high rating. On finding it, it seemed at first sight to be a quaint gem so we walked into the par filled osteria only to be gut punched. Unfortunately we didn’t know what the menu looked like, so we asked the waiter (in English) to see the menu, seeing as we were vegetarians, he went on to ask us if we were having food or not in another language (he made this known with his hand gestures) with distaste in his look and tone. we continued to try to explain that we wanted a menu (because we didn’t want to sit and then have to get up and apologize for not being able to eat), we were helped by a customer sitting that overheard us asking, to ask the waiter in Italian for the menu (not the language he originally spoke to us in), and the waiter nodded at the customer but continued on in Italian this time to point to his mouth (indicating to us if we were going to eat). We at this point we’re getting a bit frustrated. My friend uttered “do you speak English by chance?” And to our absolute surprise, he responded in English saying “yes I speak English.” Now at this point I was in amazement at how ridiculous this was, that he would play this “game.” He then asked if we were eating or not, and we responded by asking him to see the menu one more time so we could answer his question about if we would be eating or not. He then said go outside and wait, while pointing at the door, while he walked towards another staff member to have some sort of discussion. Now I was totally upset, my appetite was gone and I felt embarrassed standing in the doorway of this place, with customers looking at us as though we were unwelcomed or somehow not good enough to be hosted. The other employee after speaking with the man, picked up a menu and then in a frustrated manner, handed us the menu. At this point I knew I didn’t want to eat here, no one wanted to eat here after being through that, but I still scrolled though the menu, trying to pick up the pieces after the embarrassment. I realized there weren’t much vegetarian options and turned to hand the waiter the menu thinking he had cake to the door to ask us his most loved question “are you eating or not”, but when I looked up, he was looking on, with his hand on his hip, as we stood looking at him for a couple seconds. We immediately just left the menu on the reception podium and walked away, then heard someone yelling at us (in the “other” language). He made it his duty to come outside to ask us if we were eating again, when we were well away from the restaurant. I’m sure in the customers eyes we look like we were begging for food, and he had to “run us” because we weren’t to be there. Now I’ve been to many restaurants, bad and good, and I haven’t or least I think I haven’t ever left a review that’s bad, I would usually review good places. This is the first time I was embarrassed, angered, annoyed, and all the other frustrated related emotions towards a restaurant being in the industry myself. This place has to really do something about it’s service. Did I mention that I came all the way from the Caribbean, for ONE NIGHT in Rome and decided amongst so many other choices, to go to this one. Thankfully there’s many many other great restaurants that would happily have...

We went to Osteria Oliva based on a recommendation by our hotel clerk. She said it was one of her favorite places to visit. We didn’t have any solid plans, so when she offered to call and make a lunch reservation, we readily accepted her suggestion.

Located just down the street from Trevi Fountain, and about a half mile from the Colosseum, this broke our rules for attending a restaurant in a tourist dense area. But, when we arrived, we were confident we were on the right track.

Service was slow, but we were on vacation, and why not chill for a while, enjoy some wine, and let Rome happen in its own timeline.

Speaking of wine, my wife ordered the house white, and I chose the Peroni draft beer. Both were excellent choices! Peroni is pretty much the draft of choice in Rome, but it’s a decent light beer, so no worries!

I ordered the meatballs with green sauce, and my bride ordered lasagna. We settled in to enjoy our shady, street-side table and savored our drinks, occasionally glancing over to see if the Colosseum was still on the horizon.

When our meal was served, we knew beyond doubt that we’d made a solid decision. The lasagna was great and fully enjoyable, but the star of the show was the meatballs with salsa verde (not chili salsa, but pesto).

OMG! How do I love thee?

I’ll try to describe what we experienced. But, I’ll fail.

So, it was a deep fried roast beef meatball that was held together by slices of heaven. The salsa verde (green sauce) was magnificent. It was paired with what I think was a hybrid olive oil infused with both honey and vinegar, and it was delightfully tangy and sweet, and mercy me, I need to figure out how to make it at home, ‘cause I can’t afford to live in Rome, but I don’t want to live without that garnish!

If you’re anywhere near Osteria Oliva, stop what you’re doing and drop by to experience these meatballs! And then drop me a line to let me know how much you enjoyed them.

#todaysdiscovery #blunderingdiscoverer...

The food was VERY good. But that’s where the good stops. The service was SO bad. We had a reservation and sat down inside. Waited about 15 minutes for someone to come over — that’s fine. We were in front of a cute cocktail chalkboard, we ordered 2 cocktails from it. Mine was a special Negroni and the waitress says “No, you can have a classic. We don’t have the stuff for that one.” in a very rude manner. I politely say that’s fine and she takes my husbands cocktail order. She leaves and 20 minutes go by. We get our antipasti and finish it, still no drinks. I finally see her behind the bar looking around before she comes back over to our table and goes “you need to just order something else — I can’t make this” Umm okay. We ordered a glass of house wine (to be easy) and she goes “3 people called off sick, so this is what it is”. We explained that we understood (frankly, if she mentioned at the beginning they were understaffed and only doing beer and wine from the beginning, that would have been totally fine). My issue isn’t that I didn’t get my drink or with the slow service, but with her gruff rudeness. Not “I’m sorry, I can’t make the drink” but the gruff “you need to order something else”. We were beyond nice to her the whole meal and she somehow kept getting ruder. She stormed off at one point and left her only 2 coworkers there to scramble for her. Our first night at the hotel as guests staying in the suite — not a good experience.

3 days later we went back to get our complementary welcome drink only to be “greeted” by another girl who took our ticket, huffed and said “all you get is Prosecco or coke, what do you want”. We said Prosecco, she said “sit wherever” and walked away. Luckily another guy server saw us and grabbed the drinks. We never saw or spoke to anyone else again...