Osteria Palmira — Restaurant in Rome

I was given the task of finding a restaurant for my CEO, sister companies CEO, my wife and a few other friends on our second night in Rome. We found Osteria Palmira after some adventures in Rome cabs.

The setting is quaint and comfortable and we noticed right off away that we'd stumbled upon a local spot! A family was in with their puppy, all of the service staff seemed to be very well acquainted with eachother. We were seated very quick at a long table and the owner/chef served us.

He was extremely knowledgeable about everything he had on his menu, both wine and food. We decided on a variety of wines and he explained where they came from, who he bought them from and the specific qualities. All through his admittedly poor english (it was better than all of our Italian combined).

Anyone who is reading this, note that they only have Italian menus' but still go! Don't be affraid to ask them to help you out, it can turn into a bit of a pictionary game but it only makes the experience better.

After bouncing back and forth between what we all wanted, we asked if he would just feed us as if we were family. This was the best choice!

Everything is home made or sourced very close to Rome so I won't belabour that point, just know everything was local, as organic as possible and fresh.

He started us off with a antipasto meat board which he explained was influenced by his grandfather growing up in the region. This course continued with an assortment of cheeses, crostini and breads. We had the most delicious and fresh Buffala Ricotta, slow cooked trippa (tripe) that was delicious, liver crostini, traditional bruschetta, mushroom crostini and a bean dish that went great with the fresh flat bread and cheese!

After a bit he brought us out a sampling of his fresh pasta, one red, one white. The red was an amatriciana that was probably the single best red sauce I have ever had. White was a traditional white sauce and very good.

We didn't have any secondi but moved right onto dolci (dessert). We all ordered off the menu for this, having a chocolate cake, creme brule and sabayon mousse. All were very good.

Over all the menu was fantastic, tasty with great service. Sure we had to wait sometimes, but you know what, it's Europe, they consider it to be rude to rush you as the patron. So while doing research for restaurant, take service complaints with a grain of Himalayan salt and loosen up a bit!

We felt like family by the end of this meal, the owner brought over two bottles of lemoncello and we think anisette for nothing, and then some slices of strawberry cake his sister made at home for her anniversary.

If you are considering Osteria Palmira, go! It has a great atmosphere, good service, great food and...

I read such nice reviews of this spot so I decided to give it a go. However, my experience of this restaurant was not as amazing as some other's. Firstly, I must tell you, my husband and I are North American (Canadian) and thus maybe we looked as such (and in addition to looking like tourists we also have very limited Italian between us) - so off the bat we already felt a little out of place. As we walked up to the restaurant we saw a really cute patio area with a few other patrons (but plenty of space still), which we wanted to check out. When we walked into restaurant we asked for a table for two (in our best Italian) and also indicated that we'd like to sit on the patio. The older gentleman who greeted told us that we could not sit on the patio but showed us to a table that 'was outside' and in a completely different area and clearly looked like it was meant for cigarette breaks by the staff (no place settings and cigarette ashes on it). So we opted to sit inside after seeing the table they offered us. To make matters worse (how could it be?) after we had sat down other groups came in and were seated outside with no issue. The second gentleman who took our order seemed nice enough, but when he brought our entrees we said "grazie" and he responded with "yup". Although the food was good it can't help but be overshadowed by the how terrible they made us feel. We definitely didn't feel 'welcomed' or 'invited' as other...

Sono stato in questa trattoria un sabato, alle 12.20, insieme a mia moglie e mia figlia di 20 mesi. Era un po' presto, ma la bambina aveva bisogno di mangiare e abbiamo chiesto di poterci accomodare con lieve anticipo (mancavano 10 minuti all'orario ufficiale di apertura) per poterle dare la sua pappa. L'accoglienza è stata raggelante. Il cameriere ci ha fatto sedere a un tavolo al centro della sala, provocando però il disappunto della proprietaria: quando ci ha visto, anziché rispondere al nostro saluto ha controllato l'orologio scuotendo ostentatamente la testa. Quindi ha rimproverato il cameriere ad alta voce dicendo che non erano ancora le 12.30, davanti a noi ma senza mai guardarci, come non esistessimo. Durante tutto il pasto la signora non ha fatto altro che lamentarsi ad alta voce, parlando tra sé o col cameriere, delle assurde esigenze dei clienti. Se la prendeva con quelli che al momento della prenotazione chiedono il seggiolone (noi avevamo appena chiesto un seggiolone), con quelli che prenotano per troppi posti, con quelli che non sanno esattamente per quante persone prenotare e con quelli che chiedono piatti fuori dal menù. Un sottofondo continuo ed esasperante che rimbombava nella sala vuota durante il nostro pasto. Abbiamo ordinato due tonnarelli, cacio e pepe e amatriciana, e mezza porzione di rigatoni al burro per la bambina. Quando ci sono stati portati i primi piatti, la proprietaria ha fatto notare acidamente al cameriere che l'amatriciana non è col tonnarello (variazione sul menù, colpa gravissima). Il condimento dell'amatriciana era buono, ma i tonnarelli erano un "fondo", nel senso che erano spezzettati e tutti molto corti e nel piatto non se ne trovava uno lungo (a saperlo, avrei ordinato una pasta corta). Cacio e pepe da dimenticare. La pasta al burro della bambina era buona, ma 8 euro per mezza porzione di rigatoni al burro sono forse eccessivi. Da bere abbiamo ordinato mezzo litro di vino della casa, decisamente buono (cosa rara per un vino della casa a Roma) e una bottiglia d'acqua frizzante, ma ci hanno portato una caraffa di vetro di acqua naturale (pagata come acqua in bottiglia). Nel frattempo, la proprietaria continuava a lamentarsi di ogni questione. Abbiamo evitato di ordinare caffè e dolce perché non vedevamo l'ora di andarcene. Atmosfera inesistente, clienti trattati come intrusi, primi mediocri: certamente...