Osteria Ragno d'oro — Restaurant in Rome

Firstly my friends at Osteria Ragno d’oro please forgive me for just now getting around to writing a review about your amazing restaurant. I’ll preface that my father and I ended up coming here 3 times in three days that we were in Rome on a quick father-son trip. There are several reasons why we kept coming back. Firstly, the service! The team at Ragno d’oro are very friendly and their service is what you expect from long known friends and exactly what you hope for with regard to true Italian hospitality and warmth. While everyone was so kind and helpful, I must give a big shout out to our new friend Carlos. He tended to us hand and foot, and would come over at the perfect time to make sure we were good on drinks and to check on the food. It wasn’t merely out of obligation, but you can see how he is happy to tend to all the people visiting on any given night. Carlos is the main reason we kept coming back, because when you find amazing food and amazing service at a very modest price point, you can’t help but come back.

As for the food-Over the course of the few days we had a few different things. The spaghetti carbonara and amatriciana were probably the best I’ve had in the whole of Rome on different visits. While both were great, the carbonara was my favorite. The saltiness from the pork against the cheese, and creamy egg and sauce is the stuff I dream of. I’m convinced that if this dish was given to world leaders we may be able to achieve world peace! It’s everything that’s right in this world! We also had the sirloin strips, the patates al forno, and my dad was smiling ear to ear. The steak was cooked and seasoned to perfection and the potatoes?? Like how? How can potatoes be that good?? I also ended up having the salami picante pizza two times over the course of three days because the pizza was so amazingly good. The ingredients are simple, but the crust is so nice and crunchy and the cheese and salami were just amazing. I also dream of this pizza! Needless to say, I have nothing but amazing things to say about the food. You are in for a treat!

Couple of things to keep in mind. I strongly strongly recommend making a reservation. While you can likely get a table without one, you’ll be in for a wait! You can call the restaurant or pop in during their lunch hours and make a reservation for later in the evening. I also recommend asking for a table outside, as it can get pretty warm in the restaurant especially during the hot Rome summer days.

What else can I say but… Grazie mille Ragno d’oro per il cibo e ricordi...

This restaurant always surprises you!

It was our first time in Rome and we looked up the rating online and decided to give it a try. We ordered the traditional starter deep fried artichoke and Saltimbocca (one of my fav Italian dishes). And the Saltimbocca was unbelievably good with very tender veal and perfect blend of flavors (the light sourness is the secret). Then normally the story stopped there and as a tourist, we normally won’t return to a restaurant a second time. BUT we did.

It was late 10 pm and the restaurant was fully occupied. The same waiter who served us at the first time saw and remembered us and arranged a table outdoors for us, with big smile. Without surprise, we ordered again our favorite Saltimbocca, Panna Cotta and red and white wines. Everything was good and normal if it ended like this. At the end, the waiter was very hospitable and introduced us small shots of dessert wine Zibibbo from his hometown Sicily for free. It is sweet with some bitterness and very lovely! We thought the story would come to an end with such a nice ending. Shortly after, another waiter served us a small plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce for free coz he was not hungry at all and that was his work dinner. Crazyyyyy although we were as full as explosive balloons...... but we didn’t want to waste food so took a bite thinking well, it’s just the normal spaghetti. To our surprise, that’s probably one of the best spaghetti we ever had coz it’s homemade spaghetti.....the chewy texture, called “Al dente” in Italian! This is still not the end of our story. When my husband walked in the restaurant to find the restroom, the executive chef happened to finish preparing some new flavors for the dessert Gelato and asked him if he was interested to try out and give feedback......

No words can describe our feelings to such a restaurant which we had never thought of running into. If there needs to be a wrap up, I would say that “this is a restaurant with human touch!” Grazieeee mille to those waiters and chefs who made our experience in Rome an...

The food was fantastic and all waitstaff were very nice. Unfortunately, I had a very bad experience with who appeared to be owner which tainted the whole experience. I spoke with the owner (who was present and wearing a button-down patterned shirt unlike waitstaff wearing all black) and asked if it was possible to order a takeaway meal with just one item. This was at the beginning of dinner service time (7pm/19:00) to eat in my accommodation as I had a cold, and I let him know this too. He was curt with me but said yes. I then waited outside and the food was ready quite fast. A waitstaff member beckoned me in to pay, letting me know it was ready. The total came out to €16 for the pasta dish and I paid with €21 (€20 & €1 coin) in cash and I asked for a €5 note back, thinking it would save us both some time and cash. The waitstaff member brought the request to the owner, who then rolled his eyes and made a show of pulling out a €5 note from his wallet, giving me a direct stink eye & smirk, then presenting it to the waitstaff to give to me. As I was leaving, I heard the €1 coin clanking against something violently as it was thrown somewhere. As someone who has worked in food service for multiple years, I was really taken aback by this experience and left feeling unwelcome and uncomfortable. There was a till right there for him to grab cash from and if they were unable to accommodate me paying in cash, I would have absolutely paid with card. If they're card only, I wasn't told this. And if they didn't want to do takeaway service, I could've been denied and honestly after this experience I wish I was denied service. One of the main reasons why I chose this place was the rave reviews for service and hospitality. As a young (sick) woman by myself, I was not shown this service. One review doesn't make much of a difference, but from this experience I hope folks reconsider who they give...