Osteria Romana di Simmi — Restaurant in Rome

I have been to many restaurants throughout Europe and South America, and I never had such a dreadful and terrible experience that made me want to leave a review in the internet.

It was the first place we went to in Rome. Immediately, we were greeted by a small waiter (if you ever pass there, the one with the crossed teeth) and he instantly was too touchy, weirdly so.

When we were ordering our meal, they left a basket of bread in the table. We didn’t ask for it, but we imagined it was courtesy. The bread itself was passable, but when there were a few left they just took it away and replaced with another one, full. This will come back later.

They did the same with the water and, while at it, that same waiter had our order wrong, asked for it again and the said (in italian) “the little lady got confused, she wants a cacio pepe”.

Our food arrived. The bruscheta was average, if a bit oily. The carbonara didn’t live up to the expectations we had of the italian cousine while the cacio pepe was stale and tasted like rubber. The orange juice was the only part of the meal tasting any good.

While eating, the waiter kept bumping in the lamp behind our table, time after time. This got annoying very fast, but we were tired from the flight and just wanted to enjoy the meal.

Finally, after eating that same waiter asked us to come along and show the interior of the place. There are roman ruins beneath the restaurant that are, indeed, very interesting. However, while we were amazed by the view, our little friend asked to take a selfie with us and, in doing it, decided to touch my wife inappropriately.

She didn’t tell me at first, but reacted silently to the little rodent, which prompted him to try and offer us wine in order to cover up for what he did. I noticed something was wrong and then ordered the bill to get away quickly. Not only I couldn’t read what was written in the bill, but I calculate that they added both bread baskets and the water they served us without asking to the amount.

While I was paying, the waiter was showing pictures of important people who ate there (such as bill clinton and George Clooney) in what I can only imagine was a weird way to try to keep her quiet about this ordeal.

Don’t eat there, in any circumstances. It is the worst place I have eaten in Italy, and by far the worst service I had in my whole life. They don’t value their costumers, are misogynistic and will scam you out of your money. This place single handedly ruined a part...

If you value your money, stay away from this restaurant. They are dishonest and will try to scam you. We were the only ones in the restaurant that evening, and we guess they felt they could take advantage of us, especially since they knew we were from the U.S. They tricked us into paying twice for our meal (at a cost of 264 euros). When we gave them a credit card to pay our tab, they faked a temporary power outage so they could claim that the credit card charge did not go through and they required cash to pay the bill. Not knowing how dishonest they are, we paid the bill in cash. It wasn't till later after we left the country that we discovered that they did get the credit card charge to go through. We don’t know how, since we never signed anything. We guess credit card companies don’t require signatures anymore. When we contacted them to get a refund, they acknowledged the error, but were totally uncooperative in giving us a refund. They kept telling us that the only way for them to give us a refund, was to give them an Iban (International Bank Account Number). They probably know that American banks don’t have Ibans, and figured that we would just drop the issue. But after talking with several financial people, we found a way for them to wire the money to us through an international bank which has an Iban. And we sent them very explicit, yet simple instructions on how to do it. Any bank could do it. But they still refuse to give us a refund, and have also stopped communicating with us. So, we are now certain that this was not just a simple credit card mistake, but a scam. Our biggest mistake was that we did not get a receipt for the cash payment (they never offered us one and we didn’t think to ask), and without that, the credit card company will not reverse the charges. So we are now out of options for getting our 264 euros back. Beware! Who knows what scam they might try to...

I stopped here alone for lunch with positive reviews. This is a charming little eatery and I was given a warm welcome. I opted for one of my favorite dishes of spaghetti alla vongolé and a glass of white wine. Sparkling water to accompany. The waiter was very attentive and offered if I would like to try their artichoke to start which I accepted. It's something of a local dish so why not. It was tasty and we'll seasoned so I enjoyed it. There were a few locals in the restaurant so it had a nice atmosphere. My vongolé arrived soon after the starter and offered chilli to season which certainly added hear and flavour to the dish. For me there was something missing from the taste of this dish as I have it so often in Sicily so it's a taste I'm used to. Finished with an espresso and not rushed relaxed afternoon. The bill came to €37 and I was thanked and wished well in typical Italian fashion by the staff and family. I would recommend coming here for a delightful dining...