Panella — Restaurant in Rome

Panella is one of the oldest and most historical places in the center of Rome. A short, 5 minute walk from the Coliseum, through the beautiful hill of Colle Oppio brings you to this amazing bakery. Which, through the years has evolved into a spot for Lunch, a great Sunday Brunch and the weekly Aperitivo from 6pm that is a must when in Rome. The Aperitivo is one of my favorite things in Panella, for only 15 euros you get one cocktail/drink and unlimited access to their amazing buffet. Having the Aperitivo there is like having a great dinner, with many little samples from typical Roman food to delicacies from all over the Italian peninsula. Here they also have superb different types of Pizza by the slice. Every pizza is made with local ingredients based on what is available in the given season. Also their special Arancinis are a must to try, made with the real home-style Ragu’ (bolognese) sauce. The desserts are all worth to try; there are both pastries from Italy as well as the ones from other nations across the world. This is also true for their breads, but again it’s the best...

I've lived in the neighborhood more than 10 years. Both before and after the sale of this family-owned business to a corporate conglomerate, the prices were absurd -- but we still came for an occasional Sunday morning coffee and pastry, out of convenience.

Today, they outdid themselves. We ordered the €6 hot tea, Earl Grey. There were no more EG tea bags left so they brought a tisane instead (without noting the change). We flagged them down and politely asked for a black tea of any kind -- after which they produced a Lipton's Yellow Label (horrific). We said, no worries, we happen to have a few tea bags in our purses.

We were told that if we wanted the keep the cup of hot water already prepared for us, it would continue to cost €6. "So, do you want the tea?" I said no, thank you, and he carried the cup of hot water off, untouched.

I can no longer see any sense...

To be honest this place was a real disappointment. At first me and my family were really looking forward to eat at this place. We took the buffet and they told us that it included food, drink, dessert and coffee. Totally everything became really expensive. But we thought it would be worth the money because everything looked so tasty. When we were still eating our food they came up and asked us to pay. We did it and didn't think much about it, except that it was strange. When we then asked for dessert they first said that they didn't serve dessert yet. When we asked again they told us to wait 15 minutes. We did. When we asked again they laughed in our faces. The food costed about 80 euros, you didn't get much for that and it wasn't that tasty Plus the fact they treated us badly made me give them really low grades. Usually I am a positive person, so this is not me...