Ristorante All'Oro — Restaurant in Rome

TL:DR: Worst Michelin star experience we've ever had. Oily, tasteless cuisine with courses going for quantity over quality. Gimmicky presentation. We would not come back even if someone paid us to eat here for free.

Longer version: This was one of the many Michelin restaurants we experienced this summer as part of a trip across Europe and I am compelled to leave this review as I am baffled how this place is rated as high as it is, let alone being on a Michelin guide and having a Michelin star.

The good: Service is courteous and professional as is expected from an establishment with $$$$ price tag. Lighting and presentation of dishes that's very Instagram friendly if you are into that sort of thing. The bad: The drinks whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic are completely unimaginative. If you want a gin and tonic that you can order in any mediocre hotel - you'll be fine. If you are looking for interesting and creative cocktails this is not the place. I guess this establishment assumes you will be drinking wine - which we did not. Gimmicky presentation of many dishes that does not add anything to the experience but, in fact, stands in the way of trying to enjoy the food. Pasta filled with broth is served with a massive spoon with holes in it - not sure how that's supposed to enhance my experience, the size of the spoon however makes the pasta difficult to enjoy. Carbonara reduction is served in an eggshell which looks interesting - until you accidently break a piece and then have to look for a piece of eggshell in that dish. There is more, and I am only keeping the number of examples at two for brevity. The ugly: The food. We had their most expensive tasting menu. Most of it was not memorable and the top three adjectives that come to mind are: oily, salty and heavy. Some "highlights" below: "Tiramisu" of potatoes: this is supposed to be a dish that looks like Tiramisu dessert when it fact it is a savory course. Unfortunately beyond this presentation gimmick this dish is terrible. What you have is a heavy potato puree, that lacks any flavor. You have a lot of it. If you manage to dig through it you will eventually get to salted cod, which looks and tastes like something that came out of a can. This cod is swimming in abundance of olive oil which makes this dish even more heavy (if that's even possible). It is also quite salty living up to the description - 'salty cod'. But wait, there is more; there are pieces of bacon at the bottom of the dish that make this even more salty and heavy. This is something I would expect in a bad diner. Not a fine dining establishment. Carbonara Reduction: This dish constitutes an eggshell that's filled with concentrated (read: reduced) carbonara sauce. It's like someone decided to take the best parts of a carbonara dish away, and shove the rest into an eggshell. The reduction has the flavor and consistency of a warmed up, light mayonnaise that's flavored with some bacon flavoring. Not sure if there is anything else I can add to this description. It is as bad as it sounds. "Rocher" of Oxtail: The "gimmick" of this dish is that it's an oxtail meatball that's supposed to look like Ferrero Rocher confectionery. I will let my pictures help you decide if it does it for you or not. In terms of the dish itself; imagine ground oxtail, imagine mixing it with some nuts, copious amount of salt, tomato paste and then cooking it. What you get is heavy and salty meatball that kind of taste like tomato paste. This dish is begging for flavor. Something herby, spicy, fresh, bitter, sour, any flavor really. And then you notice a tiny green droplet on the other side of the plate. You desperately reach for it. It is the celery gelee. It's bitter, and it tastes like celery. And it kind of balances out the horrible bite of oxtail meatball you are about to have. And then it's gone, because there is about a quarter of a teaspoon of it. And you are left to contemplate what you are going to do with that giant salty meatball that's still on your plate. And you decide to not...

No, No, No This was our first experience eating at a Michelin star restaurant. And the very last. The surrounding area/ street: dirty, smelly, littered with broken glass. Staff: Pretentious and incompetent Ambiance: dark basement Experience: We were pressured to order the set 9 course dinner. Were told both diners have to (!!) order the same. The pretentious sommelier tried pushing us to order a $$$$ bottle of wine saying that it will go with everything. When we asked to have him pair different drinks with different parts of menu, he mumbled something of it being difficult and continued pressuring. The presentation of appetizers was interesting/ strange ( little bits of food (?) served on things like toy char, a skull, a ceramic chicken etc…) The taste….can be described as “ no taste” , “ strange texture” , “ a ball of dough with a bad tomato juice” etc. ,one of the appetizers was a marshmallow…. Next courses came rapidly one after the other, pieces of food (?) that tasted really bad, the only prominent taste being - salt. We picked on some, and stopped eating all together. One of the courses was a cod made to look like tiramisu - a vomit inducing taste and texture….. The service was terrible to match the food. The crumbs on the table were left there since the serving of bread ( the only eatable thing). Eventually after the 5 th or 6th uneaten course, when we realized what this was, we asked for the bill and wanted to leave. We were charged for pretty much all courses, ( there was some tiny discount). When I saw the bill, and asked “ Am I paying for the “food” I didn’t eat.” I received “ Yes, Madam!”. We paid and left. The day before I had a simple and delicious meal at a family trattoria that brought tears to my eyes, because it reminded me of my grandmother’s cooking. That is the taste of Italy and Rome that I will be taking with me. These swindlers bring disgrace to the Italian Food and Italy. People, there is no shame in not complying with expectations and saying that something is bad when it is bad. I know, cook and love good food. God food is like love. “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well”. I want to love, sleep and think, therefore I will never set foot at a place even remotely similar to...

Mrs T and I had a great evening at Ristorante All'Oro. We had the nine course menu L'Oro di All'Oro, a couple of bottles of water, a bottle of wine and a couple of coffees. The two and a half hours we spent there flew by...

The standout, perfect dishes were the salami served 2 ways (ball and shot of jus), bruschetta, Caesar salad, scallops (served with a spek foam and potato gratin), carbonara reduction (presented in an egg shell, sans pasta), the ravioli with duck ragu, pudding packets (mangetout) and the sweet tiramisu; these were all fantastic and all left you wanting more. Everything else was very enjoyable, albeit a couple of the dishes were a little flat in comparison; the quails egg with veal looked amazing but was light on flavour. The tortelloni with dry broth were frankly best forgotten (despite being passionately discussed by the waiters); ironically they may prove to be the most memorable element. They were served with a rich cheesy white sauce, but filled with a thin liquid that mainly tasted of saffron and washed the white sauce away; plus, if you're lips weren't firmly sealed shut before you bit into them you were prone to coat yourself or companion with the contents. Memorable, but in an opposing way to, say, the scallops (which really were divine).

Waiting staff were friendly and attentive (if a little keen to clear empty plates) and flattered us by avoiding any potentially awkward conversation on what wine we wanted to choose (really this should read "afford," as they were 70€ and upwards) by gaging our reaction to their suggestions. The bill of 400€ (not including a 40€ tip) was predominantly fair, albeit the high starting point for the wine pricing seems inexcusable.

This was an evening of imaginative, skillful, delicious and novel dishes; we would visit again given the opportunity, but next time perhaps go for the 6 courses or choose your own 4 course options (now we know what...