Ristorante Angelina a Testaccio — Restaurant in Rome

Let me start by saying that this was the great splurge of the entire European adventure. This meal for 3 cost more than our lodging in at least two countries, but it was worth every last cent.

Let's start with arrival, since this place has atmosphere! This is an old house converted into a multilevel dining experience. Each table in this establishment has a unique view, whether that be romantic garden balcony or the clean, bright dining room we were seated in. While our party did include a local quite fluent in Italian, the staff kindly brought us menus in English as well (since my American accent is unmistakable). Our waiter was also fluent in English, which made asking questions much simpler.

Alas, the tale of the eponymous Angelina was not available in English, so only one of us could read the full details there. Not to worry, since our first courses zipped out of the kitchens quickly, moreso since we arrived well before the crowds. We can't recall the details of two of our appetizers, only that they were completely amazing. One involved some of the best roasted eggplant I've put in my mouth to date. Pictures are included, but I think they were seasonal specials since I can't identify them from the online menus as I review after the trip.

For the second course, Raz and I ordered some of their pastas. Raz doesn't generally do pasta, but he was awed by the Carbonara. I went for the Cacio e Pepe, which is a simple dish of noodles, hard cheese, olive oil, and black pepper. The pasta was fresh, though, and that makes all the difference. I tried Cacio e Pepe every place that I could, and this was my favorite by far.

Our third courses were slow in coming, as is expected, since European cultures tend to take more care over dinner conversation than we do in the states. To that end, I have to mention the acoustics of the place, which were excellent in that we weren't deafened by the echo and reecho of the myriad conversations from a house that was completely packed before our main courses arrived.

That wait was worth it, as the dishes were even more impressive than our anticipation, especially Raz's octopus, which became our favorite in the world at the very first bite. Our local host had a tuna steak that was absolute perfection, and I went for the scamorza with prosciutto, which I think was technically a side, but completely a meal in itself, and decadent beyond imagining in its smoky, cheesy goodness.

To top off our feast, we enjoyed the hazelnut and chocolate surprise of the tartufo, and the tiramisu which is right up in the top 5 that we've had in our lives. All in all, a stellar experience that we would recommend to anyone as a one-time splurge if they make it all...

This restaurant ruined my 25th birthday, I'm particularly disappointed by the welcome at this restaurant and wouldn't recommend it if you want to celebrate an event. To note that a we pay 12 euros for catastrophic service, and no word of excuse were made for this disaster experience. I advice so you do let go to this restaurant.

My boyfriend and I had booked a dinner for my 25th birthday celebration on Saturday the 7th, which included a small, “intimate” space and a vase, as we were committed to bringing back flowers.

Knowing that me and my friends come for this day from Paris and were expected a good welcoming. When we arrived nothing that had been promised was delivered, the waiters gave us a table positioned behind a family, which was noisy. When I tried to speak to a blonde waitress she told me we didn't have that, and didn't try to take my request into consideration. I was particularly affected because no effort was made on their part ( especially this blond waitress and some others). My boyfriend, who is Italian, had to speak to the responsable to have our expectations taken into account.

Once seated at another table, we were given a vase, but again it was not what was promised. We were content with this, once the service had been completed we had brought an outside cake, after I had finished blowing out my candles the blonde waitress tore the cake into our hands without making any effort to present it, and practically threw it at us instead. A cake that was also super well presented, I'm extremely disappointed by this restaurant as we had chosen it with good reason, they really spoiled what was supposed to be a beautiful evening, and the blonde waitress made it a bad experience right to the end. It's normal to have expectations when they're clearly expressed, and I can firmly state that Angelina didn't meet our requirements, and apart from some waiters who tried to show willing, others contributed to spoiling the evening.

I wouldn't go back to Angelina and wouldn't recommend it if you want a nice souvenir when celebrating with...

This place came as a recommendation of our Italian friends, saying they are the best. I ordered a carbonara, and i had to send it back. It was THE SALTIEST DISH I HAVE EVER EATEN. don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those ppl who eats extremely low salty, i am a great fan of strong and spicy flavors. However this one was one of the biggest disappointing of my Rome experience! It’s as if it was salted at least twice by two different chefs! It was inedible! They offered to replace the dish but that didn’t go so well due to communication issue!

We felt like we were bothering them by being in the restaurant! It says it opens from 18:30, we got there at 18:50, all their members looked at us as if they saw a ghosts, no hellos no welcome! Then say the kitchen won’t open till 19:30, which is fine but how hard is it to change your hours to reflect when you are “functional”??

We were super hungry and the least welcoming and unsociable waiter who doesn’t speak a word of English (basically if you are not italian you are doomed) comes to us to take orders for “apperativo” and we say we want to order some snacks with out drinks and he mumbles something that makes us guess it’s not possible (we showed him the items on the menu), so he just brought the drinks that we were forced to drink on empty stomach and 5 minutes later to the table right next to us, he brought them exactly what we were trying to order… appetizers were served on the ALL TABLES around us, even clients who just arrived and haven’t even ordered! And we were left hanging dry on the side! When we called them to ask why we are not being served the waiter said i don’t know!

We wanted to leave and should have left, we only stayed because of our friends recommended it so much! But we should have left already with all the unwelcoming behaviors we got!

Do i need to say i wont...