Ristorante Arco Di S. Calisto — Restaurant in Rome

TERRIBLE!! Tiny portions, bad food, rude waiters. Chicken all bones, no meat. Tourist trap. Very overpriced.

They have A4 paper menus folded in three, like a cheap takeaway menu. Bad first impression.

The waiter got our ORDER WRONG TWICE. He didn’t listen and lied about what we were ordering to get us served and out of there. He was clearly in a bad mood. The only restaurant in our 5-day trip where the waiters put our (tap) water and wine in front of us and didn’t let us taste the wine or pour it for us. Not a great dining experience. It was late at night and not busy, so there was no excuse for this or the rudeness.

Three antipasti platters were brought to our table when we ordered 1 between three people. The waiter wasn’t impressed when we told him we only ordered 1, and he made this known.

Main courses were incorrect for 3 of the 6 in our group. We explained what we wanted to the waiter who said he understood but brought three of the same DISGUSTING chicken dish to us. It was drenched in a horrible tomato soup with SLIMY SKIN and was MOSTLY BONE with barely any chicken. That waiter clearly was not listening and was rushing to take our order. Also, we asked for it to be changed to what we asked for (no sauce) and HE SAID NO. The menu did not say that the chicken would be drowned in sauce. It was like a stew! We had to ask for our side dishes as he forgot them. These 3 meals were left uneaten because they were INEDIBLE.

The seafood pasta was a joke. THREE MOUTHFULS OF PASTA IN A VEGETABLE STOCK (literally was stock) decorated with 2 mussels, 2 clams and ½ a langoustine with no meat in it. HORRIBLE!! The prawns were tiny too, those horrible little frozen ones. I asked was the pasta sauce tomato before I ordered and the waiter said yes. It wasn’t – it was chicken/veg stock with 3 cherry tomatoes in it. When I said it to him he pointed at a tomato and said “Yes, it is a tomato sauce”. It was not a tomato sauce!

We just wanted to get out of there so we left.

Don’t be fooled by the street ambience. This was the most expensive meal for the six of us during our trip. WASTE OF MONEY.

I would never go back to this place. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE and we were still HUNGRY...

BEWARE. We dined here last night with hard sell tactics employed from the moment we arrived. We were whisked off for a tour of the kitchen to see sea bass cooking on an open fire. So far so good. Waiter (Sandro) then chose a fish of his own liking and this "this one is perfect for you and your wife". No menu given so we could browse alternatives but as we are both regular fish eaters I decided to proceed. I asked if it would be expensive and he said we would enjoy the fish at a special price - little did I know. Service was quite slow and while people may say it's worth the wait I suggest they could do with a couple more experienced waiting staff. The big moment duly arrived and the fish was filleted and plated in front of us. There's no denying the quality & flavour was very good but 2 pieces of zuchini and 4 small oven potatoes do not qualify as "plenty of vegetables will be served with the fish" (which we had enquired about at the start). While relaxing with a coffee at the end of the meal a party of 8 arrived and the same fanfare took place except this time Sandro announced that 2 similar sized fish would be sufficient to feed them (compared to the 1 that was presented to the 2 of us). Our bill arrived for €135.00 of which €83.50 was for the fish ! A special price indeed. This guy is either family or on commission or both but don't let him fool you. He has no interest in customer's dining experience - only making money. I would post a 0 but the review doesn't allow it however we will never dine here again. You might say we should have been more vigilant and insisted on confirming the price first but up until this experience our meals here in Rome have been excellent or very good and value for money and similar to other reviews on this restaurant I would welcome the opportunity to report this to any relevant...

We were finishing a two week trip around Italy and our final leg was in Rome. This place was around the corner from our flat and we were starving for lunch. The staff was a bit aggressive about seating us but that is not unusual in the Trastevere neighborhood - there is a lot of competition for customers. Our waiter was very insistent on helping us order and initially brought us no menus. He suggested multiple items including the sea bass and the porcini mushrooms. I requested menus because I was also feeding three teenagers who wanted some choices. The heavy handed approach with the sea bass was a bit exhausting and my husband finally relented. The waiter kept insisting he was not trying to have us purchase something expensive - that it was an excellent price. It was brought to the table and deboned in front of us. To be honest, the process was not that impressive. My husband thought is was good but when we saw that it cost 80.00 Euros (!!), we were shocked. The menu had “seasonal grilled fish” listed for 25.00. I presumed that was the price. The whole experience felt terrible. We did not argue. We paid the bill and plodded out of there. We felt like stupid American tourists who got played by a smooth operator. That was our most expensive meal in Italy for our entire trip (and we ate at some excellent restaurants). Be very careful with this place. If you feel like you are getting played, you are. Stick to the menu and ask specifically about prices of everything that is no listed. Or better yet, avoid this place altogether. If I knew how to report them to the Better Business Bureau equivalent in...