Ristorante di Pesce Chiaroscuro San Giovanni — Restaurant in Rome

For those who don't read further than the first line: this was our most memorable dining in experience in Rome so far - and me and my partner have visited four times and several restaurants.

We arrived at lunchtime and were the sole visitors at that time. We were treated as royalty from the get-go; truly met with genuine kindness, which exceeded all the hospitality we've encountered during our stays. I cannot stress the welcoming nature of the staff, and neither can I underscore the importance of it. It was extremely relieving to not be met as an obnoxious tourist for a change, and we tried our best to return the courtesy. The staff presented themselves very professionally at all times, showed great care and consideration towards our needs, and even though we had difficulties finding a lingua franca, it was appreciative of them to try their best. Once more, we tried to the best of our abilities to politelly respond in Italian.

The food was not too extravagant, but not modest either. The prices were placed accordingly: slightly above the average dining prices in the city. However, the food was beautifully prepared. We had fried calamari and tuna tartare for starters, and tuna-caprese and pescateri (seafood) pastas for mains. The portions were generous and we could not finish our mains though we arrived with yawning stomachs. We also got complimentary aperitifs; sparkling wine and croutons with cured salmon. Both tasted splendid. For digestives I ordered some cognac and an americano. The coffee was comparative to those of the finer Roman caffes and I must've gotten at least a desiliter of Remy Martin's VSOP, along with some complimentary dark chocolate. Once more, absolutely terrific.

Two immemorable hours were spent without barely noticing, and the staff was kind enough to not even gesture us out, even though we exceeded their lunch serving with 15 minutes with our stay. I cannot but recommend this fine establishment. I rarely review restaurants, but leaving this one without due praise would...

THE BEST RESTAURANT IN ROME - in my opinion :) My boyfriend and I had dinner there last Sunday and it was simply utter perfection.

Food: This restaurant is specialized in fish. If you are like me and love to eat everything form the sea you are in the right place. This is heaven. We had white wine to accompany the food and to be completely honest I wasn't totally on board with that idea at first because I'm a red whine drinker and usually dislike white wine but this was the single most delicious white wine I have ever had.

Price-Quality: We ordered the special menu (30Euros/person). This includes the wine and all other expenses (6 starters, 1 main dish and 1 desert). It might look like the portions are very small and that you won't be satisfied in the end but believe me we were both rolling out of there by the end - and my boyfriend is almost 2m tall and eats acordingly. I forgott to take pictures of the main dishes but the portions were enough to make me wonder if I could even eat it all after os many starters. I have never eaten such quality food for such a low price. This is incredible and I will tell all my friends & family members to go eat there when in Rome.

Establishment: The restaurant itslef is spacious and timeless elegant. There are always two tables. One for the food and one to sit and eat.

Service: Apart from the fact that we never eat as well in Rome as in this restaurant, they also had the most welcomming, friendly and funny staff I have encountered in a long while. We were served by three guys and everyone of them was very courtegeous. We especially liked Steffano because he speakes English and French fluently.

Unfortunately we went there on our second last night and they were closed on Monay because I would have loved to go there a...

I don't how good the food is but the service is a disaster. We got there a few minutes before opening (7 pm). Five past seven they were still closed and ignored the people checking through the window if there is someone there (eating their own dinner is obviously more important then opening the restaurant, but that could be forgiven as I try to accept Italian attitude to punctuality and time). A few minutes later they opened and "started" the "service"... The other guests (English speaking) got the menu but we were told that that "fantastic" restaurant has only one menu in English and we have to wait (we would manage with Italian menu easily, but were not given a chance). We waited. The other guests had some issues with the menu and were told that "if they want some traditional Italian food they may go around the corner to the other restaurant" and the waiter took the menu from them... and went inside instead giving it to us. We spent there another 5-10 minutes waiting for the menu (nobody asked us even about drinks) but both waiters ignored us. So we used their advice and ate fantastic dinner in Pizzeria Trattoria da Simonetta probably paying half the price. They may have superb food, but the service is awful. I don't recommend anybody to go there - take your chance and eat in Pizzeria Trattoria de Simonetta just around the corner where you'll be well serviced, spend your time in fantastic family atmosphere and eat some delicious traditional Italian dishes (seafood starters and foccacia...