Ristorante Il Falchetto — Restaurant in Rome

CLOSE TO THE CHURCH FOR IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA - WONDERFUL AND DECENT RISTORANTE - VERY WELL +++ Floating happyness One experience is to discover a place (now 9 years ago), and another to come back to confirm your previous judgements. Il Falchetto, which turned in the meantime over 100 years old - quite a time for a ristorante - is still oustanding, in many respects. The place is close to San Ignazio, the church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, and to the Chamber of "Deputati". This is a quite noble surrounding, if you understand. At the very end, you can see some photographs of buildings in the nearby quarter, including "Colonna". In summertime, you can sit outside on a small terrazza, and also the interior is very nice, quite modern, and very friendly. I went those days twice, on evening and on noon, and picked up from the special menu for the 100 years anniversary two different starters. Both absolutely delicious ! Good for another longtime ! One of my "secondo" was orata, with some tomato cream and olives. As dover sole, orata is a fish which needs to be treated with knowledge, and for sure it was as good that I would go instantly for another orata. There is wine by the glass, and one time I enjoyed Morellino de Scansano, not cheap, but by all means worthwile, even for a second glass. When I came back (then after 5 years), I instantly recognized the owner (and vice versa), and a substantial part of the spirit of the place goes to him. Quite something extraordinary, in both senses, today ! Without him, it would be impossible to explain the extraordinary politeness of the waiters, her attention, very old style, but in an admirable way. +++++++ In May 2018, I spoke again to the owner, after 5 years, and we recognized each other instantly, not a usual thing, if you consider European, Overseas, or other politics. As I do, Donato is wearing (in English) pullovers, of very nice colours. I had my Rollei 6006 with me, a very powerful black and white machine, and a photographer lady was taking some pictures, as you can see here. Sitting on the terrasse. It is hardly imaginable that there could be a better picture (as you see) of a really happy client, sitting at the table with owner. Consider the light. All very close to the church of the founder of the Jesuits . Great !

Finally : Beside the kitchen the waiters are an absolute key element of every good restaurant. Being a good waiter is a very delicate task (even one of the most delicate, by all means). It would be worthwile to go back to the history (good approach) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the word is "Kellner, or in French then "Garcon") to discuss what is a good waiter. Part of the necessary character is politeness, but not only, and decency, and being sure of the own profession. As good waiter (what happened, I can tell you) you do not decide on a client on simple grounds (polo short, no tie) but on his appearance, quite a point. And, very important, you (the waiter) has a feeling for a thing which may be called aequi-distance (this is more Latin, appropriate for Rome), meaning that you are on the same ground with your client (as we did). And, if possible, you "participate" that your client is enjoying what is served, like orata with tomato cream, indeed extraordinary, 100 years jubilee menu. I had the honor to be served at Falchetto by Alessandro, who recognized me. A kind of empathie, which occurred. Hereafter, you will find accordingly also a picture of Alessandro. And of the "front facade" of Monte Citerio, the Italian Parliament. The "facade" was created by Bernini. Another Orata on the terrazza would be fine. +++ Alessandro, the waiter, called "Alessandro de Venezia", has left for his home town, but his picture has to stay ! Now, in October, I was served by one of his colleagues, called now "Alessandro the Great". You can make up a film on the restaurant ! ++ Just before Corona started, in early 2020, I came with my wife. Still absolutely admirable. A waiter full of politeness. We enjoyed it greatly. What a...

We stayed at The Singer Palace Hotel in Rome and asked the concierge for restaurant recommendations for dinner. One was Il Falchetto, which was a wonderful surprise! The woman said it had great pastas and seafood; I assumed it was a casual dining spot.

We went without a reservation on a Saturday nite, around 930 pm. The outdoor dining area was cozy and inviting; the lights were romantic and diners were having fun, chatting and enjoying each others company! The location is on a quiet road off the main busy/loud street. The couple ahead of us in line were seated at the last available table outside and we were seated inside.

The restaurant was full, except for a corner table (which a couple took shortly after we were seated). There were 2 large parties. The small room was full of life, but not too boisterous where we couldn't hear each other. Lots of Americans, which could be a good or bad thing. Lol. We are from the US as well.

White cloth tables, I would describe the place as upscale but not pretentious at all. At first I thought maybe we had dressed too casual but I didnt feel treated any differently than the Chanel and YSL bagged women.

It was our last day in Rome and I was looking forward to a memorable dinner. The wine BOOK was a little overwhelming, so we asked the sommelier for suggestions for a full-bodied red. He recommended an amazing wine from Sardinia (the best we had during the entire multi-city trip). We started with the artichoke (carciofi) and zucchini flower (fried courgette) appetizers - both were delicious. (Roman artichokes are a thing here, I learned! And the season is Feb-April) My husband ordered the taglioni w/ lobster, and I ordered a pasta that had olives, tomatoes, mozzarella/pesto. We shared the pan-fried shrimps w/ garlic & chili and spinach. My husband is very traditional and so we ordered the classic tiramisu (although the pistachio tiramisu caught my eye!) Everything was delicious. The service was EXCELLENT. It was my favorite restaurant experience in Rome. I will happily return again and try the many other dishes offered.

On the way out, I noticed the fresh fish on display and the gentleman kindly named them all for me. They are open for lunch, which the waiter said isn't always as busy. We were lucky, but dinner reservations are probably the way to go.

Thank you Il Falchetto for a lovely final meal in Italy. We...

Although the food was fantastic our waiter was not.

Unfortunately we were warned during a tour AFTER this experience that some waiters may try to rip you off by offering an expensive dish that is not on the menu or without telling you the full price...

We chose this restaurant because the food looked delicious and it had good reviews, it was probably just this one waiter that ruined the dinner for us. Beware the balding man with glasses who offers you orange mushrooms!

TLDR: After my boyfriend and I were seated we looked at the menu and choose a pasta dish, wine and 2 appetizers. Our waiter came over to show us some orange mushrooms and asked us if we would like to try some. We had never seen them before and said sure, okay. He said "okay 2 then" and walked away. He brought them back to us as full salads so we cancelled one of our appetizers.

We had two glasses of wine with dessert but once once we saw the bill we were unpleasantly surprised to find out that the two mushroom salads cost €60 and nearly doubled our bill. When we complained to the waiter he refused to acknowledge that he misled us and continued to try to validate the pricing of the dish.

We went back and forth saying how it wasn't the price of the dish that we were arguing, it was the way that he presented it to us without letting us know that it was the most expensive thing they had. I didn't even see it on the menu and when we tried to ask for the manager they didn't really care. We started getting loud because I was becoming frustrated with him and then he said "please lower your voices there are nice people coming in..." I said "well we are nice people and this was very dishonest." We only paid most of our bill after he tried to haggle us to lower the price since he said it would come out of his own pocket if we didn't pay up. I was very upset and mortified that this even happened - we paid €17 less than the total and stormed out. We should've paid less and spoken with the owner instead.

I think he did this because we were young Americans, but who knows if this was...