Ristorante le Mani in Pasta — Restaurant in Rome

I dont go out of my way to review restaurants, good or bad, but this one i had to review in an effort to save your evening. This restaurant is by far the absolute worst restaurant i have ever been to while travelling internationally, this restaurant is a DISGRACE TO ITALY. First of all, they do not respect women here and if you are not a "local" you will be severely mistreated. We made a reservation and showed up to have nothing recorded.. we made the reservation in person several hours in advance. As soon as we showed up and they didnt actually take our name, that should have been the first sign. They tried to serve us either a leftover plate from another table, or a plate of pasta that was merely sent back because it was denied at a "locals" table because of how poorly it was cooked... the kitchen or manager purposely served us this pasta in which we thought they would "see if we would eat it" We were purposely served pasta that was so under-cooked it was HARD, not "el dente" it was RAW. if you are american or pretty much not a "local" STAY AWAY... go around the corner to ENZO'S, they will treat you how you would expect to be treated and serve food that would make Italy proud. LE Mani is an absolute disgrace to this beautiful country... we felt as if the kitchen thought it was some kind of a game to see if they could get us to eat their atrocious food.. i wouldn't allow my dog to eat their food, not even the local pigeons deserve to eat the garbage this restaurant tries to sell people that are not locals... If you want to bring your wife, fiance or girl friend here and have a bunch of little men disrespect your significant other, this is the place - go see for yourself if you dont believe me... this place deserves a...

I make a point of dining at "Le Mani in Pasta" at least once every time I'm in Rome, and they have never disappointed me. On my most recent visit, I had lunch there because dinner reservations were difficult to get (before 22:00, which is not late for Romans but it is for me).

My companion and I walked in for lunch and were quickly seated, although the restaurant was fairly busy. We ordered the sea bass carpaccio & truffle appetizer, fettuccine with truffles as the first course, and fish baked in a salt crust as the second course. Everything was absolutely delicious and wonderfully presented. The presentation was thanks to our friendly and efficient waiter who had a large role in food preparation. I was facing the kitchen, so I had an opportunity to watch him work. He removed the salt crust from the fish, de-boned it and filleted it beautifully. In between courses we were also offered samples from the kitchen which were all excellent. We got to try mussels and their famous seafood pasta. I think you can order anything at this restaurant and it will be great. After dinner coffee is always served with a complementary collection of cookies which is a nice gesture.

As during my previous visits, the clientele seemed to be mostly locals who were known to the staff. However, they were happy to provide service in English and even gave us English menus. I didn't even bother to try my poor phrasebook Italian. Nevertheless, we were made to feel welcome and given courteous and prompt service.

I think I will keep the tradition of dining here whenever I'm in town. The rest of you stay away. It's difficult enough to get...

We are a family resident in Rome and I think we have tried a good number of restaurants in this city to make this assessment. Having heard so good things about it, we were not expecting such disappointment. We have made reservation by phone and when we got there we were told to wait as there was no table available. That would have been understandable only if we didn’t have to wait around 35 minutes, and outside under the rain until they got us in. Apparently confirmed reservation is just words for them. The service was close to terrible. We ordered two glasses of wine, which they brought even after the plates and only after two reminders and after we have halved the pasta plates. Moreover, the restaurant wasn’t full when we ordered (it was already past 3 pm). So staff wouldn’t have been expected to be so busy to take the orders so late and serve too late. Atmosphere: We were not expecting the atmosphere to be great because it is an old building with a cave. However, if carefully managed, simplicity can go hand in hand with quality and comfort. Unfortunately, they seem to have compromised these to ordinariness. We would still be satisfied to some extent if the food was remarkably good, but it was not beyond ordinary, except the tiramisu, which was good. As plates, we ordered amatriciana, tagliolini alle vongole, spaghetti alla vernaccia and filletto all’arancia. All were average. So, it might have been yet another restaurant in Rome, succumbing to its own name, fame...