Ristorante Pinseria Da Massi — Restaurant in Rome

My son and I had lovely meals here in 2018 and vowed to return post pandemic. Here we are again this week but with other family members. Our first night back we chose to dine at da Massi making it a point to do so upon arrival from home. The food was excellent, but the timing of us receiving our food was not for my husband. Everyone else was halfway finished eating before they brought out his meal. It was a grilled whole fish dish that was excellent and they claimed it took long to prepare (???). Anyone who knows how to cook knows that fish cooks fast. But, anyway, my husband just accepted this excuse as the meal was very good.

So we decided to go back and have what we thought would have been yet another excellent meal here a few days later. It was even more busy than the first night we went. Again my husband waited for nearly an hour while the rest of us had received our food. Our waiter did not even notice him sitting there with no food as he was too busy joking around with the other staff. My husband is pretty forgiving, will give people the benefit of the doubt. But seeing that our waiter definitely overlooked his meal he asked where it was. Then suddenly within ten more minutes it appeared. And it was terrible. It was oxtail that had hardly any meat and was doused in an overabundance of tomato sauce. Probably was sitting in the kitchen to be served an hour plus before then was microwaved when he told the waiter he hadn't gotten his dish. The touristy Campo di Fiori restaurant we ate lunch at earlier offered a huge oxtail that was excellent. Unfortunately we thought da Massi would have been way better being outside the tourist trap area. Sadly no due to the abominable service twice. Doubtful we will subject ourselves to this experience again.

In reading some other recent reviews, it appears that they are unapologetically forgetting or willfully forgetting to bring people's food until the customer asks. No comped food for waiting over an...

This is one of the places that has taught me that I should stop focussing on great Google reviews while picking a restaurant to have dinner at. My quick look over the great reviews where the reason that brought me to this place. My mother and me were hoping to eat some great gnocchi tonight. My first impression already wasn't very good after tasting the house wine, which tasted like it was mixed with water. Then, we both ordered gnocchi alla carbonara but although it looked good on the plate, it tasted way too salty! Normally i barely drink while I'm eating, but with this food i felt like i wanted to drink after every few pieces of gnocchi. The taste was way too strong & my mother aggreed on this. I'm not Italian but I do sometimes prepare gnocchi at home, in Belgium and I can 100% guarantee that I can easily prepare a way better gnocchi at home than the one I ate tonight. It's a real sad story... When i go to a restaurant, I expect the food to be better in comparison to the food I prepare myself, especially when I'm going to eat Italian food, in Italy. Also: although the restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived, they gave us the worst place to sit down, next to the entrance. People were passing by or waiting right behind or next to our table all the time (either entering people or those who wanted to pay their bill). It was't cosy at all. Conclusion: stay away, look for another place! I still don't understand how this place has so many good reviews. So far I've eaten gnocchi in more than 3 restaurants in Italy and this one easily was the worst of all. (Photo added, just to show that I've actually been to the place, so you're less likely to think this is.a fake review, like many of those 5-star...

Summary: Food was ok but about 40% wasn't what we ordered. Service extremely poor. For more details, read on.

They probably don't need my good review as the place was full, but we didn't have a good experience today. Arrived at 8:15 & got a seat outside. Not their fault but outside was basically a smoking area for what looked like a bar next door. We got some menus then left alone. Around 8:45 someone arrived, asked "order?". We assumed he was asking whether we wanted to order so we said yes, then he took away our menus & left. A third waiter later arrived to correct the mistake & took our order. We got 2 coffees (ordered one) fairly quickly & a bottle of water without glasses. We sat there for about half an hour, nothing happening, no one showing up. At around 9:20 I went inside to ask whether they had a table for us indoors & thankfully the guy who looked like the sous chef made a table for us (it was indeed very busy). From that point we got our mains quickly (one was not what we ordered, the other was not fresh to the point my husband got ill on our way home). We had to ask for our starter which arrived after & was ok. We quickly got our bill and left. I have seen that most people were locals and they seemed to be very happy & they got their order quickly. The couple at the table next to us got their starter around the same time we did & they arrived when we sat in. Make of it what you will, I don't know what it was for us, but we obviously won't...