Roscioli Caffè Pasticceria — Restaurant in Rome

Roma is swarming with all variety of tourists and many are rude/obnoxious. The key is to learn a little Italian and connect with the overworked staff like a human. Roma is a marvel, the entire city should be declared a World Heritage site. Where else can you walk amongst 2000 year old monuments to Democracy, Civilization and the Wonders of The Human Creative and Artistic potential?? I tried to get into their Salumeria resto the night before—like most good spots during a massive swarm of tourists and Jubillee pilgrims—sold out. Undaunted I returned the next morning for un ristretto and got a table out front, sipping a perfect 3rd wave Cappucino XL, and enjoying a delicious panino. The swarm of tourists got to me, God bless the staff(!!) of course people from all over the world are hungry/tired and uncertain of how Roma caffe culture works but geesh. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see strict disciplinary measures enforced from Coloseo days(whips?) I moved inside to the counter—that’s where the real fun is!! Learn some Italian and you’ll have the best time with the staff and what few Romans brave the tourists to get their place at the counter. It’s all about standing, mingling and chatting!! I’d go back to Roma tomorrow to repeat this day for an entire week. I showed him a specialty coffee article about best Roman caffes, and he proceeded to write down 5 more that he recommended! I mentioned that I had tried and failed to get into the resto, and he blew me away with his 150% xtra hospitality!! He left his post, inquired down the street, and returned with a counter spot for me at 7 that night!!!! Alessandro(?) Grazie Mille-you’re a true gem. I also needed to find a bike shop to fill my tires with air and the other adorable fellow zoomed in on his phone (my phone didn’t have wifi) and showed me the exact spot!!

This is a world class spot in the bustling Campo dei Fiori district. Well run, a legacy group, serving great caffe, and good pastries+panino. But as always, it’s the warmth of the staff that make it...

Roscioli converging from a tourist attraction to a tourist trap?

On Friday the 9th of September my nephew and I had lunch at Roscioli Caffè sitting outside. We both ordered the club sandwich priced at 18 EUR, as we have done several times over the past +5 years. The sandwich used to be delicious because of one particular ingredient: the “guanciale” or (English: “crispy pork cheek”), as it still says on the English menu. The previous time we ordered it (before covid), we were disappointed to find that this key ingredient had been substituted with regular bacon, which is a significant downgrade. Consequently, we asked them to correct the menu. Seeing that it still said “crispy pork cheek” now a few years later we asked the waitress before ordering if she could indeed confirm that the sandwich was made with guanciale since we had been fooled once before. The waitress confirmed and we ordered. While waiting for our food a man sat down at the table next to us, passing the people waiting, as he knew the waitress. She did actually tell him that he skipped the line, but he was allowed to stay. To our surprise the sandwich was still made with bacon, which does not live up to the original taste and does not justify the high price. The waitress excused, told us that she misunderstood and checked with the kitchen that confirmed that they make the sandwich with bacon. Apparently, Roscioli deliberately mislead their customers, as they are unwilling to update the menu (same error for years) or start using the guanciale again (the ingredient that makes their carbonara one of the best in Rome). Who knows how many other “errors” the menu contains? The waitress was new, so she might not have been informed of the misleading menu. I tried to order an espresso with the coffee Afribon, but she had no clue what I was talking about, so I did not get the Afribon, but what I think was a Guatemala. It has to be said that we got an excellent Maritozzo with cream and the coffee for free as a compensation for the...

We have been in Rome for 3 days and this was by far the worst restaurant experience we have had. The service was awful.. firstly you had to hover around other tables in order to snatch a seat outside and then it's like the waiters don't know you're there. Our waitress spent over 30 mins organising our table rather than taking our orders. The food took over an hour and drinks didn't arrive. They forgot two of our dishes to the point that I had to stand up and enquire about them 3 times. Their attitude was that of annoyed when I was asking for our dishes and as though I was the one in the wrong. At the end the bill came, they had charged us for dishes which we didn't have and the waitress has unknowingly given us the most expensive wine on the menu when we only asked for 2 glasses of the house (they were €12 per glass for mediocre wine, the most expensive we've seen in Rome by far). When enquiring about the bill, the staff were super rude and didn't offer us any apologies or discounts. Instead they took another 20 minutes to give us 4 complimentary cream cakes which they threw into a bag so they were destroyed and couldn't be eaten. It's clear they treat tourists very differently to locals as we noticed them receiving their food before ours. In total we were there for 2 hours and 30 minutes for 4 dishes and two glasses of wine. I have never written a negative review in my life but I felt compelled to do so given how awful this experience was and how badly we...