Sciarra Trattoria Pizzeria — Restaurant in Rome

Do not eat there! I’m shocked to see that there are people who have given this place a good review.

We have been in Rome for about a week, eating at different restaurants every day. We haven’t had one problem yet... well until this restaurant!!

We went to eat lunch there today, it looked like a cosy and nice place. We sat down outside and had look through the menu. The waiter came out and said that they had a buffè inside that we could order. I was very clear in asking the price (as I always do since I don’t like any surprises) he said the buffè costs 12euros. I asked him clearly if this was an all you can eat buffè to which he replied yes. I asked him again -so we can have as much as we want and it’s for 12euros, he laughed and said yes so we went inside. Upon sitting down the waiter offered to fill our plates from the buffè but we declined since “I kinda want to fill my own plate” when it’s a buffè. We each filled up a plate with a decent amount of food (the buffè was only fried vegetables and some shrimps). I ordered a beer with my plate and my wife had a glass of wine. The buffè was ok at best. Then came the time to get the check. We had to ask two different waiters three times and still we couldn’t get the check they were laughing and making jokes saying -it’s coming. Finally after 20min we got up and went to the cashier and asked for the bill. The bill was a hand written bill (who does that) and it ran us up to 60euros.

We were both shocked since all we had eaten was some vegetables and a drink. We asked why is it 60euros when the buffè costs 12euros each. The cashier replied -you filled up your plate too much therefore we are charging double each. Also they charged my wife an additional plate-cost of 12euros since she had gone for an extra few tomatoes. I proceeded to argue that this was ridiculous and no such information had been shared with us only that all you can eat buffè for 12 euros per person.

The manager was brought in and he was rude and only kept repeating the same thing -it costs what it costs, pay the bill, this is not Macdonalds! I refused and said we will pay what we were told it would cost which was 12euros per person plus the cost for the drinks. The manager went on to just standing there and stare me out. I stared right back at him. They brought in another waiter who spoke better English and I explained to him the same thing. Finally after 20min the English speaking waiter said they could give us a 5euro discount. I refused and said I won’t pay one cent over 50euros. More time past and other customers came in. Finally they agreed to 50 euros (which btw was still a ripoff).

I will never go back...

I will start off with the positives; the food wasn't bad and one of the waitresses was pleasant (I only had the briefest interaction with her though), and the location and general ambience of the restaurant/cafe was nice. I knew I wasn't far from some of the major tourist spots and was aware that restaurants close to such areas tend to be cynical tourist traps - mediocre food at premium prices - but this place looked pleasant and is in a quiet side street, and I hoped it would be a pleasant place to spend some time. The one dish I ordedered was not bad and I had a glass of wine, but I didn't order anything else simply because the waitress seemed to dislike me and gave the impression that I was unwelcome. My attempts to speak Italian were quickly rebuffed and when she brought the drink and food she was away before I had time to say thank you; she may as well have thrown it in front of me. Perhaps something about my manner rubbed her the wrong way or maybe it's because I'm English, but it felt like she disliked me. A brief interaction with another waitress was different, she was pleasant. Anyway, feeling distinctly unwelcome from the first waitress I went to ask her for the bill and one was presented - but not mine, a more expensive one. I examined it for several seconds to be sure, and then she casually remarked that it was the wrong one and gave me mine. I got the distinct impression that she was hoping I would have unthinkingly paid for whatever bill...

After a long walk in Rome, we stopped by Trattoria Sciarra for some drinks. This was a quite place on a small piazza close to via del corso, located away from the crowds, and what we hoped serving well done drinks and food.

We were disappointed.

After ordering an Aperol Spritz (Capri Spritz was unavailable) and Negroni Sbagliato (which I had to explain to the server) we were sipping on our at most mediocre drinks.

We asked for the food menu to get a few snacks and ordered a Mix of Bruschette and Patatine cacio e pepe. The former were two huge slabs of bread. One with ricotta dressing and another with tomatoes. The ricotta dressed bread was good, and paired well with a sun dried tomato on top. The tomato basic bruschetta needed work. It was simply cherry tomatoes cut in half on the bread.

For the patatine, essentially freshly made chips, they were tasty and well done. They were missing the Pepe element of cacio e pepe. Cacio e pepe is a classic Roma staple with pecorino cheese and black pepper as a dressing and as you cab imagine the pepper was missing.

All in all, we also had pretty poor service. 5 different people taking our order, no utensils, and no napkins.

Spear yourself a headache and go...