Taverna Agàpe — Restaurant in Rome

If I could give a -10 star that would be my score. Let me explain: we noticed a couple with a small child enjoying wine in what seemed like a fine, traditional restauraunt with 4 waiters weighing on them, they seemed to have a wonderful time. therefore pur choice for food seemed obvious. however, while one waiter seated us and left us with the menu, his colleague quickly came to take our drink order. even though we ordered drinks and water he screamed that our clear, unmarked water bottles cannot be on the table - we need to put them under. we complied, though on 36°C Italian summer this made them boil. while the couple next to us enjoyed a light caprese salad followed by fresh muscles we patiently waited for anyone to come take our order. after 15 minute waving for anyone to come.. finally, a third person took the orders: rikota ravioli, mushroom parpadelle and a parpadelle seafood mix - we saw others eating fresh muscles and it was my fair assumption that seafood would be good. a long wait ensuid: while our perfect family now enjoyed a simple penne in tomato sauce and some wonderful looking fish, other guests were seated, waited and food was coming out at full speed for all but us. people coming after us got drinks, starters and main while we waited 45+min plus for 3 pasta dishes. waiters were running for everyone but we got 0 attention. and then it finally came: 3 small ravioli, lacking in seasoning, unappealing in appearance, overcooked seafood that could've been flavourless chewing gum and parpadelle from the day before - if you have ever had leftover pasta you know what I mean: stuck together, dry, and flowery white inside. disappointing and disgusting. we were not even hungry anymore. it was NOT worth the wait. after an additional 20 min waving and trying to get waiters attention we managed to get the bill. O was expecting for the waiter to ask why we didn't eat the food but he didn't care, he left the bill and left. We did not leave a tip, I was even considering not paying at all! Awful experience. go to Al Vicolo 9 if you want...

Now I am extremely conflicted about this review and the number of stars I gave does represent the food, but not the whole experience.

Food: better than any place within 700m radius (including so called restaurants). Tasty, not too overpriced, true taverna/osteria. We had a dinner here once, came back back for food another time, and if not for the poor service, would have come back a couple of times more to taste the full menu. This is how good the food was compared to the other places in the same area.

Service: the waiters in this place look experienced and seasoned, so they are always a good sign and quite reassuring. The first evening we came quite late, our waiter seemed somewhat tired and some of his jokes were questionable, but in general - attentive, swift and friendly. The next day our waiter was grey haired guy with glasses. He was much slower with orders, but again nothing to complain until the end of the dinner.we waited 25 minutes for the bill after asking it and reminding him multiple times. He was wandering around the tables so had ample time to juat drop the bill and we could have paid at the bar, but he rather chose to stall, which resulted in no extra tips, but honestly 25 minutes in the evening, when you are already tired after the full day mean a lot. I was even thinking to myself that if you wait for a professor for up to 15 minutes, waiting for waiter cannot be longer than 10 min - no bill in 10 min qnd you are free to go 😉 Joking ofc, but thats the reality. Due to this, we chose the other places for the 2 dinners left. The place has atbles outside ina square, quite cozy and away from the...

The food tasted wonderful. We had apps, salad, pasta, and the veal. All of it was cooked well and tasted great. I had even said during the main course we should go here again before our trip ends. 3* because the service started off nicely and then suddenly hostile, so I guess we won't be going back. At the end we were asked if we wanted desert, we declined and then finished our drinks, maybe another 5 minutes, just after 21:00. Then we waited until our server seemed less busy, maybe another 10 and then tried to get his attention multiple times by saying scusi, but it seemed like he didn't hear us and never stopped by our table. Another few minutes go by and my wife who speaks Italian, I don't, asks for the check while he passes again. He doesn't pause or acknowledge her and sets up a table. As he is walking back she says it again and he snapped and told her he's already told her we need to wait, he definitely hadn't this was around 21:12. She apologizes and then we wait without bothering him for another 30 minutes. During this time he sets and seats two tables. Gets them water and wine. Stops and has a conversation with one of them, goes back and brings them apps. The table next to us was in the middle of their meal and seemingly got sucked into his bad attitude and he completely ignored them while they were trying to get his attention for this 30 or more minutes. We finally got our check and he stood by just staring at us as we got money out. During this time the table next to us multiple times tried to get his attention and they were ignored and then he got us change and we left...