Taverna Lucifero — Restaurant in Rome

We have been excited to dine here, and came w friends who were visiting us. The meal started uncomfortably as were sat directly next to the door, and guests would regularly leave the door opened allowing the cold draft to smash us and our food. Despite making a reservation many weeks in advance, despite happily complying when the booking was changed from 20h to 19:30h that day, we sat at probably the most uncomfortable table in the entire restaurant. This stuff happens, but a series of events made us truly feel unwelcomed.

The restaurant seemed to care most to fit as many people in with little regard to their experience, this is a business after all. The owner is highly competent and managing a variety of everything, while servers were less attentive and knowledgeable. For ex, they did not know about the wine (only the owner knew and there’s no list), when being shaved the truffles no one told us where they were sourced, how old they are, etc and each question felt like a huge burden. It made us feel so awkward and troublesome to be guests here that we did not order a second bottle of wine, did not dare order additional savory dishes, and felt rushed to finish and leave. We had a miscommunication about the dishes, it could have been easily resolved if the staff stayed a minute longer to listen patiently. They were more bothered than we were by the mistake, but the frustration afterwards felt incredulous and blamed entirely on us. I hoped a restaurant as praised as such would’ve handled the interaction with more grace but I was wrong. To be fair, it was confusing because we would order in Italian, he would answer in English, we answered in English, then he would reply in French — not everyone at the table spoke each of...

If you like truffles or fondue, this might be a good place; otherwise, I'd skip it. The "big guy" greeted us warmly and found us a table after only a few minutes wait (at around 10:15pm on a Friday, without a reservation) and rattled off the list of specials. (Oddly, when I asked for them to be repeated, a slightly different list came out.) We began with a somewhat indifferent salad accompanied by Balsamic vinegar "condiment" containing just 5% of the real stuff. We'd asked him to pick a glass of white wine plus two different reds. He poured us a decent white and a barely tolerable red. (Remember: this is a place that is touted for its wine choice.) The pastas - especially the daily special - were good; a second, different red wine was much better than the first. The bread basket was a little stale; perhaps because it was late in the day (bread in Rome seems somewhat hit and miss; we'd just come from a nearby enoteca where it was wonderful). The service was friendly and efficient. The place busy. The occasional smell of deep-fried fish from the fondue pots was a little off putting. We skipped secondi and desserts, but were given a small plate of bite-sized meringues and a free pour of a dessert wine. Nice touches, but not enough to raise this to a place we'd return to. Total bill: about 50 euros. (Note: there doesn't seem to be any difference between the Taverna and the Cantina - I think they are just different doors to the same place.) The external signs say "by Al Bric", the previous occupant of the space, which I'd loved - so on the way out, I asked what had happened to it. Either it had shut down or the new owners had bought it out and done so (I wasn't quite sure which). In either case, a pity. It was a much...

This restaurant was recommended by new friends we met in Italy (we were invited to join them to try it). Their good friend who comes to Rome regularly told them to go and we totally understand why now. The owner was so warm and welcoming. He arranged a table for our party of six so we didn’t have to wait too long. Even if we did though it would have been worth it!! We started by sharing two orders of beef tartare generously garnished by hand at the table with the most fragrant, delicious black truffle mushrooms. That, along with the mozzarella di bufala and mixed vegetables, were gobbled up in no time. The flavours were so rich and delicate at the same time. Then our pasta, oh wow! My spinach Ravioli had just the right amount of filling mixed with a generous amount of tangy, tasty sauce. My wife had a Spaghetti with vegetables that she declared very satisfying. What made the whole evening extra special was the company, the caring service from the owner and the servers who were very friendly and attentive. Add to that generous fill ups of complimentary Muscat with a delectable home-made Tiramisu and Crème Brûlée and we went on our nightly “passegiare” with an extra skip in our step. Grazie mille ,...