Tonnarello | Paglia — Restaurant in Rome

My trip to Rome can be divided into two parts: before and after visiting this place. Choosing this restaurant as the final stop on my Roman journey was, without a doubt, a big mistake.

I decided to have lunch here before leaving Rome later in the afternoon. Knowing that this place is always crowded, I arrived at 11 AM. By around 11:15, a staff member guided me to wait as the first customer. They explained that the kitchen would open a bit late due to internal issues — something I completely understood.

After a short delay past the opening time, I was seated. As the very first customer, I was the first to place my order — the most popular dishes: carbonara and tomato pasta, along with two drinks. Other guests were seated and placed similar orders. The staff explained that because of the kitchen delay, food might take a while. Again, I was understanding and sipped my drink as I waited.

About 20 minutes later, the restaurant was nearly full, and the smell of food began to fill the air. Dishes started coming out from the kitchen — but not to me. Despite being the first to order, the servers brought dishes to the couple next to me, then to other tables that had ordered well after I did. I watched for about 10 minutes as the servers skipped over my table again and again.

I called over a staff member and asked when my food would arrive. Without any sense of apology, he replied flatly that it was “being prepared.” When I reminded him I was the first customer and had ordered first, all he offered was a vague excuse about kitchen issues.

Another 10 minutes passed before my food finally arrived. These weren’t complicated or unique dishes — just the standard pastas everyone else was ordering. I couldn’t understand why they took so long, and the staff provided no clear explanation.

Worse still, the food didn’t meet my expectations. I asked the server again why my order had been delayed, but he simply repeated that it was due to something in the kitchen, avoiding any responsibility. By that point, I had lost my appetite. I was short on time before my flight and ended up eating less than half of the meal.

When I asked for the bill, the server brought it along with a tiramisu I hadn’t ordered. I told him I hadn’t asked for dessert, and he replied it was “on the house.” Still, not a single apology. I said I wasn’t interested and just wanted to pay, and they finally offered a discount — without explanation.

I left that table, leaving behind the ridiculous, unrequested tiramisu.

A restaurant experience isn’t just about the food — it’s also about the time, care, and impression you take away from the place. I paid for everything and still walked away feeling robbed. There are so many truly delicious restaurants in Rome. Don’t waste your time waiting in line for this one just for mediocre pasta. It’s not worth it.

If you’re lucky enough to get a good server and the food happens to suit your taste, great. But your precious Roman holiday shouldn’t be...

This place is not bad but also not great, it’s honestly between a 3.5-4 stars. I would only come back for the meatballs, but would not go all the way to Trastevere for just this.

Food: Personally, the cacio pepe meatballs were the redeeming dish of the place, order this and it will be everything they do well here. Everything else was good, not great. Pasta was a little too salty for my liking, but I think it was more that they were heavy handed with the pasta water than just straight up salt. Don’t make the mistake of ordering tons of food, pace yourself. The serving was generous and can feed a group. We were exhausted from all the walking, sight-seeing, and heat that we ordered so much food. We took them home only to have it all go bad because our hotel had a tiny fridge.

We had: Artichokes 3/5 Meatballs Cacio Pepe 5/5 - This dish is fantastic Carbonara 3/5 Amatriciana 2/5 Buffalina Pizza 2/5 Capriciosa Pizza - no rating, we had it boxed up to go, didnt get to eat it but they were generous with the toppings Aperol Spritz 4/5 Ginger Ale 1/5 do yourself a favor don’t order soda here it comes in a tiny bottle

Service: Initially had a lady server that barely made eye contact and wanted to quickly get us served which was understandable as the place is busy, but not as busy as it may seem. There’s tons of tables inside and they have more room on second floor. It does seen like there’s not enough wait staff. We asked for her to comeback so we can decide on our order and thankfully she never came back. Waited another 15 minutes to get the attention of another waiter who ended up serving us. This guy (Marco) redeemed the experience, he was friendly, helpful and tried to communicate best way he can. Kudos to Marco, he was genuinely helpful. He took out orders and gave us time to work through our appetizers, and mains. Honestly we ordered so much that I wanted to cancel the mains but we weren’t sure if it was already being made.

Atmosphere: It’s deceivingly small from outside, there’s lots of tables inside. It can get warm in there, but they have plenty fans and saw an AC, but we came around the end of July and Rome was insanely hot. Inside decor looks interesting, tables can feel cramped when each table is full, I imagine it may be uncomfortable in the winter with your winter coats but maybe they’re not as busy. Washroom is upstairs, three small cubicles shared by all and a swinging door that makes it harder to get in and out of a small space. Wish there was more...

i've been to this restaurant 3 times during my 4 days stay in rome and not gonna lie, it was so worth going back again and again for the first time, we have the tasting board with focaccia, carbonara and also the lasagna. the cheese and the ham in the tasting board was in great portion and everything taste so good, even the salad veggies on the side tasted so good the carbonara was slightly saltier than i expected but the lasagna was chef kiss, the meat sauce and the sheet of pastas very layered in perfect amount making the entire thing taste so well

for the second time, we also have the tasting board and the calamari as the appetiser and the amatriciana pasta for main and tiramisu for dessert. the battered calamari was so tender and matches so well with the lemon on the side (it matches so well!!!!), the amatriciana pasta was a sweet and sour tomato sauced bacon pasta, it was really refreshing and i think it was way better than carbonara. to the dessert part, we tried both the tiramisu and the panna cotta. the milk pudding of the panna cotta, was so rich in milk, that made me feel like eating a solidified milk, the fruit jam was also really good and matches the milk pudding well. and for the tiramisu, is the best tiramisu i have ever had in my life. the creaminess, the cheesiness, the cacao powder, the amount of coffee dipped in each biscuit was controlled perfectly, having all at once is the best perfect bite i have ever had in my life. it may be kind of different than the more solid tiramisu, but this liquidy tiramisu was so good that we came back for our last meal in rome.

for the last meal, we also have the tasting board, the calamari, tomato sauced meatballs and tiramisu. the meatballs was better than expected as there is a small piece of meatballs on the lasagna on our first time but i think its kind of dry and wasn't that surprising. but having an entire meatball (three to be exact), the tenderness, the meat juice in the meatball, melt in your mouth on every single bite you have. tomato sauce really goes well with the meatballs and i also like the crispy potatoes as side.

we even got lollipops after the meal which is really cute and warming!

lastly, i have met the same server for these 3 meals, without her, i'm pretty sure my meal in tonnarello wouldn't be that good, a great thanks to her and i will definitely come back next time when...