Trattoria da Augusto — Restaurant in Rome

I rarely write reviews for places I’m not too happy with but this one really compelled me to write one. We were one of the first ones inside when they opened at 8pm, and right away they told us half the menu was unavailable. I wanted the lasagna which says only on Sunday’s, and she immediately told me it was “finished”. Same with the ravioli. Even though they opened at 8pm and we ordered around 8:05pm. And then about half the menu was unavailable or “finished” so basically everyone in the restaurant had to order the rigatoni. And it was very lackluster imo. Some pasta with some tomato sauce thrown on top and on the salty side. There were almost no other options. We also ordered the veal with potatoes but when one waitress brought our pasta out, she told us they ran out of the braised veal and we couldn’t get it. Then like 20 minutes later as we were about to leave she ran over and dumped it on the table and was like oh here it is. It was really really salty and no potatoes came with it and it looked kind of sad. The waitress was also kind of rude, when she came to take our order, I asked for the lasagna and ravioli and both were unavailable so I was trying to decide what to get instead and she impatiently huffed at us and stomped away while I was trying to look at what was available, which was just the rigatoni lol. This is the first disappointing meal I’ve had in Italy, and this is my second time here.

We only stopped here because the five other places we wanted to try had really long lines, but tbh we should have done that instead. Very disappointing meal overall -...

Augusto was the boss of this family-run Trattoria, the "sora" Lella, the wife, was in the kitchen and they lived above the trattoria. Augusto was known for his shrewish behavior powered by an inner malformation of the nose, which made his voice surreally "nasal". He would play with this particularity and play with customers, whom were everyday regulars, and that, even today, are still seen at his eatery. Times went by, visual & literary artists & musicians have eaten here... Augusto died and later his wife of heartbreaking. They left knowledge and espertise to their son Alessandro, who in the begin of his management, was "aping" his father, in his rude & rough nasal crazy behavior, but it wasn't the same, of course, tourists were more than the locals, it was our of place, of contest, and it felt sad, not funny... However! The dishes are the same: Roman cousine at its almost best. The menu yrys to. Follow. The days of the week as it was 40 yrs. back and more... Like: Tuesdays & Fridays fresh fish, but being Romans it will be baccalà/cod... Thursdays Gnocchi & Saturdays Trippa alla romana & Pajata or rigatoni co la. Pajata... Then you'll have the meat 2nd course, vegetable that can't miss the table is Cicoria/chicory sautéed with garlic & chillies... They had a wine tap... Where you could fill up your share, that can be 1/4 1/2 1 liter... It's still there but doesn't work anymore... It's just for the show of...

The bigger the expectation, the bigger the disappointment! This restaurant is recommended by lonely planet for local food, so we really want to try it. There was a long queue outside so it must have been a good sign. However, we entered the restaurant about 9pm ( it opens usually at 8pm) and all we tried to order (such as artichoke, cod, chicken, lamm) were not available/finished. At the end we got some vegetable of the day which is warm spinach in a lot of oil. The Ravioli seemed to be self made, but believe me I’ve had 100 times better ones in other Italian restaurants( in and outside of Italy). The tomato sauce on it was a joke, plain and simple. The main course was rabbit, because they were running out of chicken and lamm. But the waitress was very kind, she gave us some rest of the lamm to try. I have to tell you very honestly, the meat looked like wasted/ food rest, and I had no appetite to try any of them, there were even livers in the lamm. I just wanted to throw up after seeing it. I don’t understood why people still queue up for it. But it’s definitely the worst disappointment I’ve ever had. Sorry about my honest opinion! And no pictures because all the food...