Trattoria Da Danilo — Restaurant in Rome

From the moment we opened our mouths and no Italian came out, we were treated with indifference. As soon as we said that we had no reservations (for a restaurant that had just opened and had only one other table occupied) the waiter asked the owner something, the owner just barked something back and we were seated right next to the door. The owner did not even look at us, not even when he later served us our pasta, let alone talk to us or welcome us.

As we had read so much for their carbonara, we wanted to try just that. We were going to eat pizza later elsewhere but wanted to stop here first for a quick carbonara before we did so. So we ordered two carbonaras. I tried to be extra kind and (apart from my "grazie" which I said all the time) I told the waiter -with a broad smile on my face- that we had heard many people suggesting this place and their wonderful carbonara. He stood there looked at me with a serious face, not acknowledging my compliment and just waited there looking like he was bored (which I'm sure he was). He spoke perfect English so it wasn't a language thing, it was an indifference thing and I regret the moment that I complimented them.

The waiter said that the carbonara would take 20 minutes to prepare and that we should order something for the meantime. We would have ordered a salad, but there was no salad on the menu. We didn't want to spend 8 euros (or whatever they charge for bruschetta) for 2 grilled slices of bread with tomato on top. We eat that here in Greece all the time, with bread fresh from the bakery and tomatoes from our garden. So we said that we would wait for the pasta no problem and just ordered a big bottle of water.

As soon as they realised that they were not getting the big bucks from us they had the carbonara on our table within 10 minutes (the cooking time magically reduced!). As soon as we finished it (in less than 5 minutes) the waiter took our plates immediately and asked us in a eat-something-else-or-leave manner if we wanted to order something else. I replied "No, just the check please". To our surprise we were charged "2 PANE E SERVIZIO" for 4 euros... The bread was 3 slices. And instead of a receipt we were given the piece of paper with our order on it.

The most annoying thing of all was the attitude of the owner who apparently smiles only when talking with Italians and when taking photos with celebrities to hang on his walls. Frankly, if the restaurant hadn't been right next to our B&B (we stayed at Emanuele Filiberto) I wouldn't have gone there, for sure. But since we were hungry we wanted to eat something quickly, and as the owner of the B&B had suggested it, he thought "why not?". I don't care if they listed what we ordered as primi piatti, I wanted to eat just that and I expect the restaurant to respect its customers, even if the customers want just a glass of water to drink. I expect many more will give 1 star (for luck of zero stars). If I could, I would have given 1/2 a star just for the pasta. I would never recommend this place to any of my friends or family, so I don't recommend it to anyone who cares about the service and about being treated with...

The meal was fine, the service was… ok but I understood more about the service after talking with the owner Danilo. I am giving this restaurant one star mainly because the owner ruined the evening by being rude and arrogant. So a few weeks ago we were given a last minute table if we would leave by 9:30pm. After we sat, there was a lot of pressure to order, by 9pm we were done eating, so I thought we still have some more time before we had to actually get up but that was not the case, everyone seemed eager for us to leave, so we got up and went over to pay. At this point I only thought that it was so not worth it to stay for a limited time. Had I known we were going to be this pressured, I would have gone to another restaurant but whatever. The biggest disappointment was at the moment of payment. First of all, you are not allowed to divide the bill, so my friend proceeded in paying all with his card but the machine wouldn’t take it, the owner who was at the cash register, looked at us as if we were the problem and said he had tried that card 3 times but it didn’t work, all this while looking annoyed and giving us a look. So we paid with another card but the attitude of the owner left us feeling uncomfortable. 10min later we realized that my friend’s card that was used first and had not worked, did get charged as it appeared so in his statement, so we went back to let them know. The owner in a very arrogant attitude mansplained us that it was all ok the way it was and that we wouldn’t get charged, he then ignored our questions and left to talk to other people while we were left outside the door with questions. I got in and told him at this point we have been charged double, he tried the card 3 times, so are we gonna get more charges? how is he sure we will get the money back?, he just said something between his teeth turned around and left. One of the waitresses then came out and actually took the time to explain us that this has happened before and that the money is always returned after a few days, I then asked what happens if thats not the case, and the owner showed up for a second and said, you call me and closed the door again. This guy ruined the experience of his own restaurant. I will definitely never come back again nor would recommend it to anyone. Also, after reading other reviews, I see that his main problem might have been that we weren’t Italian, since there are other similar experiences in the reviews. Whatever the reason, a restaurant should receive its clients with courtesy and not with arrogance. This only shows the lack of professionalism...

Really wish I could give more than 5 stars, every little detail was amazing about this quaint foodie paradise. Service, food, wine, ambience was all top notch at a very reasonable price (€100 for 2 people with wine)

After ordering the succulent and flavourful meatballs and the carbonara we saw them bring a wheel of cheese table side to another group. While our dinner was outstanding I’ve never experienced FOMO (fear of missing out) as bad as I did once seeing that so of course we did the only thing we could do after filling our bellies: we booked a reservation for the next night.

Tonight we started we the Beef Tartare (also prepared tableside), I’ve had this dish elsewhere but this was something else. It came with fresh potato chips and some bread to top it off. And then onto the cheese and pepper pasta. Oh my. This was delightful in every which way. I didn’t want the dish to end.

We finished the night with a pistachio tiramisu, another amazing item on this menu.

For anyone looking for an amazing meal and easily some of the best pasta I’ve had you must check this out, but make sure you make a reservation. They turned away 6 groups of people in the time we were...