Trattoria Dell'Omo — Restaurant in Rome

This is a traditional Roman style trattoria near the main train terminal. A few things to keep in mind as you’re probably reading reviews and wondering if you should come here to eat.

They get really busy, locals come here, and tourists come here. They also have reservations, so sometimes you see an open table but it has a very small tag sitting on it that reserves it - I believe the locals do it as that’s the only group we saw get seated at those spots during our dinner.

Service is a one man show. Literally one guy going around cleaning tables, taking orders, seating you, and collecting money - so expect some lag.

Food, is very much in line with what you expect in Rome. Pricing is about the same as well. The food is good, portions are decent, and seasoning tends to trend toward the saltier side (as you’ll find in Rome). Oxtail was delicious though, really enjoyed that dish.

A few of the complaints here:

1. the place is very tight and small, not bad of an offence, but because there are people waiting outside or smoking nearby, all the cigarette smell will waft inside
2. the place is in desperate need of updating, though some may say that’s the charm
3. most importantly, the place is dirty. Our cutlery was not cleaned well, our cups have tons of water spots that look like dust, and the Coca Cola we ordered had some small traces of fuzzy mould on the outside of the bottle. This is likely due to something contaminating the outside of the bottle within the fridge, which is where the rest of the drinks and possibly food could be stored.

Overall, we didn’t get sick thankfully, the food was good, service was fast. And they took cash and credit (Visa/Mastercard), which is always nice. If you want to eat here, get there earlier and avoid lining up and wondering if you’ll be next to sit. When we left, there were probably 5...

This was supposed to be our second diner in Rome and, well, it left a bitter taste (or no taste whatsoever) on us.

The place was almost full, but in little time the waiter took us to a 2p table at the back of the restaurant. What really took some time was the first service. After several minutes, the waiter (maybe it was the manager/owner?) brought us the menu and after more minutes, he sat beside us with a notepad to take our order.

It didn't have neither Lasagna nor Gnocchi. That's right, a Trattoria that didn't have Lasagna nor Gnocchi. And it was like one hour and half after the opening, so how come they ran out of the most common meals? It even came to my mind that, for some reason, they really wanted us to leave but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and simply say they were shortstocked.

Also, the guy who tried to take our order barely spoke English. I get it, nobody is obligated to be bilingual, but in a restaurant right beside Termini station, is expected to see more proficiency in the language. It took some minutes to undestand what he was trying to say. An italian couple almost offered themselves to help in the communication but it was not needed.

But don't take me wrong. If it was just the language barrier I wouldn't even mind but this added to the fact they didn't have what they offered in the menu that frustrated us. Not...

I really wanted to like this place. It's a small establishment and the food was amazing. Why I cannot recommend it is its wait staff. Italian meals are generally taken at a slower pace than foreigners are used to. However, slower does not mean completely ignoring those trying to eat at the restaurant. It took 20 minutes to even get something to drink, because the waiter forgot about me altogether and even after asking again brought me the wrong drink. While delicious, the portions are also very small and they forgot to bring me bread as they did for the other patrons. After I finished, it took me nearly 20 minutes just to get the attention of the waiter to ask for another menu, and once again they forgot about what I'd ordered and had to come back to ask. This was repeated with the bill, and after sitting with it for 10 minutes (he wouldn't take it when I tried to hand it back to him right away), I got up to try to hand it to someone and they saw me but kept ignoring me standing there. I eventually gave up on ever getting change back...