Trattoria Luzzi — Restaurant in Rome

TLDR…not worth the hype, should’ve gone somewhere else

To set the tone it was raining when we went, and at about 80% capacity

There was a little line so we waited about 5-10 mins. Granted they can’t control the rain, but they made their customers wait in the rain on the corner exposed when they had an awning they could’ve positioned their customers under.

Once seated, we were at a table that wasn’t stable and wobbled so I had to put one foot firmly against the corner to keep it steady. Told a waiter about it and he just scoffed and said something in Italian and walked away, but later came back and tossed two menus on the table kind of frisbee like. …rude af

Since it was raining and we were just wanting something to eat we stuck it out. Ordered a pizza, prosciutto & melon, and lasagna to share.

Food came out relatively quick so that was a positive.

Lasagna came out first, and I didn’t get to snap a pic before we dig in but from when I did take it you can see it’s completely underwhelming. It was just squares of lasagna in sauce. Taste wise it was lacking flavor and it came out lukewarm at best. And since it was raining, we ate it as quick as we could to keep it from going cold. We’d give it a 2 or of 10 (compared to say a take home oven bake you get from the grocery)

Next was the prosciutto & melon. Which literally was four wedges of honeydew melon and four slices of prosciutto. That’s it. And that’s exactly what my wife said…”that’s it?!?” The melon wasn’t even wrapped in the prosciutto, no basil or balsamic glaze, not even a sprinkle of finishing salt…. Nothing. Taste wise the melon was only so slightly sweet, the prosciutto had a little salty flavor to balance the melon, but did have a slight porky funk like it’s been left out a little too long. Give it 1 out of 10

Lastly came the pizza, which we ordered the spicy salami. This was the ONLY thing that was good tasting and came out piping hot. The dough was deliciously light and crispy, the sauce was tangy and the two….Yes two lengthwise slices of salami was spicy and salty. Pizza was a solid 7.5 out of 10

So now this is where they totally lost on service and atmosphere.

The rain started back up again and by now, which was about 15 mins since we sat down, the standing heater went out likely due to no more propane. Because there was an awning against the building, the one they wouldn’t let customers stand under to retreat from the rain, and a gap between the outdoor seating tent they had up…. Rain water splattered from the awning directly on us and the food. We were literally trying to scarf down our pizza while getting rained on, and mind you it was piping hot so it was difficult to do without burning your mouth.

The waiters were all standing under the awning no more than 2-feet away watching us get rained on, watching the rain get on our pizza…..and did NOTHING!! No offer to relocate us to another table more under the umbrellas or even inside. Nothing!!

The table next to us who were well under the umbrellas sat watching us get rained on unable to do anything. Could see them mumbling with pity in their eyes.

Once again we asked a waiter for assistance, but all we got was a shrug of the shoulder with his hands up as if to tell me he can’t do anything about the rain. No sh*t dude, but you could offer us one of the other tables more under the umbrella or even a table inside (which I found out there were a few when I went in to pay)

In the end it was such a miserable and frustrating experience we folded the pizza like a calzone and just ate as fast as we could.

Paid and left…. Which for three dishes came out to € 31.50 Totally NOT worth it for the lack of flavor and presentation alone.

And one other thing. I understand in Italy people smoke freely, but as a waiter can you not light up a cigarette two feet from my table??? Yea it’s raining, so light up under the awning and walk away. As a customer is not a good experience to try and eat your mediocre food and smell smoke

Save yourself the disappointment, go...

I have drank the best wine in Argentina, I have eaten the best Lamb in Chile, and I've even had a Steak bake in Preston bus station. I have eaten camel in Kazakhstan, I have eaten Cat in Mongolia and I have even eaten Dog in North Korea. They were all vastly superior to the culinary experience we encountered tonight.

On arrival at the restaurant we stood alone as the waiter ignored us for a long time. Eventually we were seated by a man who did not want to be there and further ignored us for longer. Eventually we managed to place our order, a Funghi e Prosciutto pizza, a Salami Picanti pizza and 2 Artichoke Romana side dishes plus wine.

Our wine arrived but we received no wine glasses as we just had water tumblers on the table, I asked for some but was told they don't have wine glasses. This being moments after I'd seen this server give wine glasses to another table and moments before he gave them to other tables. He soon returned with more tumblers for some reason. It was evident to me that although living in Rome somehow, he had yet to grasp the concept of wine glasses.

Eventually one of the pizzas arrived and it was not only wrong but the toppings were watery. I salivated towards the kitchen with longing desire over the artichokes that apparently weren't to be as my friend began drinking his pizza and I gazed hungrily at the tablecloth, dreaming of a time in North Korea when Fido became Foodo.

We noticed the next table had encountered the same problem. One pizza hadn't arrived yet the wrong one had. At this point my friend used the toilet and he commented on the fact that although the door was locked the people queuing outside could see inside. The floor was covered in piss and there was no toilet seat.

Eventually after much soul searching my pizza arrived, however the quantity and distribution of the Salami was quite disproportionate to the surface area of the pizza, see picture.

My friend blubbered with tears through his snorkel, gasping for breath as his lungs filled with pizza juice, "I would love an artichoke right now", but alas no artichokes appeared at our table.

After requesting wine glasses from somebody who knew what wine glasses were we obtained 2 adequate wine vessels. I noticed the original server gazed in awe at these new discoveries and seemed both confused and angry why we would drink wine from a wine glass.

At this point in time upon completing the main course I decided to wade to the toilet myself the first time where I discovered the fabled rumours were true. The door gap was a chasm and the floor was an Amber replica of the Trevi fountain.

Upon returning to the table I discovered in my absence the stories were true, a single isolated overcooked artichoke had arrived. This posed a problem because A. We had both almost finished our mains and were ready to leave, and B. It was simply one of the 2 we had ordered. And C. According to my friend it was incredibly undersized and therefore we sent it back.

Shortly after this for reasons unknown and unexplained to us, our table and plates with food upon them were manoeuvred by 3 angry servers which surprised us both. Apparently they were making space for somebody next to us but they should have asked us considering we were both still eating when they picked up our plates.

In addition to our issues we had also noticed other customers had numerous issues and made several complaints, including high charges for tap water that was not ordered, very slow service and incorrect food.

In conclusion as somebody who deeply misses my dog I feel this is certainly one of the most resoundingly disappointing culinary experiences I have encountered in my travels. In the future I will just...

I have lived 53 years, four of them in Rome. So when I say that at Trattoria Luzzi I had what was not just the worst meal I've ever eaten in Rome, but the single worst plate of pasta I've ever had anywhere (including non-pasta countries), you'll understand the context of this review.

I ate here at 11pm on a Wednesday evening because there was little else open in the neighborhood (where I was staying) and I figured, "How bad could it be?" Turns out, it could be truly awful.

The order: pasta alla Gricia with a side of cicoria ripassata. With just four ingredients (pasta, guanciale, pecorino, and black pepper), Gricia is not a complex recipe. While admittedly difficult to master (to transform those four ingredients into something exceptional), it is an equally hard recipe to really royally F up. But that's what these folks did. Instead of crisped guanciale (a cured lightly salted pork cheek), totally dices of uncooked smoked bacon. And instead of blending the four ingredients in the rendered guanciale, the dish was swimming in a flavorless oil (canola, maybe?). And the coup de grace: instead of pecorino (a sheep's milk cheese), parmigiano (cow's milk). The end result wasn't only not Gricia, it was all but inedible. The cicoria ripassata, for its part, was edible but similarly disappointing: served cold and bland (rather than hot and laced with peperoncino).

The food was cheap and the service was fast -- so if you value these above flavor, authenticity, wholesome ingredients, etc., this may well be your place -- but even by those low standards you can still find "better" at any of the other streetside restaurants two blocks west (toward the Colosseum) or a block east and down at the corner pizzeria (Li...