Universal Bar Pizzeria — Restaurant in Rome

Absolutely appalling in every way. Tourist trap and terrible staff.

We stopped round the corner from the Vatican for coffee and breakfast before entering. However this café will charge and extra €5 to sit down on top of your order! Also extra 10% obligatory service charge per person. We asked for take away, but they gave it in mugs so we had to stand and drink at the bar. One of our group got annoyed and went for a walk.... Only we didn't notice him leave... We ended up waiting outside the café on a bench for almost an hour! We went inside and checked the bathroom twice and I checked the souvenir shop next door. We were stressing out and when we only had 10 minutes left before we'd miss our Vatican tickets I decided to take one more look in the bathroom of the café. I literally walk in and take 2 steps down before this big Italian guy (owner, I assume) begins screaming at me without any warning that this is the 6th time we've gone to the toilet and to GET OUT! I try to say calmly my friend is currently missing and we are looking for him. Each time I even tray to open my mouth though this guy is inches from my face shouting GET OUT, I DON'T CARE! I tell him again and again my friend is missing in Rome, this is the last place we saw him while making eye contact with waiters and customers, no one even helps but at least they look guilty. It took all my willpower to stop myself from punching this guy and screaming like the ape he is. He says leave or he'll call the police. I encourage this and say call the cops, they can help find my friend. Luckily before it gets to a point where one of us throws a punch the missing member is seen across the street by another friend and we leave. Yes it's stupid and embarrassing, but we're tourists first time in Rome and when someone goes missing without warning for an hour like this you can imagine the stress we were under. To have the manager behave like a wild baboon is shocking beyond words.

P.s coffee and ice cream is terrible and prices...

Entered without looking at the reviews and already felt it was a strange restaurant.

For background, it was 12pm on a Thursday. It was quite empty and I was immediately sat down for 1 person. I had to use the bathroom immediately, so I went and left my bag on the table so they don’t think I’m leaving.

As soon as I get back from the bathroom and BEFORE I could even sit down, he came up to me asking what I will be ordering. Like… I haven’t even seen the menu yet but luckily for him and myself I already knew what I wanted; a Carbonara and Aperol Spritz. They were both not bad at all. So not much complaints about the food. When I got the check he IMMEDIATELY pointed out that the check didn’t include a service fee, so obviously he was expecting a cash tip. Red flag. The Carbonara was 15 euro and the Aperol was 10 euros. I’ve never seen an Aperol so expensive in Italy, not even in Positano in the Amalfi was it 10 euros, close but still under 10 euros. So maybe they overcharged on some items that actually reflected the service fee but stated there was no service fee to scam. No idea but overall I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone unless you feel like you want to be stressed or scammed in some way. But if you’re in dire need of food and starving and can’t find another establishment then by all means, the food isn’t terrible. I read another review that said they had to pay cash only, they DEFINITELY accept credit card.

Be...

The other reviews don’t lie. Should have known it would be a tourist trap with its proximity to the Vatican. This place is absolutely atrocious. From the service to the food to everything. DO NOT GO HERE. I am Italian and all of the food I’ve had in Rome so far has been phenomenal but I am embarrassed for Rome that this place is even open. The service was awful, and servers were unnatentive and rude. They were talking bad about the customers in Italian, including us meanwhile we could understand it, who knows how many others there could too. It took an outrageous amount of time to receive our food and it was bland and I mean bland. We ordered pizza with cured ham and mushrooms and a misto salad. The pizza sauce tasted like it was just crushed tomato out of a can and nothing added to it, there was also hardly any sauce on it. The pizzas also came out cold and the cheese was gross and you could tell it was cheap. I am also 100% sure they added water to their bottle of balsamic vinegar because it tasted so bland and watery on my salad. Again, do not go here. Right as we were leaving a family of four tourists sat down and we told them not to stay because of our experience and they ended up leaving. Lucky for them! Terrible. Just terrible. I will never go to a restaurant without reading a review after...