Pastamore — Restaurant in Rome

Let me preface this by saying I don’t normally write reviews, but this experience was so uniquely terrible I feel morally obligated to warn the general public.

We stopped in for a quick drink—nothing fancy, just a casual wind-down. What we got instead was an exercise in patience, humiliation, and being emotionally held hostage by the most tragically employed waiter on Earth.

Drinks? Fine. They arrived. They were wet and alcoholic enough to legally qualify as a beverage. Let’s not pretend they were memorable. But we weren’t here for a cocktail masterclass—we just wanted one drink and a functioning adult to bring us a bill at some point before retirement.

We asked for the check. Once. Politely. The waiter gave a vague grunt and a nod that may have meant “of course” or “I will now actively pretend you don’t exist.” Spoiler: it was the latter.

Five minutes pass with the waiter walking around doing absolutely nothing. We ask again. This time, we get an eye roll so aggressive it probably altered the Earth’s rotation. Still no bill.

Third time, we ask once more—now with that overly polite tone people use when they’re dangerously close to losing it. He storms over, slams the check on the table like he’s delivering a court summons, and then says—brace yourself—

“You know, it’s actually kind of rude to keep asking.” EXCUSE. ME?

I’m sorry, are we the rude ones? For asking—three times, when he was just walking around doing nothing—for the bare minimum of service in an establishment whose literal purpose is to exchange drinks for money?

This man had the audacity to act like we had interrupted his night of aggressive loafing and emotional unavailability. He looked at us with the exhausted disdain of a poet forced to work retail. No apology. No smile. Just a deeply offended expression, like we had insulted his ancestors by wanting to pay for what we drank.

We left feeling like we needed to write a formal apology to the air for breathing too loudly.

If you’re into drinks served with a side of contempt and a waiter who behaves like you personally insulted his mother by existing, this is the place for you. Otherwise, save yourself the therapy bills and go drink in a parking lot—it’ll be friendlier.

Otherwise, set fire to your money—it’ll be a more enjoyable use of...

Food was good. We ordered Pasta (Cacio e Pepe) and Caprese. We were upsold Foccacia and it was decent. Cappuccino was not bad. Orange Juice was all ice.

It was a bit overpriced (see receipt - Sept 2024). Also, it encouraged tipping (on the receipt) - unacceptable in Italy, gross practice.

Although we saw 4.6 on Google Reviews and were coming here anyway, we were approached by the staff off the side of the road when approaching - something we generally reject. Better restaurants don't (need to) do this. Turns out, this restaurant ran a previous promotion where it asked for 5 stars and gave a free drink - so it's real rating is probably closer to 2.5-3.

When we received the bill, there was no Coperti, but there was a €4 charge with an asterisk (See image). When queried, we were told this was a service charge - i.e., a Coperti.

Lazio (incl Rome) law prohibits service charges in accordance with Article 75(4) of the Lazio Region's Business Code (Testo unico del commercio) (do your research on this).

Felt like a tourist trap as a result.

NOT recommended.

AVOID.

Toilets were...

Mid drinks, awful service, and uncomfortable atmosphere

First thing that threw me off was the table we were seated at was at sloped about 15 degrees . As we were taking a seat, the table nearly toppled over just from a gust of wind so for the remainder of our experience I was wary of whether or not the table would topple. The drinks were a bit pricey compared to the restaurants and bars next door but what really ruined the whole experience was the awful service.

Most of the employees here treated us poorly except for the guy who ushered us in. Our waitress was impatient and the lady who worked the register was rolling her eyes at us when we asked if we could pay using our American Express card. She said we can but we felt bad at this point so we switched to paying with visa because apparently it’s easier for her to take our payment if we used Visa.

Drinks were okay but not justifiable for the price

Overall, I can understand why the place was quite empty during the time I visited. If you value service and price to taste then I’d...