Aromi Caffe and Pizzeria — Restaurant in Cambridge

I came to Aromi because a friend highly recommended it. She warned me that the queuing system was a bit odd, but I didn't quite grasp what she meant.

There is 1 sign outside that says "wait behind this sign if you have ordered". This is of course not read properly and people just asume it is the place to queue to order, so if you join an already existing queue EVRYONE, from the first in queue to the last, is confused about where to wait.

The service was extremely slow. I didn't understand why there was only one person serving during the rush lunchtime. There was a second person who was bringing fresh pizzas and others up to the front, but she didn't really assist in serving that much. The person serving didn't pay attention to what you replied to his questions so personally, I ended up being asked twice if I was dining in or if I wanted drinks. I noticed that both the people before me and after me had the same questions asked several times and that slowed down the service. Furthermore, the dine out food was packaged in individual bags, which was good, but he stained all 3 bags with tomato sauce, so we had to make sure we didn't accidentally put the bags anywhere near us.

We had the focaccia cotto, which I liked, but my husband didn't and it was his food. It was also very hard to eat as a dine out option, because it spilled in the bag. I had the 2 arancini options, ragu and spinach. Both of them crumbled super easily, making a mess in the bag, I would have been better off using a spoon to eat them. The taste of the spianch one was bland, while the ragu did taste good, but felt dry.

Once we paid, we were aske for a name and told to wait outside. It gets really loud so unless you are waiting in the doorway and inconveniencing every other customer in the queue, you cannot hear your name being called.

These are the reasons why I am giving this place such a low score. It may be a different experience if you eat in and can use proper cutlery, especially for the focaccias and pizzas, but for dining out, it was pretty terrible.

They do have a wide selection of sweet Italian pastries and desserts which looked amazing, plus homemade spreads, biscuits and others for sale to take home. Everything looked delicious, but sadly they were not items that I tried so I cannot write about them more than what...

Came here with a friend to try some deserts. Across the 4 items we tried, there was a large gradient in how much happiness I extracted.

I felt the orange chocolate cake was the worst of the items; the orange hints were interesting in how subtly it was infused into the cake, but overall I found the orange taste offputting. This was a flavor combination recommended to me by my good friend SS-chan, but I refuse to perpetuate such lies. Also the back half of the cake was way drier than the front end.

This was my first time trying cannolis. Overall I enjoyed them , but can't say I would seek them out. They also felt quite overpriced. The charming lady at the register tricked my friend into getting an extra cannoli as well. He was very sad because he thought she meant the set of 3 was for 1.80, and not 1.80 each. I respect her capitalist mindset though.

The lemon tortino was quite well done. Normally I'm not a fan of lemon desserts, but this one had a perfect balance of not too sweet and not too tart. The texture was like a perfectly moist cake... For the most part. The only complaint is that there was some lemon jam in the middle which made the center of the dessert way too wet.

Saving the best for last, the pistachio tiramisu was a thing of beauty. Not only was the presentation really nice, but the flavors were so harmonious. Now that I've tried it, I would never order anything else from here. Absolute masterpiece.

The cafe had a nice lively but simultaneously chill vibe. I appreciated the aesthetic of the wooden trays that some of the desserts were served on. If they get the other desserts to the level of the pistachio tiramisu, this would easily be a 5 star institution. Overall, a p-strong...

Experience: Unfortunately there is always a huge queue here; the service is on the slower side because people who eat in make their orders at the same place as the people who are trying to do takeaway. The staff have to do everything, juggling preparing the food, taking the orders, preparing hot drinks, serving to the people eating in etc. which makes the customer experience a little taxing. I wonder if there’s a smoother way of doing it.

Food: Outstanding. I had the piccante pizza slice and the bread was light, fluffy, crunchy on the edges and pillowy in the centre. The toppings were delicious and tasted fresh. For the price (around £7), it’s very reasonable. My only criticism is the packaging - it’s given to you in a paper bag, so it’ll sweat a little if you’re not planning to eat it immediately, a box may have worked a little better but I assume most people eat theirs straight away. Regardless of this, a beautiful pizza slice that I would happily get again and again. I also bought a chocolate cornetto (croissant), which was also incredible. It was stuffed to the brim with a delicious hazelnut spread and the pastry was soft and/or crunchy in the right areas and not overly flakey. Another item I’d happily buy again.

Overall: It feels harsh to take a star away for the long queues but it’s the only significant thing taking away from an otherwise...