Trattoria Romana Wakefield — Restaurant in South Kingstown

I had zero expectations nor had intentions of making this establishment my dinner destination 2016 Memorial Day Weekend.

With some of the finest Italian & many of my usual haunts just 30 minutes north in Providence, why would I?

Originally, we planned on trying the wood fired pizza at Pasquale's Pizza, but arrived to find an estimated hour wait. We opted to forgo the pizza on this outing & meandered across the street to Trattoria Romana South.

We did not have reservations, the placed was jammin', & it looked a bit dressier than we'd hoped, but it all worked out.

They found us a table for two without wait & our server had drinks in our hands in no time flat.

The evening starter Cesar Salad was fresh & flavorful & include anchovies as a good Cesar should. Nice plump green leafy lettuce & just the right amount of tasty dressing. This offering can be found on the extensive menu with the following details:

Insalata Di Cesare at $5.95 Fresh crisp romaine tossed with homemade caesar dressing, croutons & parmigiano-reggiano cheese, topped with anchovy filets.

Our pasta selections were both great. The Pappardelle Alla Bolognese at $18.95 was a sizable serving that easily could have been two meals, but a big eater certainly good devour it without much problem.

TRS described this dish as follows:

Wide egg-noodle pasta served with our signature meat sauce made with ground veal, beef & sweet italian sausage, finished with a dash of cream & parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

I would add that fresh the fresh pasta was delicate & well suited for carrying the smokey & flavorful bolognese. What a wonderful deli highly this dish was. A heavier & meatier dish than one might ordinarily select for a hot Summer kick-off, but this is the dish that I most commonly select to gauge others against. In the end, it was fabulous & the flavor profile was spot on.

Another selection made by my wife was Spaghetti Alla Vongole Veraci at $19.95.

A more suitable selection for a warm Spring evening by the coast of RI, this dish was offered in red or white sauce, which is a nice gesture.

My wife selected the white sauce, which was she said was very flavorful & paired well with the spaghetti & local fresh clams. I personally did not sample this plate, but showed well from my vantage point.

Here's what TRS offered regarding this selection:

Spaghetti pasta sauteed with fresh littleneck clams. available in either a light marinara sauce or a garlic & white wine sauce with Italian parsley.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with the evening's selection in both dining establishment & eating choice. I look forward to going back in the near future.

Now I have an Italian favorite by my stomping grounds in SOCO. I would recommend this restaurant to both...

On Thursday June 14 the dinner club dined at Trattoria Romano. We were the first to arrive and the bar had one seat available. I sat down and Mike stood. It took a few minutes for the bartender to get to us as it was quite busy. I think they needed another bartender. Ed and Jeanne arrived after us so I got up so they could order a drink. It was very awkward standing while waiting for other members to arrive so we decided to sit at our table which was prepared for us. It was a round table and perfect for conversation. We all started with calamari with pepper rings. I thought the calamari was a little tough and very hot with all the peppers 🌶 in the dish. I’ve had better. Of course Mike loved it! The other appetizer never made it around the table so I can’t comment on it. For my entree I enjoyed Salmone Con Aragosta. A piece of grilled salmon with lobster meat and asparagus sautéed in white wine and lemon. It was finished with a dollop of bearnaise and came with mashed potatoes. I absolutely loved it and finished it all! The presentation was wonderful and I would order it again! Mike had the Pollo Alla Sorrentino which was chicken breasts with eggplant, mushrooms, prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella in a marinara sauce over capellini pasta. It was very nicely presented and a large portion. He enjoyed it very much. For dessert I had an espresso martini which is one of my favorite drinks at this restaurants. Our server was very accommodating and attentive. It was an enjoyable evening at one of our favorite restaurants. Mike and I give this a 4.75 out of 5. We would definitely...

One of the more under appreciated great restaurants in our area that probably doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. The four of us started with cocktails, which were excellent. It would have been nice to have a “Gavi” available by the glass for dinner, so we had to opt for a bottle. For our apps: My Cesare salad was very good and their oysters were excellent Two of us ordered specials and they were large, hot and outstanding. One was a Cioppino and the other was a short rib stuffed ravioli in a Marsala sauce, this was “lights out”, just incredible . The other three entrees (one for the table to share) were; chicken francaise, scrod piccata and the shareable was linguine Vongole. All three were again, large, hot and excellent. All sauces with all entrees were “drinkable “ and an excellent “pond” for bread dipping. Btw, you know how restaurants have changed since Covid and how those restaurants that still serve bread, charge a premium ….Not here, they still serve their outstanding, Iggy’s sourced bread, that is a meal in itself, especially with a bowl of their amazing pasta fagioli. There’s only 1 other restaurant in the state, that can lay claim to serving the same hot food, high quality, at reasonable, almost, pre-Covid prices and I won’t name it here. But suffice to say, this restaurant continues to do it right, where you can still go out for an incredible meal and not feel like you are being fleeced of your finances. Thanks for continuing to do the...