Review of 'Caffé Ristorante ROMA'

Great location. Disappointing and overpriced food. Brusk service. In a nutshell.

We were staying on the other side of the canal so decided to give ROMA a try. It is located on the north-east side of the “Ponte degli Scalzi” bridge near the train station with tables both alongside the canal and inside. We had a quick look at the menu on the outside trying to ignore the rather insistent matre d'. Offered a choice of whether to eat outside (it was just above freezing) or inside we chose the later.

The interior is fairly basic but cozy with only a few tables. The decorations appeared to be from carnival (underway in only a few days) but they could have been left over from Christmas. To say the place was jumping would be an extreme exaggeration as there was only one other table being used by a couple and another couple outside smoking beside the canal (doubtless very cold). Later both couples left and another arrived. It does not seem to be a busy place though, truth be told, they were not ALL tourists.

The menu is typical of an average western-style idea of an Italian restaurant. In this case it was focused on pizza and pasta. I chose to start with the shrimp cocktail (€16) as this looked to be using the local shrimp that I knew were in season. Disappointingly these appeared to have been frozen and were quite tasteless.

For our mains, I had the “Fettuccine Alfredo” (€15) and my companion tried the “Lasagne” (€15). My pasta was cooked perfectly al dente but the sauce was fairly bland though helped with the offer of generous amounts of Parmesan cheese. My companion's lasagne was alright but, again, nothing to really make it stand out for us.

My companion had a wonderful rosé recommended by the maitre d' (€13) though I stuck with the sparkling water (a steal at €4). The bill had a €5 cover charge added bringing us to a total of €74 which is quite expensive for what was simply an OK meal.

There are far better options even in the local area, I cannot really recommend this place unless you are not bothered and you want to sit by the canal.

Rating: “Average, but who wants to be average?”

Review Date: 2017-02-06


Cuisine: Italian

Address: Cannaregio, 122, 30121 Venezia, Italy

Public Transport: ACTV Ferrovia

Location: Venice (Italy) - Cannaregio

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Telephone: +39 041 715982

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