A bit touristy. Things happen, I get hangry, I go to the first place I see. Although, I don't think we should always write the touristy restaurants off. I think it is very easy for us to snub restaurants and not give them a fair chance. I'm guilty of this, searching for authentic cuisine, searching for the places that have no tourists... I guess after having a couple of mediocre meals at places locals said were authentic and the best, I'm starting to manage my expectations a bit more.
Anyway, this isn't far from my apartment and I walked through this street today realizing that I always bypass this area, but there are restaurants, cafes, sandwich shops, a "pub", and lots of nice stores... Can't believe I missed this. I ended up here and I have to say the square is fairly quiet compared to all the other squares out there. It is lovely, so I sat outside to enjoy the sun, the scenery, and the relative peacefulness.
To the restaurant's credit, the service was excellent... both my service and the service that I saw other people receiving. The staff were attentive, but also very friendly. There was one lady picking something off of her salad, a waiter went over and asked her if something was wrong, if he could get her something else. Another waiter, every time someone's napkin fell or blew away, he was right there with a new one. A group of 14 German students came in and the whole staff put together a couple of tables, got them seated, and quickly started taking drink orders. Probably some of the best service I have received here in Italy.
The menu is like a chapter book, but don't worry, it is because there are a few different languages contained within... I think right after the English menu, there was a French menu. I figured that I probably shouldn't go with anything to "fancy" although the little anecdotes under some of the menu items... were interesting. It was hard to take them seriously, but at the same time, I don't know other places that go to those lengths. And then I saw it: the Machiavelli Pizza. Yes, they have a pizza named after Machiavelli and it looked delicious! It is pork sausage, spinach, and Pecorino cheese. I was going to order a started of Panzanella, but figured bread and pizza would be just too much.
They brought out the basked of bread and I am going to say that everyone else's bread looked really good, mine looked like the leftovers that got a bit burnt. They must have known that I typically don't eat the basket bread anymore. Although, unlike other places where if you don't eat it, they won't charge you coperto, they still charged me for it. Anyway, as my order went in, I saw a calzone come out... it looked like a volcano! It was huge! They sat it down in front of a guy and instantly, he poked a hole with his knife and it began to deflate. He also only ate the inside and none of the crust.
There was another pizza that came out and it looked like it had roasted potatoes on it. I won't lie to you, at one of my favourite pizzerias from college, one of my favourite slices was called the Mr. Potato Head. However, I was looking forward to my pizza. It came out just as a French couple sat down next to me. They were eyeing my pizza and ended up ordering it. It was pretty darn good. The sausage (ground pork) was a bit on the salty side, but was still good. And the combination of spinach and Pecorino cheese was just what I was wanting. I couldn't finish all of it, but I really tried.
Being so full, I had an espresso, but no dolce... probably would have burst at the seams. My waitress was really lovely, even when she got very busy waiting on the group of German students, she was still very attentive to the rest of us. I would give the food about a 3.5, but would give the service a solid five... hence the four stars. If you're on a budget and not super fussed about touristy places to eat, have the pizza and save some money! read more