Roperto offers the classic experience of dining in an Italian cantina in São Paulo's Bexiga…read moreneighborhood. While I'm not a big fan of the quality of the food at this kind of place, it's OK if you're hungry and just want to eat a big meal. However, what they lack in terms of quality they make for in attentive service. Meanwhile, it's not the easiest place to get to. While it's far from public transportation options, parking can be a hassle since the parking garage is before the restaurant on the one-way street, meaning you could end up spending an extra 5 minutes circling back to park. This could be why so many people opt to just take a taxi cab.

THE best pasta I've tried. If you're in Brazil/sp and want…read moreto have the best experience with eating Italian food THIS is the place to go.

Our group of 14 made a reservation for a Thursday night around 8pm but we trickled in slowly until…read more8:15 without a problem. We ordered four of their massive pasta plates - meat ravioli with tomato sauce, a stuffed cheese pasta that I didn't recognize with tomato sauce, penne parisienne, and tagliatelle bolognese. Bread basket was nothing to write home about but came with two interesting spreads - both anchovy/sardine based. Tasty if you're into that but otherwise stick to the butter. Ordering was easy and our pasta was served quickly. Everything was family style but our waiter portioned the pastas onto each plate (which spared us splattering sauces all over the table and ourselves; much appreciated!). The ravioli were a little bit of a miss - too thick with too little filling but still tasty. Bolognese was meaty and well balanced while the tagliatelle was al dente. Penne parisienne was not to my tastes (very creamy/cheesy with brasilian sliced ham and peas) but it was loved by all my brasilian friends. My surprise favorite was the stuffed envelope type pasta that I couldn't get the name of. I'm not sure where it ranks on the Italian food scale for Brasil/São Paulo (tasted like 3 stars to me) but the service was efficient and accommodating of our large group. They split the bill 14 ways without a problem and we all had our fill for about 35R$ including tax/gratuity. Atmosphere was classy but the clientele was mixed - families with young children, young couples, and older folks on a date night.

A very good italian restaurant in the Bixiga quarter, in São Paulo (not Taboão da Serra, as the…read moreaddress says). It has more than 100 years of tradition. There, you can choose between many types of pasta that are fabricated by the restaurant. There are also many types of sauces and side dishes. The price is a little high (around R$50,00 for each dish), but the size of the dishes is really big, so you can split then in 2 parts, making the food cheaper for everyone. During the nights, there are musics that play one song for each table, they sing traditional italian song and some of the brazilian samba. Of course, there is a special moment when they play the famous Tarantella. Then, the owner of the restaurant anouces loudly (in portuguese): The ones that don't clap theirs hands during the Tarantella, have their 'mama' in the bordello! All in all, it's a nice place with great food.