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Osteria Oliva

4.3 (36 reviews)
ModerateItalian
Closed • 12:00 pm - 3:00 PM, 6:30 PM - 12:00 am (Next day)

Osteria Oliva Photos

OSTERIA OLIVA ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Dogs allowed

Recommended Reviews - Osteria Oliva

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White wine was delish
Juliana N.

We stopped in for a late lunch and would definitely recommend if you're in the area and looking for a nice place to relax. We shared a bottle of Chardonnay and enjoyed the outdoors (we even had a little view of the Colosseum!). The owner was very nice and helped make pasta recommendations. The carbonara was remarkable and I've had quite a few carbonara dishes while in Italy!

Lasagna
Travis I.

We went to Osteria Oliva based on a recommendation by our hotel clerk. She said it was one of her favorite places to visit. We didn't have any solid plans, so when she offered to call and make a lunch reservation, we readily accepted her suggestion. Located just down the street from Trevi Fountain, and about a half mile from the Colosseum, this broke our rules for attending a restaurant in a tourist dense area. But, when we arrived, we were confident we were on the right track. Service was slow, but we were on vacation, and why not chill for a while, enjoy some wine, and let Rome happen in its own timeline. Speaking of wine, my wife ordered the house white, and I chose the Peroni draft beer. Both were excellent choices! Peroni is pretty much the draft of choice in Rome, but it's a decent light beer, so no worries! I ordered the meatballs with green sauce, and my bride ordered lasagna. We settled in to enjoy our shady, street-side table and savored our drinks, occasionally glancing over to see if the Colosseum was still on the horizon. When our meal was served, we knew beyond doubt that we'd made a solid decision. The lasagna was great and fully enjoyable, but the star of the show was the meatballs with salsa verde (not chili salsa, but pesto). OMG! How do I love thee? I'll try to describe what we experienced. But, I'll fail. So, it was a deep fried roast beef meatball that was held together by slices of heaven. The salsa verde (green sauce) was magnificent. It was paired with what I think was a hybrid olive oil infused with both honey and vinegar, and it was delightfully tangy and sweet, and mercy me, I need to figure out how to make it at home, 'cause I can't afford to live in Rome, but I don't want to live without that garnish! If you're anywhere near Osteria Oliva, stop what you're doing and drop by to experience these meatballs! And then drop me a line to let me know how much you enjoyed them. #todaysdiscovery #blunderingdiscoverer #traviswinman

Fabulous place, attentive staff & incredible food! Totally recommend if You are in Rome!!!!

Lasagna
Monica R.

Fantastic! Strolled in late looking for dinner. Stopped here because it was busy and a huge local family seemed to be having a great time. Ordered cacio and lasagna. Superb. The Hugo spritz was too sweet but since it was ice cold, it went down east.

Pamela K.

We had the best experience here. So great that we came 2 nights in row. Maria is the best server I've ever had. I love her great attitude, friendly smile and fun rapport! I even recommended it to people on my tour today and they made a reservation!!! Our tour guide is even planning to try it now and provide OO as a recommendation.

Tiramisu

Great restaurant. Outside(mostly) and inside seating. Phenomenal lasagna. Carborana noodles were perfectly Al dente. The Negroni and limoncello spritz were perfect, not too sweet. Tiramisu was the best I've had in time. Would definitely recommend this place for dinner.

Beautiful food, great value and excellent service. We had the stuffed zucchini blossoms and beef tartare to start. Both were excellent. Two in our party ordered pasta- the pasta with mussels was the standout. We also ordered salmon, tuna and chicken saltimbocca. All were great, and the tuna was amazing. For dessert we enjoyed the caprese cake- delicious, just wished for a little more ice cream. Highly recommend if you find yourself in this area of Rome.

Julio H.

Fantastic restaurant!!!! Family and I enjoyed dinner at this fantastic little restaurant. The food was just amazing!!! Service was spectacular! Will definitely visit again prior to us leaving this week!! Highly recommend the pork!

Potato flan

This is a truly special little place, I am surprised there are not more reviews. Our group of nine enjoyed a wonderful meal. The dishes were inventive and full of flavor. For starter I had the potato flan in which every bite tasted just a little like dessert thanks to the the amaretto crumbs on it. I've never had anything quite like this. The bread came in little tins, and the bruschetta was served this way as well with the accoutrements (tomatoes, pesto, and, pate on the side). We called it "build your own bruschetta")! My husband got carbonara which was called something rather fancy, but the server said " carbonara"? I had fettuccini with crispy bacon and the sweetest most delicious carmelized onions, apparently from Tropea an area known for their sweet cippolini onions (had to look that up). This seemed like an upscale variation on a basic amatriciana and it was just beautiful! Our server was lovely and fluent in multiple languages, she was speaking French to a table near us. It was a bit of a queeze at the table, but not uncomfortable. Our server also took our umbrellas for us. Others in our party enjoyed dishes of chicken, meatballs, and veal cheek. Another plus is that they start serving at 5:30 if you wish to dine earlier that the usual start time. Very carefully timed and deliciously crafted meal.

Ravioli
Mai D.

Took a chance while walking on the streets of Rome and it was totally worth it! Service was great and the food was heavenly. We had the Potato Flan for starters, Ravioli and the Veal Cheek as our main, and Tiramisu for dessert. The potato flan was made of spinach, potato and cheese, complemented with amaretto chips. It was an explosion of flavors in my mouth! Definitely worth trying. The veal cheek was really good too - so soft you could cut it with a bread knife. And the Tiramisu was heavenly! The cocoa was so rich I can still taste it in my mouth.

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Wonder suggestions by the host and service was spectacular. Would recommend the tuna and the clam sea water pasta!

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8 years ago

I would not recommend this place. They were out of many of the wine selections and the food was not good at all.

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4 years ago

Wonderful service. Cocktails upstairs weee great. Food on the street was perfect for a cap to an exciting day.

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9 years ago

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8 years ago

Pasta was mediocre. Tuna tartare sent me to the bathroom for the evening. Plenty of wonderful restaurants in Rome - pass on this place.

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Osteria Oliva Reviews in Other Languages

Review Highlights - Osteria Oliva

“Peroni is pretty much the draft of choice in Rome, but it's a decent light beer, so no worries!”

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Le Tavernelle - Lobster pasta

Le Tavernelle

4.5(172 reviews)
0.0 km•Monti
•€€

Loved the Cacio e pepe! So delicious and authentic there was great service. The ambiance was cozy.read more

Our first meal in Rome was here, and I'm so glad it was here. We arrived on Christmas Eve and…read morewanted a good meal. Our hotel manager had suggested another restaurant, but I was apprehensive to try, but did later, more on that restaurant review in it's own post. I rather did what I should have done throughout the trip to, which is to search google for local reviews. This tactic I found to be much better than to trust American reviews for restaurants to visit from Youtube or even here, just because the American touristy taste tends to favor bland or Olive Garden style pseudo Italian. The real Italian taste is much different and something one needs to develop. I was familiar with European Italian food, as I had said before in other reviews that Mexico has better Italian food outside of Italy. Additionally, the good restaurants here in Italy do not open before 7 PM. If it does or if someone that looks foreign to Italy is outside trying to lure you in, it's a tourist restaurant with iffy flavor. At this restaurant my husband had the Lobster pasta and I had the spinach/ricotta ravioli, and we both were beyond satisfied. We also had the artichoke as an appetizer, and trusted the waiter with his suggestion for a bottle of wine. He must have been some genius because the wine went well with our meal. The ambience was cozy and very family oriented, however, the rain outside made it romantic for us. Another key point for this restaurant and it traditional flare was that they brought out the olive oil and red vinegar for our salad and of course olive oil for our wonderful home-made bread. I'm so glad we chose this place for those of us Americans who understand culinary cuisine.

Photos
Le Tavernelle - Inside dining area

Inside dining area

Le Tavernelle - Squid and seabass

Squid and seabass

Le Tavernelle - Interior restaurant

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Interior restaurant

Tonnarello

Tonnarello

4.2(646 reviews)
1.9 km•Trastevere
•€€

Delicious food good service. They actually have two stores a block or so apart. They had a great…read moreselection of traditional dishes. Their menu looks really busy until you realize that every item is written in Italian English French Spanish and German. They call pizza "pinze" which I found odd. I had the rigatoni pesto , and it was delicious. Their cacio e pepe was also quite good. I honestly don't know how those waiters kept up with everything. I recommend.

Hugely reviewed on Google Eating here felt like a waste of a…read moremeal in Italy. We had just arrived and were hungry, so we sat despite seeing the menu in 4 languages-- a tip off that this is a tourist restaurant and not the real deal food Everything was quite Plain. It was edible but the lasagne noodles were overcooked I ordered a salad when I saw that we landed in a tourist restaurant. The plus: I had a big pile of arugula which is healthy it was topped with bresaola ( made out of the restaurant and pretty good) and Parmesan ( average quality) and olives ( tasted like canned I can get in the States), and 4 slices of totally plain grilled eggplant ( no salt. No carmelizatikn, low flavor) I used the balsamic on the table to add dressing to the otherwise bare greens. So, in sum, healthy but not delicious Service is very friendly, and eager to upsell. They know how to bring the tourists in and feed them

Photos
Tonnarello - Outside

Outside

Tonnarello - Oxtail meal

Oxtail meal

Tonnarello - Carbonara

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Carbonara

Al Forno della Soffitta

Al Forno della Soffitta

4.6(309 reviews)
1.6 km•Termini
•€€

Super pizza place with a lot of other great stuff on the menu…read more I looked with envy at the other tables who were enjoying spectacular plates of spaghetti with mussels. * * * That said, my pizza was a grand slam home run. Many of their pizzas are quite elaborate With all sorts of exotic ingredients. I went super simple. Gorgonzola. Mozzarella. That's it. Just enough Mozzarella to cut the Gorgonzola and make for a good melt. * * * If you have never had a gorgonzola pizza, you have never lived. Just sayin'. * * * P.S. My lovely wife got a Norwegian salmon pizza. The Norwegian salmon was stacked up high on her pizza As if she was in the World Series of Poker and she was a big winner. I have never seen so much salmon on one plate. After our meal, I made a discreet phone call to the Norwegian embassy in Rome asking them if they still had any salmon left. The woman at the embassy assured me the Norwegian salmon supply was fine. That surprises me given all the salmon that was on my wife's pizza.

It was a positive Yelp review that lured us to choose this restaurant for our first night meal…read moreafter traveling from USA. So, I felt that I owed a review of my own in appreciation. Being new to Rome, and having walked 20k steps on our first day, there are an abundance of options a for dining. We wanted something classically Rome nearby to our hotel. The Yelp review of this restaurant was sufficiently positive to entice us. Being American, we appreciate the earlier-than-customary dining options. We arrived at 6pm without a reservation. We were seated immediately. The restaurant is intimate and very well staffed. The wood fire oven is front-and-center and the fresh mozzarella is prominent in display. We ordered a bottle of wine ... all options are very fairly priced. This is nice. We started with a Greek salad to share. It was unlike any American Greek salad ... and a really delight. It is early June but the tomatoes and peppers were ripe and crisp and really fresh. My wife ordered the Marguerite pizza; I opted for the Gorgonzola pizza (the effusive review on Yelp was compelling). Both were solid. We appreciate the thin crust and the crisp edged. The center of both, however, was doughy and somewhat undercooked. Looking around ... the restaurant was over 50% full even at this early hour. Most were Americans. We saw a good number of diners with pasta dishes ... and none were left unfinished. Sadly, we don't have any comparisons to weigh (yet). So, I cannot affirm any "best of" citations, it this is certainly a solid trattoria/pizzeria. The staff are attentive and the food served hot and fresh.

Photos
Al Forno della Soffitta - Pizza oven

Pizza oven

Al Forno della Soffitta - Pizza

Pizza

Al Forno della Soffitta - Taken 3/23/2025

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Taken 3/23/2025

Osteria Oliva - italian - Updated October 2026

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