Al Cardello

Gemütliches kleines Lokal ohne den üblichen Touri-​Schickimicki. Unsere Bedienung war ein knuffiger älterer Herr, der sich wenig darum kümmerte, dass wir ihn nicht wirklich verstehen konnten (er spricht kein Englisch) und uns ganze Episoden seines Lebens erzählte. Die andere Bedienung spricht gut Englisch.
Wir hatten Pasta (alla Romana und Pomodoro e Parmesano), mit Reis gefüllte Zucchini, Scaloppina mit Pilzen und Baccala (Kabeljau). Die Portionen waren eher klein (aber noch normal).
Einmal gab es aufgrund der holprigen Verständigung ein Missverständniss und wir bekamen drei Gerichte serviert. Wir haben uns das dritte geteilt und sind dann nach Hause gerollt. War nur ärgerlich, da das Budget gesprengt wurde.

This place was suggested by friends who used to live in Rome. Apparently it’s gone downhill since they left. It has potential to be a charming hole-​in-​the-​wall type place, but instead it’s just a hole. Service was slow, food was awful. Bruschetta would have been ok, except it was drowning in olive oil. The Linguine Alfredo looked like cooked linguine that had canned Romano cheese sprinkled on it and drowned in olive oil. The whole thing had the color of curry. Staff seemed more interested in taking to each other than the two parties that were in the restaurant.

49 euros for 1 oily massive cheesebomb-​dripping «pizza», 1 fishy-​smelly and fishy-​tasting-​in-​the-​bad-​way risotto, 1 bottle of water and some dusty bread, — but hey! — the beer was ok…- now my wife is still in doubt that she will have a stomage-​rage caused to the fishy risotto :(

Ask about prices… especially if you’re a tourist. Our two 10 euro pasta meals ended up 40 euros with one glass of house wine and a beer. Server stood over us and aggresively said «tip not included.» It was pretty apparent that she noticed our tourist-​status and took advantage.

Evidently they were featured in Frommers back in 2002 or so… it shows. In the past 10 years they probably haven’t renovated, and the wifi never did work for us.
But the place is charming in the slightly worn local style, only three blocks from the Coliseum, around a corner in a little intersection for privacy. Some outdoor seating nicely screened by trees for those willing to dine outside, and a cramped but serviceable dining room inside. Service is one lady running around; very Italian. The place was half empty when we were there– I can imagine when it’s busier, service gets really awful unless they’ve got more help hiding somewhere in the back.
Prices are very reasonable, the carbonara is simple but tasty in fattening ways, I think the only issue we had was that the house red wine was so young it was almost still grape juice.
And the location is definitely nice, especially if you want to go back to the Coliseum in the evening to see it bathed in light.