You’d really have to do something terrible to me to ruin Christmas Day in Italy. Thank God Casa Bleve did the right thing and went far beyond the call of duty to Buon the heck out of this Natale. As we walked into what looked to be a small storefront, we had to wait a few minutes for our table to be prepared for a 3:00PM lunch on Christmas Day. We knew we were in for a pre-fixed menu consisting of Lasagna with a Pumpkin Flower Meat Sauce, Fresh Fish, and beautiful homemade Spumoni. As we stood in the lobby, I glanced around at simple wine selection all fairly priced, and was immediately impressed with Casa Bleve’s casual approach to sales. They didn’t over price their wines and allowed you to taste anything they had open. Really, its the way it should be done everywhere but unfortunately in America some people get a little stingy. Before we knew it we were seated in the beautifully decorated main dining room and when I say decorated, I mean it was DECOR to the max. The stained glass ceiling was not to be rivaled with by any establishment in the hemisphere and the attention to detail on the centerpieces was second to none. Our waiter would not be out-classed by even the most dashing of gentlemen as he swiftly offered my lady a purse holder for our table. She happily obliged. As we poured a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino to toast our final day on our 10 day excursion of Italia, we were told that they had run out of lasagna but Nonna in the back would be making us some fresh spaghetti with all of the same ingredients. I mean, could we really complain? It was flawless and I wish I could have bathed in it. From course to course we couldn’t get over the beauty of the presentation and the amount of flavor coming from such delicately presented dishes. Now don’t get me wrong here, they weren’t small portions, but when it clearly takes so much time and attention to put together a presentation, sometimes you wonder if the flavor will add up. Casa Bleve exceeded expectations. As we wrapped up our late lunch toasting one last time, our waiter brought us down to the Augustan age wine cellar. When you’re walking around surrounded by wine and rock that has existed since the first Roman emperor could life really be much better? I concluded that it couldn’t, took a photo or two and closed my eyes to seal the moment in my memory. Casa Bleve is not just a restaurant, it is an experience.
Kevin W.
Place rating: 4 Worcester Park, United Kingdom
Excellent food, the price is not cheap but its worth it for the good food. Lovely surroundings and good service.
Jose D.
Place rating: 1 Oostende, Belgium
Never again !!! This place is a pure toerist trap. Bad quality for exorbitant high prices. unfriendly staf.
Roberto p.
Place rating: 5 Secaucus, NJ
Pick up because closed to Piazza Navona but what a surprise. Above expectations, sophisticated but family owned, great dishes, excellent service, attention to details.
Aj A.
Place rating: 4 Lake Bluff, IL
Very good Italian food and excellent service. However this is on the expensive side. Nice wine collection, beautiful dining room and the vegetarian dishes we had were delicious. We were too full for dessert so don’t order any. However the staff served us some nice Italian cookies and biscotti to finish the meal. Nice touch.
M Sheila R.
Place rating: 5 Great Falls, VA
This is one of the last places we ate before coming home on 6÷4÷2015. It was one of the best in italy. In a touristy neighborhood but not touristy. We had lunch and most of the customers were business men/suits. We had Tonnarelli al cacio e pepe,(pasta with cheese and pepper) Absolutely delicious! I cannot wait to try and make it at home. Casio is a traditional Roman cheese. It was quiet and refined. A welcomed change from the hoards of tourists. Service, wine, bread, salad. You cannot go wrong.
Willie K.
Place rating: 5 Hillsborough, NC
Overall, a first class dining experience. All of the food we had was absolutely incredible. They made great pastas, all of which were clearly hand/homemade. The room I’m which we dined was lavishly furnished with marble walls, floors, a glass cieling, and arches. There was even the occasional plexiglass window in the floor looking down into the wine cellar. They took us on a tour of the cellar, which was incredible, and I would recommend that you do the same.
Robi H.
Place rating: 5 Pensacola, FL
An exceptional dining experience! Everything from the homemade bread sticks to the lush lemon cream for desert was perfection. Try the braised beef cheeks with potato purée and ask for a wine recommendation. The waiters are knowledgable and made excellent pairings. If you are very lucky, you may get to visit the private wine cellar. A spectacular surrounding for a memorable dinner.
Novelty B.
Place rating: 5 London, United Kingdom
This restaurant convinced me that there is good-quality food in Rome. After more than two weeks in the city, I was starting to think that everything was over-salted, over-oiled and not well-prepared — until this place. The wine selection is large and good. My lamb chops were cooked perfectly in a wonderful sauce, and even the spinach-like vegetables I normally hate were pretty good. My husband’s pasta was also delicious, and they even served us cookies and candies when we didn’t order dessert. A bit on the pricey side, but worth it to experience good quality food.
Agapito G.
Place rating: 5 Rego Park, NY
Casa Bleve was the best way to wrap up our last meal in Rome. We had a grand time wandering around Rome, walking everywhere, when we happened upon this restaurant. It was pure serendipity that we foudn this place. The 4 consecutive years with Michelin stars convinced us to eat here and it was totally worth it. For appetizers, we started with the cheese plate and charcuterie. So delish… we were mixing and matching the cheeses and meats and joked that we are so American for doing that. Then our entrees lamb chops and beef cheeks. The entrees were so heavenly like upscale Italian food. The food prices were comparable to other restaurants in Rome. The wine list and décor were outstanding. I would recommend anyone to go here for one of your meals in Rome.
Graham O.
Place rating: 5 York, United Kingdom
You know how you have this dream of finding a magical, perfect, hidden gem of a restaurant, that you could return to time and again? Well, it just happened to me tonight. Wandering through some back streets, foraging for dinner, a colleague and I stumbled upon this place. It’s a sort of pillared cellar, stacked high with wine bottles, and decorated in a restrained classical style. Food was among the best Italy has to offer, I think, and the wine list goes from € 25 to € 1750 per bottle. We were at the cheaper end and had a very pleasant evening for € 38 each. Service was just right. Can’t wait to come back.
Jahie K.
Place rating: 5 Downey, CA
This place was one of my favorite places I’ve been to while in Rome. It took us a while trying to figure out where this place was due to the narrow streets near the hustle and bustle of the Pantheon, but managed to find the entrance. The first thing I saw when I walked in is one of the servers slicing prosciutto infront of us. Yup, that is how you would reel me in :) Dangle some amazing slices of artisanal cured meats. Their Selezione di Salumi Misti(Selection of Artisan Cured Meats) is what Casa Bleve is known for. Their wine pairing is amazing. They have an encyclopedia length of wine selections. You feel like a kid in a candy store. Brunello di Montalcino wine was amazing :) Beautiful vaulted ceilings lined with shelves of wine. Wood flooring, tables, and chairs. The service was amazing. Everyone there was so nice and helped us with our selections. This place is a hidden gem in Rome, should be more than Michelin Rated. Delicious and will return back to you :) Goodvibes!
Mike H.
Place rating: 5 Crested Butte, CO
Hands down the best restaurant I’ve found in Italy. Convenient location with a discreet entrance. The room is very dramatic and impeccably designed. The food is of the highest quality and the menu is Italian, but creative. Standard-sounding fare is taken to a new level and the menu includes several original dishes. The service is top-notch. Wine list is large and features some rarer selection. This is an outstanding white table cloth restaurant. It’s expensive but worth it.
Jeff B.
Place rating: 5 New Orleans, LA
This is the Rome you are looking for. Thanks to the review from Dennis S., we stopped into Casa Bleve for lunch today. There was a buffet with a huge selection, and everything was superb and fresh. The service was the best we have had in Italy. Our sever was friendly, knowledgeable, and patient with our limited Italian. We stopped in on the tail end of lunch so the place was not very crowded. It was amazing that this place was just a few minutes walk from the Pantheon, yet not drowning in tourists. This place is also very vegetarian friendly. At one point, the nice lady behind the buffet took a dish off my wife’s plate when she learned that my wife was a vegetarian. She then took the time to point out every single vegetarian option. We were too stuffed for desert, but we were still given a few small dolce as well as a complimentary glass of desert wine. We enjoyed lunch so much that we made reservations for dinner tomorrow night. You can spend your vacation in Rome searching for the perfect meal, or you can just go to Casa Bleve and enjoy.
Dennis S.
Place rating: 5 Chicago, IL
This was the best restaurant experience of our ten days in Rome. Why they don’t have a star or two from Michelin I don’t understand. They do have two Unilocal reviews — both five stars. Now they have three, all five stars. Thank you Unilocal.Without those reviews we would not have gone. The setting is fabulous, both naturally and with the way they’ve decorated it. The restaurant is a large high ceiling room in back of their wine shop. It’s classic Roman, but new and fresh and spacious. Solid wood tables, beautiful stained glass windows up high, and an impressive modern stained glass ceiling. Our service was excellent, but that disappeared behind the awesome meal we had. We started with zucchini flowers, stuffed with ricotta cheese, and baked. Served on a bed of sun dried tomatoes. This makes my list of top ten appetizers I’ve ever tasted. We then shared an order of mezze maniche, a large pasta that was the freshest pasta I had in Rome. My main course was scabbard, a very tasty fish I’d not had before. The long filets of the fish, cooked with Parmesan cheese, were served on a thick piece of eggplant, with cooked cherry tomatoes and olives as a side dish. As with the zucchini flowers dish, this was a masterful combination, with all the flavors balancing one another, in this case all strong flavors. It was wonderfully tasty. I liked having the tomatoes and olives combination on the side, so on each bite I could decide how much of which items I wanted to combine each time. Accompanying the meal we started with an excellent mecita, the had another great Abruzzo white wine. This, to me, is a destination restaurant. The entire meal was a culinary experience. When they get their Michelin star, we will be able to say«we knew them when…»
SS
Place rating: 3 Lyon
bar à vins, très agréable; excellente cave; bons produits de terroir(fromages, charcuteries, marmelades) et biologiques slow food; étape idéale pour une restauration rapide entre deux visites de la Piazza Navona et de St Ivo della Sapienza; le moins: des prix assez élevés