Hi Res

It WAS A VERY nice place… we were treated great UNTIL we only ordered a appitizer… I get it! There were others who didn’t mind paying those prices… but this is why I only have 3 stars. it’s toooo pricy for food, in my opionion! If you don’t mind spending the $$$$s I recommend this place!

Trendy. Cute. Nice view of Piazza del Poppolo. Great drinks. I had the salmon & enjoyed it.

We were staying at the Validier and ate at Hi Res one night. It was an excellent meal with great service. The restaurant also provided the breakfast in the morning. Which was great with a nice variety.

Weak.
Food.service .everything here was weak the night we dined there. Slow service, .did I mention slow? It took almost three hours to get first course and second course for three people. Even our first round of drinks took 20 minutes to arrive. …and to top it off the food was flavorless. Seriously, I was very unimpressed and was really looking forward to it. Maybe it was just a bad night for them.

Short Story: An over-​hyped roof top with bland, overpriced food.
Long Story: This place was recommended by our hotel because their roof top bar was closed. It was described as a «young, hip place with traditional food and creative dishes.»
We arrived for our reservation, and took an elevator to the top floor of the hotel. The elevator itself was interesting… it had a window in the back allowing you to view mosaics on the rear wall on your way up. It was also a nice, dark, antique wood. Finally, it was entirely trimmed in carbon fibre reminiscent of a teenager’s dream Honda.
Reaching the roof top, the view was… mostly of other rooftops. The building itself is six stories, and not the tallest building in the area. You can see some of a nearby piazza, a dome of a nearby church, and a distant palazzo. That’s about it.
As far as the ambiance of the roof top goes… think douchey, we-​wish-​we-​were-​in-​NYC kind of vibe. Very loud (and crappy) dance/​lounge music, e.g. a dance remix of Sweet Child of Mine with excessive use of autotune. All tables are lit by color changing plastic lamps – while they are interesting to look at, they’re very ineffective if you’d like to read something like the menu or your bill.
We were seated promptly, and given menus. Apparently, they have his and hers menus – one with and the other without prices. The menu itself is confused and appears to be aiming for an awkward Asian-​Italian-​French fusion. The wine list is pretty good though, and you can get a reasonably priced bottle of good wine.
We were given Prosecco to start. While this is a nice touch, many places will give you a Prosecco for free at the beginning of the meal, but not at Hi-​Res. We ordered a wonton basket chicken salad and an Octopus salad with potato cakes to start. The chicken in the wonton basket was well prepared, but there was very little of it. The octopus was almost missing from the octopus salad – there were maybe 8 small pieces of octopus. The rest of the salad was chunks of boiled potato. The potato cakes included with the salad were fried tempura style and completely inedible. Taking a bite tasted like sipping a glass of vegetable oil.
For the next course, my girlfriend was able to order a traditional spaghetti carbonara (instead of the vegetarian carbonara available on the menu). The pasta was well prepared and quite tasty. I ordered lamb encrusted with sesame seeds with a side of fried artichoke flowers. The lamb was significantly over-​cooked but not hard. What made it inedible was the taste of fish permeating it. The artichoke was also deep friend tempura style and tasted only of vegetable oil.
After 10 days traveling Italy, this was both the most expensive and the least tasty meal I’ve encountered (and that’s counting a 1am kebab in Florence).
Finally – the service. Over the course of the meal, the service was good and attentive. However, at the end of the meal, the waiter would not give us a moment of peace until we gave him a tip, and kept insisting «service not included.»