Le Mani in Pasta

Autre table réputée du touristique quartier du Trastevere fréquentée par un grand nombre de touristes et qui jouit d’une très bonne réputation. Un lieu où né pas venir sans réservation car les refus sont multiples ce soir. On se demandera d’ailleurs pourquoi l’établissement n’affiche pas complet sur la porte d’entrée… Situé dans un coin un peu à l’écart de cette rue très commerçante remplie de magasins ou de tables plutôt assez banales, «Le Mani in Pasta «serait presqu’une oasis. Une maison qui ressemblerait à une habitation depuis l’extérieure avec son entrée en forme de porche et non pas une devanture de restaurant.
Un intérieur traditionnel avec une salle avec un arc de voute et un alignement de tables plutôt très serré avec au fond la cuisine. On se faufile entre les rangées afin de pouvoir s’asseoir et il y a de fortes chances que vous vous trouviez à quelques centimètres de vos voisins.
En entrant à droite une seule table un peu en hauteur fort agréable avec une vue sur l’ensemble de la salle avec son plafond de poutres.
Un personnel plutôt empressé car ce restaurant né semble pas désemplir. Ce qui frappé à première vue c’est qu’il n’y a pas de locaux ce qui généralement n’est pas bon signe.
La carte est traditionnelle et comme le nom l’indique, les pâtes sont à l’honneur. Nous démarrerons par les «Antipasto Le Mani in Pasta «avec de la mozzarella de buffle, du jambon de parme, du salami et de la mortadelle. Rien sur cette assiette n’est désagréable mais cela reste tout de même fort basique. N’importe qui peut aller à la charcuterie du coin et couper quelque tranche. De plus la mozzarella est plutôt très quelconque et pas de haute qualité.
Probablement que la meilleure assiette sera le carpaccio de dorade aux truffes. Arrosé d’huile d’olive et un peu de jus de citron, il sera généreusement recouvert de fines lamelles de truffes plutôt odoriférantes.
Le service de pain est franchement un peu désuet avec ces toasts grillés et rondelles de beurre. Quoique peut-​être à postériori je n’ai pas dû comprendre s’il s’agissait ou non de l’accompagnement du carpaccio ou non. De toute manière, cela né s’associerait aucunement avec.
Un geste plutôt généreux avec sans qu’on le demande une petite assiette de Penne arrabbiata. Visiblement des pâtes de Cecco car au loin nous avons vu celles-​ci ouvertes en cuisine, une sauce tomate un peu épicée et du fromage râpé. Rien de bien excitant et le genre d’assiette que n’importe qui fera à la maison.
Premier réel plat de pâtes avec des Raviolis aux tomates et basilic. Pourtant très simple, la pâte est trop épaisse, la farce sans saveur, c’est vraiment très quelconque.
Mes Taglioni aux palourdes, mulet et crevettes né sont pas exceptionnelles non plus. La sauce liquide et fade, c’est une assiette à la va vite et bâclée. On s’attendrait vraiment à beaucoup mieux pour un établissement soi-​disant spécialisé dans les pâtes.
La saltimbocca de veau au jambon et sauge est elle aussi sans relief, ni bonne et ni mauvaise. Une cuisine vraiment réalisée sans aucune passion.
La tagliata de bœuf est une entrecôte découpée en tranches servie avec quelques pommes de terre sur le côté et de la chicorée poêlée. Des accompagnements plutôt graisseux avec une viande sans trop de goût.
Et en dessert un tiramisu comme dans la plupart des endroits et plutôt quelconque.
Une première bouteille d’un vin bland de Sardaigne Argiolas Vermentino plutôt plaisant. Suivi d’un Montepulciano d’Abruzzo de chez Marina Cvetic, petit vin de table qui accompagnera agréablement le repas.
A se demander ce qui attire vraiment cette foule car même si ce repas s’avéra être plutôt correct, nous sommes loin de quelque chose de surprenant et de différent des trattorias que l’on trouve un peu partout. Une table fréquentée majoritairement par les touristes qui sert une cuisine assez banale et de quelconques produits.

El Trastevere es el sitio más clásico donde ir a comer y cenar en Roma, pero este sitio queda un poco apartado de los restaurantes más turísticos. Mejor, porque suele estar bastante lleno. La pasta con queso y pimienta y los saltimbocca alla romana son imprescindibles aquí.

We went to this restaurant our last night in Rome. Worst service by far since we have been here. We were downstairs which may have contributed to the service level. Dinner came almost 1 ½ hours after we ordered. Ran out of water and wine. People were leaving as they had sat 40 minutes before they even saw a server. I always say it’s not the servers fault but is the owners fault. Servers were rude challenged you to not order from the regular menu but the special menu. Pass on this to the many other fine Rome pasta restaurants. I had to go upstairs to find a server to pay my bill 45 minutes after we were done eating. Food was average for Rome.

Excellent service and meal. Highly recommend this restaurant. My first course was a carpaccio with shaved truffles, followed by perfectly prepared sage and butter raviolis, a modest cheese plate and the house steak which was exquisite!

All I can say is wow, wow and WOW! This quality, of service and food, I’ve experienced in only a handful of restaurants in my life. I look for value when we spend our time and money; the VALUE meter went of the chart here.

Food is amazing. The pasta courses were all fantastic. And the service was warm and friendly.
Great atmosphere and every dish that comes out looks mouth watering.

C’est grâce à une amie que j’ai testé ce resto, car il se trouve qu’elle l’avait déjà fait et nous l’avait fortement conseillé lors de notre passage à Rome.
C’est donc pendant notre ballade dans Trastevere que nos ventres se sont manifestés, et de là nous sommes allés à ce resto.
Le seul hic c’est que ma famille voulait manger en terrasse, or ils n’avaient pas de terrasses, mais tant pis je les convainc et on y va.
L’ambiance du resto à l’italienne, c’est bruyant, on rigole, c’est familial et petit, avec même une table en hauteur. On voit la cuisine au fond du resto, y’a de l’activité.
Le monsieur nous prépare une table avec de la place pour la poussette et nous voilà installés.
Je commande en entrée du bresaola avec sa mozzarela di buffala et aie aie aie un régal cette charcuterie ! Je vous la recommande.
Les pâtes étaient excellentes, à la carbonara, les meilleures que j’ai mangé par rapport aux autres restos que j’ai fait, et surtout celles aux truffes, avec de vraies belles tranches de truffes et mon dieu c’était exquis…
En somme un régal pour les papilles, tout cela servit avec un bon vin blanc.
Les serveurs vraiment adorables.
Francaises, Francais, n’hésitez pas si vous passez dans le coin !!

What a great place to eat a home cooked style dinner with wonderful local waiters and customers. The food was great and hearty. The available fresh fish that they bring to your table in impressive. We had the fresh swordfish in a putanesca sauce and the arrabiata pasta which was very good and spicy. I highly recommend it but get there around 7pm to check in and reserve a table because it is small and when it opens at 730pm it is packed.

After failing at trying to grab a table at Da Enzo, we walked over here and called to see if they had an open table. We walked in when they opened and grabbed a seat for two. Restaurant is cramped but felt very fancy. Our waiters were awesome. Very friendly and personable. They served a glass of champagne once guests are seated. Bread and their special flat breads (more like sheets of crackers) are served.
We were told to order the special lobster spaghetti, which probably felt like an up sell from the staff. For appetizers were ordered the sautéed clams and mussels to start. The portion was VERY generous. HUGE almost. Same with the lobster spaghetti. HUGE portion. We shared everything and did not manage to make a dent. The mussels and clams were great. Very tasty and fresh. The lobster spaghetti was a bit oily and perhaps the shelled lobsters made the pasta taste too «seafood-​y». I’d have to try other dishes in order to recommend this restaurant.
For those who do not know the language: Waiters know/​speak English.

My boyfriend and I stumbled upon this place while walking around the neighborhood. It was packed with tourists as well as locals. Since it was full for that evening (make reservation!!), we decided to come back for lunch. We had the carbonara, steak and grilled veggies. Everything was very tasty (favorite was the carbonara!). We had such a great experience that we decided to come back for lunch during our short trip in Rome. 2^nd time the food was again was amazing but the service not as good (we had to wait/​ask multiple times for the check). They still get 5 stars for food and service on the 1^st time. Hopefully that poor service on the second time was just a rare miss!

Punished–
We did not have a good experience at Le Mani in Pasta. Sunday night, rainy, we stopped by at 6:45 to see if we could get a reservation. They kindly fit us in at 7:30. Due to our English– Italan communication problems, they had reserved for two instead of three of us. They kindly agreed to seat us if we would finish by 9:00.
It was downhill from there. When ordering the pasta course, our waiter insisted that we had to have the same ravioli course to make it easier on the kitchen. We ordered two different grilled fish entrees but got the same fish. Our daughter ordered only a pasta dish. We also ordered a cheese plate. But no wine for any of us. Two bottles of mineral water.
I understand that restraunteurs make their money on the wine and on ordering many dishes but we were not treated well. We finished eating at 8:40. We were ignored until after 9:00 in bringing our check, though we asked for it.
The pasta was good, not the best I have ever had. The fish was decent. The service spoiled the taste of everything.

Great gem in Transtevere! A friend from Venice recommended it and he was so right! Before you go, please make a reservation … Otherwise you will have to wait 45′ as we did. Everything was delicious… Our waiter, Fausto, was friendly and recommended great dishes: tuna tartare, brasaole with buffalo mozzarella and arugula. My fiancé and I shared small gnocchi with clams… Delicious!!! Leave some room for dessert: we tried amaretto ice cream and chocolate cake with vanilla gelato… Out of this world:))) we will be back

Found this place in an article written up as one of the best homemade pasta places in Rome. It is located in a really nice, quiet street of Trastavere and has very charming ambiance and good service.
The house red wine was excellent. The best part of the meal was the grilled vegetable appetizer au gratin. We have never had such tender and delicious eggplant!
The carbonara pasta was extremely heavy and sure didn’t lack any flavor! It was actually too much, which is weird for me since I usually love lots of flavor. A very heavy dish with a crazy amount of cheese.
The seafood pasta dish was okay. The pasta to me didn’t taste like anything special. It could have been out of a box as far as I knew and not actually handmade. The problem was the dish was absolutely soaked in too much olive oil. Less oil and it would have been a better dish.
The guy next to us got the veal dish the waiter highly recommended. It looked so good, we decided to be bad and order a third entrée. The veal was pretty tender and the sauce was pretty good.
Overall, no ‘wow’ factor with our entrees… but the grilled vegetables were simply the best!

Non sono italiano, e quindi scrivo in inglese… ma secondo me questo ristorante è buonissimo per i turisti e romani equamente.
This was a recommendation from the owner of our apartment in Rome and it didn’t let us down. We got to Trastevere around midday to make reservations in person for that evening. Lesson one: make reservations at least a day ahead or more; they didn’t have anything in the main floor open for that night. They did offer us a space downstairs in the smoking area, but we were skeptical.
We decided to catch lunch instead, and it was incredible. I can speak decent Italian, and I think that that made a difference, we were able to joke with the waiters and had the chance to ask for suggestions. The seabass carpaccio was incredible, the carbonara was the best I’ve ever had. We found the Duvel blonde to be surprisingly delicious with Italian food.
It was so good, in fact, that we decided to come back for dinner even though they only had space downstairs. Let me first say that IF YOU DON’T LIKE CIGARETTE SMOKE, DON’T GET A SPACE IN THE SMOKING AREA. It seems obvious, but there are idiots on Unilocal who take such a space, then complain about it. People smoke during dinner in Italy, and if they’re in a smoking area, they are totally allowed to do it. It can bother people, and by the end of the night it was definitely pretty thick…
…but our meal more than made up for it. Amazing desserts, wonderful amaro, great service, and traditional, fun, teasing Italian waiters.
I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Friendly service, a great frutti di mare antipasti, great pasta, and excellent dessert. A real relief to have welcoming, friendly service in Trastavere after a couple nights of less than friendly restaurant staff in Testaccio!

I dream of returning back to Rome just to have another bite at Le Mani. It is by far the best Italian restaurant I’ve ever been to. Everything was to die for! Take me back! Take me back!