Mattarello Parioli

Food was good but service was horrible! They get busy late at night and staff seemed very inexperienced. Worst part was waiting for the check. Waitress apparently couldn’t do it herself. After waiting 15 minutes, I asked her again and she said she already told «him» that we needed our check. It took another 10 minutes before we got our check, then another 5 before «he» came to run our credit card through. All told, it likely took us an hour longer than it should have for a two course dinner, and this was day 15 of a trip to Italy so my idea of service speed had already been adjusted, this isn’t the typical «people take their time in Italy» thing.

Exactly what you want your first night in Rome! Casual and relaxed but perfect service. House made, on the spot, pasta and fabulous Frito Misto!
And right there next to the Hilton Garden Inn, our home away from home.

My 11yo son is a connoisseur of pizza margherita — he’s had it every single day for at least one meal during our recent trip to Rome. In the spirit of providing the most accurate reviews, he has rated each one — I’ll post this same review for each restaurant in order of quality.
1) Rosa & Rosae, Trevi Fountain/​Pantheon area — Via di Pietra, 88, 186 Roma
We joined him in pizza here and had one with spicy salami. It was very good, although only three large slices of salami.
2) PastaMore, Trevi area — Via arcione 71b, 187 Roma
We intended to go to That’s Amore — I know, the names are goofy. Instead we opted for this place and had a nice dinner on their patio. Large salad was big enough for 4 to split and the pasta was very fresh. We had linguine w/​clams, and arrabiata. It was nice to choose your own noodle and sauce separately. I wanted gnocchi, but they were out of it.
3) Mattarello, US Embassy area — Viale Liegi 64, 198 Roma
Our first night in Rome and we wanted something quick and easy next to the Hilton Garden Inn. The pizza was very tasty and hit the spot after a long day of traveling. We also had arrabiata that was tasty with fresh pasta and a smoked salmon pizza that was terrific. I ordered gnocchi, but they said it’s summer and didn’t have it.
3) Luzzi, Coliseum area — Via di San Giovanni in Laterano 88, 184 Roma
We also ordered a calzone, minestrone and pasta a fagioli here, but they said they weren’t making them. All on the menu, but not available. We ended up with lasagna that was okay and I had a capricciosa pizza (mushroom, olive, hard-​boiled egg and prosciutto) that was good, but a burnt crust. The thing that killed this place for my son was the burnt crust, gobs, I mean gobs of cheese, and the 20 minute wait. All of us received out food within about 10 minutes –and he sat there watching us eat. The waiter didn’t care — it was pretty sad. The pizza that did come came with gobs of cheese that wasn’t fully melted. He had a couple slices, but we ended up with more than half wasted. We choose this specific place because of the other positive reviews. What a shame. BTW — they only serve gnocchi on Thursday, so no luck for me again!

The food is alright, but the staff is very friendly and they open late on weekend.
Squid pasta — pasta is excellent but the whole dish is quite salty
Smoke salmon pizza — again quite salty and the pizza crust is very soggy
meat pizza — crust is soggy but better than other pizza
smoke salmon calzone — quite small
salad — it’s alright