Open Colonna

My wife and I decided our last night in Rome should be one to remember so we booked a 9:30 reservation here and it did not disappoint. Before we even ordered, they brought out some light appetizers and some champagne. We had the foie gras as an appetizer. It was the first time I’ve had it but it was fantastic. It was so Soft with a buttery consistency with a light seasoned crust and fresh figs on the side. My wife is mostly vegetarian and she even liked it. I knew at this point the rest of this meal was going to be special. We ordered a bottle of Cabernet which was perfect. My wife had a beef with bbq crust. Again, my wife is mostly vegetarian and she loved her rare beef. I don’t think she’s had rare meat in her life. I had the pigeon and it was great. It was also cooked rare but it melted in your mouth it was more like filet mignon than poultry. After we finished moaning our way through our entrees we ordered a soufflé. This thing was so good. We were stuffed but we all but licked the bowl it came in.
When we sat down we were a bit intimidated because of how fancy it was (servers wear suits, candles are lit, lighting is dim, Kenny G is in the background wailing away on his soprano sax.) but it wasn’t bad. Our server spoke English enough to have a conversation with us about his sister spending time in our hometown and it put us at ease.
Normally, in Italy, the service is slow and minimal, which we are used to and have accepted as just a cultural difference from America but this place has a NASCAR pit crew working for them. As soon as a dish was finished, I would look away for a second and it was gone. It was impressive!
Needless to say this was well worth the steep price!

5 star ambiance, 3 star food, and forget service in Italy, they’re slow & you constantly have to remind them of things u want. I mostly wanted to check out the ambiance knowing that its on second floor of museum with glass view & a terrace.
The buffet is served cold including the soup! Kinda like whole foods market salad bar. There were some cold pork chops & baked chicken wings & legs. Also some chicken pieces in their potato salad. A lot of healthy options, which isn’t a bad idea if you need a break from pizza & pasta.
Price was 25 euro with drinks & tip. Water 2.50 euro, wine 6 euro, tea 5 euro.
I was told a famous chef works here, but apparently he takes a nap daytime & the museum janitors take over kitchen :)

We went to Open Colonna for the week day lunch buffet (the price is now 16 euro per person, up from 15) and comes with a few slices of bread brought to the table. Remember you also need to pay a euro or 2 for water. I understand this is a bargain compared to the usual prices here for dinners.
All you can eat buffet for lunch– ok food but nothing extraordinary (despite this being run by a supposedly famous chef). Packed with lots of Romans all dressed up trying to impress each other!
Some of the items on the buffet table:
— Pork with potatoes (simple but excellent– they must boil potatoes in salt first as they had excellent texture and flavor); this was our favorite.
–make your own salad– lettuce, cabbage, corn etc and olive oil (first time we saw a «salad bar» in Rome)
–Octopus and potato
–Thin sliced beef/​pork plate
–Several cheese (cheddar varieties and a nice soft marscapone type one)
–Chorizo sausage and potato dish
–Multiple rice/​grain/​pasta salad dishes (black rice w carrots, fusilli with bacon & eggplant, couscous, etc.)
–Baked chicken wings (these were quite good and I hadn’t seen them anywhere in Rome)
Dessert tray was great! Loved the tiramisu mousse, and the chocolate filled croissant was excellent. Was fun to try all sorts of things without having to buy a full slice of each. The desserts were really the highlight of the lunch.
Tasted a really nice white wine called Tenplum that the waiter offered based on my suggestion of something sweet. 5 euro for a glass but it was worth it!
The seating is indoor under a glass roof, so a little hot if the weather is warm/​sunny. They also have a terrace to the side.
Overall: go for weekday lunch if you’re really hungry or to try all the desserts. Different variety than a lot of the food in Rome so that was a nice change. But was it worth 16 euros each… I’m not sure.