Gregory Cunniff
Google
V & I heard this was a great place and we heard right! Located close to the Tiber and next door to the Bocca Della Verita, the 47 Circus Rooftop Garden is a truly authentic Roman gem. Make sure you have reservations because if it’s a nice day the place will be busy and you will not get in. The view was great and in truly Roman tradition, it is located directly across from the Tempio di Portuno (built in 4th or 5th century B.C.) and Casa Dei Cresceni (11th or 12th century aristocratic home) so your view from the 6th level (7th floor for U.S.) is beautiful and dramatic. But to the food, the Roof Garden offers both appertivo and lunch/dinner service. We were there in early afternoon and elected to eat from both the appetitive and lunch menus.
We started with the vegetable platter (I.e. crudite) and it was a nice plate of roasted veggies including tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant. It also came with three shot glass sized portions of hummus all of Tona and another spread which I think was a chicory mix. We also ordered the rice and potato croquettes, which was a rice, meat and cheese mixture and a potato and ham combination of deep fried. These were outstanding. For the main, we decided to go with two traditional Roman dishes, including linguine with clams and spaghetti amatriciana. The linguine with clams was cooked perfectly and loaded with garlic and lots of baby clams (no shells!). The amatriciana was outstanding with fresh tomato sauce and guanciale. One of the best I’ve had.
We decided to forego dessert because we ordered a ton of food and we were stuffed! Never to stuffed for gelato though so we saved space for Come Il Latte close to our hotel (See separate review).
Price was on the high side but it is atop a nice hotel and the view was soooo worth it. If it’s a hot day then you will be hot. There was a nice breeze and they have large umbrellas but it can get hot depending on the time of year. Well done and Marco the maitre’d and lead was outstanding. Our servers were also super nice and attentive.