Da Benito e Gilberto

Fantastic seafood restaurant run by an absolutely lovely family! Quality food and service. Felt both down-to-earth and upmarket at the same time. We had the tasting menu which was a great assortment of antipasti, primi, segundi and desserts. We couldn’t believe the food kept coming! Make sure to reserve a table, or try your luck for a 7pm seating as a walk-in but don’t hold your breath!

I found this restaurant on Google Maps with a 4.6 rating and was excited to try their clam linguini, which is one of my favorite dishes. I even biked quite a long way to get there, full of anticipation—but unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointing experience. When I arrived, a male server asked a woman who seemed like the owner whether I could sit inside. She glanced over and appeared to shake her head. Then the server told me I could only sit outside. At that time, there were still several empty tables indoors, and it was obvious that some diners were nearly finished with their meals. I accepted the outdoor seating without complaint, but of the four outdoor tables, three had tableware already set, and two had plates with bird droppings on them. I chose a table and waited around 15 minutes before anyone came to take my order—a bit slow, but still acceptable. The food, however, was not. The pasta was extremely hard—not al dente, just unpleasantly undercooked. Worse, every single clam was full of sand. I had to spit it out with almost every bite. I barely managed to eat half the dish. What really upset me was the treatment difference I observed. A group of five arrived after me and also sat outside. The staff quickly cleared just the visibly dirty plates for them, but didn’t clean the rest of the table properly. Then, before they even sat down, the server proactively turned on two outdoor heaters for them. I noticed there was also a heater right behind me, but nobody ever offered to turn it on during my entire meal—even though it was quite cold, and my pasta went cold within a few minutes. When it was time to pay, the service remained indifferent. I travel alone around the world and am usually not sensitive to how people treat me—but the atmosphere here made me feel awkward and unwelcome. I can’t say for sure if it was because I wasn’t a local, but the whole experience felt uncomfortable. The only reasons I’m not giving one star are: the pasta was cheap (under €20), and while they charged a cover fee (2 or 2.5 euros), I wasn’t informed about it beforehand. The complimentary bread also didn’t look appetizing. This was the final meal of my 20-day Europe trip. I came in with so much hope and left with disappointment. Maybe no one will care, but I still wanted to write this as a kind of closure.

Best meal we've had so far in Rome. Seafood-centric place with excellent pasta and a nice fried fish and calamari player which we shared. Not cheap but worth it. We we were only non Italians there, but the hostess spoke good English.

Da Benito e Gilberto is probably the best Italian restaurant in Rome. Amazing! Just fyi, it is family owned and the majority of those who dine there is Italian. Though the server did not speak much English, one of the workers did. I think she was either the manager or hostess. Either way, I was so pleasantly surprised by this place. We did not have a reservation so they took our name and gave us a time to come back. We walked around the area for a bit then returned. They were so friendly and the food was out of this world amazing! The seafood is so fresh, better than anything I’ve had in North America. We had the clams and muscles in a garlic white wine sauce which was fantastic! The sauce was so good I could eat it like a soup!!!!!! Then I had the sardine stuffed pasta, which the lady said was her favorite and a side salad. The lettuce is unlike anything I’ve had in the US. It’s so flavorful and good and the tomatoes are garden fresh. So sweet and juicy and amazing! Then for desert they were out of the one I had initially picked, so the server recommended this little cake. This was my birthday dinner and boy was I impressed. The cake was like this little soufflé. It was so hot and sweetly fragrant. When I used my baby spoon to cut into it, it was like a lava cake only better than anything I’ve ever had. The cake part was really good. Not too sweet or anything. It was the right amount of everything, really. Not too dry or overcooked. Perfection. Truly. It had just the slightest caramelized texture on the outside, but soft and delicious at the same time. Inside, a hot sort of custard spilled out once I cut through it. Together was magic! I’ve never had anything like it!!!! I could eat there again anytime and be absolutely happy. My husband had the lobster pasta and was really pleased, then for dessert, he got the coffee gelato which was also amazing.

A little bistro with the worst vongole pasta we have ever tasted in this world. Very dry and tasteless, and I'm not sure about the quality of the seafood used on our plate, but it’s definitely a “faute professionnelle” for an Italian restaurant.

Best meal I had in Rome. Amazing food and wine! Really friendly and accommodating staff too

A place specialized in seafood and aren’t they good! It was fresh, well prepared, and presented with options of sauces on the side. I ate my steamed shrimp without any sauce because it was full of flavor just by itself. This will be my top place in Rome to visit again.

After visiting the Vatican we needed a good place to eat for lunch and stumbled on this lovely seafood restaurant. We didn’t have a reservation but they found us a table outside. The setting was nice and the service was lovely with Valentina explaining the menu in her perfect English. The Calamari, salmon tartare, bruschetta with tomato, oyster and clams were fantastic, but the raw shrimp and prawns was a real highlight. For mains: The Spaghetti Vongole, Short pasta and prawns were delicious. The lobster linguine was definitely worth the extra. Portions were perfect size, not too big but enough. I had 2 glasses of wine. Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. Both were very nice and a good compliment to the food. For dessert: Valentine proudly told us all were homemade. Tiramisu was excellent. The Panna cotta with Chocolate was lovely soft and creamy. Overall we were really happy we found this restaurant. A definite if you are a seafood fan.

Pre-pandemic review: Came here on recommendation of a local whose air bnb we were staying at. What a great find! Food was fresh delicious, service was great, they were so sweet and accommodating to our one year old. Raw fish and shrimp platter Raw oysters and clams platter Bruschetta with tomatoes and clams Mussels and clams fisherman style Baked whole fish with potatoes and cherry tomatoes So good! We ate it up!

We accidentally stumbled into this jewel of a place. The service was amazing. They made sure we had everything we need. And the foooodddd omgggg was delicious. Please check out this gem. We are from NY and wanted to try some true authentic Italian food.

I never write Yelp reviews, but after hitting some dead-ends with food in Rome, we were so happy to stumble on this place. It is exactly the kind of family- run restaurant with delicious food we were looking for! Great pasta and seafood, cooked and served by the owners- photos of the owners with Marcelo Mastroianni and Roberto Benigni. Fish carpaccio, fresh pasta, whole fish/catch of the day, panna cotta and amaro. Wish we could go again tonight!

This place was awesome. I knew something was up when they only had about five or six tables in the whole place, their website was down AND they basically had no advertising out front. I've had this place bookmarked for months and wanted to try. We stopped by on our first night, but it was busy inside and we didn't feel like waiting. Fast forward a week and we came back 15 minutes before opening. I didn't know how to make a reservation because it's only by phone, so we just hoped for the best. The very nice lady said we could have a table as long as we cleared out by 9:00 when that table was reserved for. That's a deal. We ordered so much. Among us we got the linguini with lobster, salt baked monkfish and the sea bass for two, shrimp with house made sauces and I can't remember the rest. The waitress seemed somewhat surprised because we each ordered at least two dishes, but we ate LITERALLY EVERY MOLECULE on our plates. Topped it off with dessert. We got the tiramisu and my son got a chocolate cheesecake. My son demolished the cheesecake and didn't offer us a bite. The tiramisu was a life changer - homemade, soft and wonderful. It was almost a creme brulee-type softness and served in a cup. It was the best I've ever had and, to put it mildly, I've had a couple. It was a fantastic dinner and I will return when next in Rome. Easily the best dinner we had in three weeks worth of Rome.

Incredible langoustine, grilled octopus, sardines, and service. New favorite on the Rome list.

This place is the best restaurant we ate at during our 15-day Italy trip. Our travel agent said that it's her favorite place and we now certainly understand why. If you are in Rome, crazy about seafood and near Vatican, this is by far the best choice. The restaurant is small and family run. Everyone was so friendly and made my family of 10 feel so welcome. We shared all of our dishes and enjoyed every bite. I can't remember the names of the dishes we ordered so will just let the pictures speak for themselves. Wish we will come back soon (especially for the calamari and sweet shrimps...truly incredible).

This place was fantastic and had the owners in the building providing the services from selecting the fresh caught fish, to cooking it, to pouring our drinks. Great customer service. I have a seafood allergy and they were very accommodating. The fish they prepared for me was excellent. The price was a little higher than expected but then again they indicated that my dish was for two people.

Awesome place! But just know it's very small! Owner on site and family run. Had some of the freshest and most delicious food there. Locals definitely are present. They do take reservations or might want to get here on the early side in order to get a table. No outside seating mainly because the street it is on is very narrow. Good wine selection and reasonably price for the quality of seafood. Very warm and inviting. You also get to pick your seafood out of a display case which is a little fun. If you have any questions about what they have in stock they were very happy to answer questions. If you get oysters try and sample them all. We did 3-3-3 . Overall we will be back for sure!

When in Rome and your looking for awesome seafood place that's only the locals know about this is the place! If your planning on eating here then reservations several days in advance are needed!!! We had to wait until a week night in order to get in. We had the cooked seafood sampler appetizer that consisted of clams, mussels, sautéed cuttlefish, and fried bacala. It was all very good!! My wife and I had the Salt crust Black Sea bass for two. My Brother in law had the North Atlantic lobster Catalana style which was with pepper and tomato's, and my sister in law had the Bucatini with clams. Everything was fresh and tasted wonderful. We just can't say enough good things about this family run restaurant other than you need to go!!

Absolutely incredible from the staff to the food! Beautiful people who take such pride in their food and their clients. A must visit in Rome!

This is my second visit to Benito e Gilberto over a ten year period. Family run, in a small hosteria with no more than ten tables. An inconspicuous entrance makes this a phenomenal hideaway in a highly touristy area of Rome. Extremely fresh fish is the highlight, served both as classic dishes or as tasty originals (the pasta con fagioli e vongole is to die for). But the winning detail is that I never saw a menu - the staff (mother & daughter) simply figured out what we were in the mood for and brought a selection of fresh appetizers and mains to follow. Simpler dishes for the kids, more adventurous for the adult. Fantastic experience.