Il Pagliaccio

This 2-star Michelin restaurant, a MEMBER OF LES GRANDES TABLES DU MONDE, truly impressed us. We opted for a 14-course meal with wine and alcohol pairing, and it was an incredible experience! To start with we had a restaurant within restaurant experience having the whole room all to ourselves. The food was so creatively presented and unlike anything that we’ve ever tasted anywhere else in the world dinner lasted almost 4 hours and it was such a beautiful experience.

An Unforgettable Dining Experience! Yesterday, my son and I had the privilege of dining at Il Pagliaccio restaurant, and it was truly an unforgettable experience. We chose the 10-course tasting menu with the enchanting name “Circus.” From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the chef himself, who exuded kindness and enthusiasm. The staff who attended to us were incredibly professional, friendly, and attentive. The charming ladies with bright eyes and radiant smiles guided us through each dish, explaining every masterpiece in exquisite detail. The wine list was nothing short of luxurious, featuring an impressive selection from around the world. As for the dishes themselves, they were nothing less than a gastronomic explosion! Each small plate was a symphony of flavors, offering intricate taste notes and delightful aftertastes that left us in awe. Every bite was a masterpiece, and we were utterly captivated by the creativity and precision of the cuisine. We couldn’t be happier with our choice of restaurant for our short one-day trip to Rome. Exceptional food paired with impeccable and gracious service made for a truly memorable evening. With heartfelt gratitude, Elena Darcy.

We visited Il Pagliaccio on a whim while in Rome, and the experience did not disappoint. We chose the 10 course Circus tasting option with the wine pairing. Each dish was unique and beautifully presented. The dishes ranged from unique and interesting to truly exceptional. A few standouts were the tortella, duck, and greens desert, but every dish perfectly complemented the experience. The wine pairings were also quite good, and the variation between was thoughtful and well timed. The service was also of the highest quality, and the staff was very attentive and professional. The experience was finished off with a departing gift from the chef and staff, which was a nice touch.

Excellent meal, will definitely repeat. We had the 16 plate Parallels experience and the food was reliable delicious, imaginative, and well executed. The service was very friendly and professional. There was one failure: we specified no mussels for one of our guests and a player arrived with mussels, we pointed this out and they brought a new plate, which also had a mussel! Finally they brought a third plate with no mussels, but the sauce still tasted of mussels so it was unclear if they had been used in the preparation. The waitress apologised but when you potentially put somebody's life in danger you should make more of an apology. Own up to your mistakes. That said, the rest of the experience was excellent.

Good experience. We did the 10-course tasting menu, with 3-wine pairing. 3 wines option was a great option, not too much but well fitting the menu. Food was good in general, but sometimes you need to be open-minded and be a bit adventurous. Service was excellent matched the Michelin stars rating. The farewell gift was a nice gesture.

This is not a typical restaurant. The food was so inspired and so many flavors. Every dish was an explosion of flavor more intense than the last. We had the circus 10 course tasting menu - my absolute favorite was the tortellini with duck inside. But everything they brought on the tasting menu was exceptional. The service is so top notch and the experience is so worth the price. You will leave both satisfied and happy! So many interesting techniques used and flavor combinations introduced. The reimagining of cacao e Pepe was wild.

Best meal I have ever had, I opted for the 10 course lunch on my first vacation in Rome, and man was it worth it. The servics was on point, the food was perfectly seasoned and cooked, but most importantly they did an amazing job of telling a story and making it an experience for the diner. They did a great job at really letting the quality of ingredients speak for themselves while still having a sense of wonder and creativity. If I could rate 10 stars I would. There’s a reason they have 2 Michelin stars, I don’t know when the next time I’ll get a chance to come back to Rome but when I do I know I’ll be back.

Somewhat underwhelming. We did the 10-course tasting menu - the food was great. Service is impeccable, peaceful ambience. We asked for wine pairing but somehow no such option was offered/available so this really diminished the experience. The sommelier just gave us this extensive book of wines. The pauses between some of the dishes were quite lengthy and it took some time to get the bill. The farewell gift was a nice gesture but fairly bland.

Incredible experience from the moment we walked in until the moment we left. The atmosphere was lovely and the food was impeccable. The staff was great for the most part as well. Our only complaints were that we were seated for a fine dining experience and were interrupted by an extremely rude and obnoxiously loud (clearly wealthy because they couldn't stop announcing it) Danish party next to us as well as some rude, very inebriated, Americans next to them. They did take away from our experience a bit and I wish the staff had encouraged them to act appropriately in a restaurant of this caliber. We also were served a drink of some kind that tasted alcoholic after we had put on our preferences that we did not drink and we did not order anything other than water. When I asked the staff if it contained alcohol they never came back with an answer so we didn't drink them and still no one said anything.

Just finished the 10-course Circus tasting menu, was absolutely fabulous. Have dined at many Guide Michelin restaurants before, and this definitely makes our top 10 list. Service was impeccable, the courses were creative and influenced by Asian/French/Italian cuisine. The sommelier's recommendation for a bottle of wine went perfectly with the majority of courses, and he recommended a red for the one course that did not match. The plating and presentation was on point, with different dishware reflecting the Asian and European influences. Seating was good, in a room with a few other tables, no one too loud, different languages being spoken. Would highly recommend a visit, and will definitely re-visit the next time we happen to be in Rome.

This is not a typical restaurant. The food was so inspired and so many flavors. Every dish was an explosion of flavor more intense than the last. We had the circus 10 course tasting menu - my absolute favorite was the tortellini with duck inside. But everything they brought on the tasting menu was exceptional. The service is so top notch and the experience is so worth the price. You will leave both satisfied and happy! So many interesting techniques used and flavor combinations introduced. The reimagining of cacao e Pepe was wild

What a most exquisite dinner and total evening experience!!! Greeted by the Michelin Star chef Anthony Genovese upon entry (and then again upon departure) and the most personalized and attentive service from a well executed team, our 12 course food (Circus/surprise @ € 200 pp) menu, and 6 course wine (€ 140pp) pairing was absolutely sublime. Presentation was unique for every dish. Taste was superb. This was one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences that I'll forever remember.

I just finished my dinner at Il Pagliaccio. In fact they were an alternative to La Pergola however, I'm so happy that I tried it over La Pergola. Everything was impeccable- from the greeting at the entrance, to the food, the wine pairing, and the amazing service; I seriously never had better. French Laundry in Napa has always been what I compare all other Michelin star restaurants to but let me tell you, il Pagliaccio blows French Laundry out of the water! The food was beyond expectation and the price was very reasonable. I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I encourage everyone to give them a try if you want an amazing dining experience.

Creative Michelin two star restaurant with wonderful service. Intimate setting with excellent selection of alcoholic beverages to pair with the meal. A few dishes genuinely surprising/confusing (in a good way) without approximating the ridiculousness of restaurants like Alinea.

You will leave stuffed and FOUR HOURS after you enter. I'm almost at 20 Michelin stars but never had a meal lasting this long. I will say most of it went by quick as delicious morsels comes out continuously. The setting is intimate. The entrance was a little hard to find as it was a locked single door. The wine was some of the best I've had. The food eclectic, worthy of the 2 stars. If you're not a huge eater, don't get the 10 course, it felt more like 15+ courses, admittedly I was too full to enjoy the last few offerings. I'm knocking off a star because some of the food was confusing and didn't seem to go w each other.

Italian tradition meets eastern influences in one of the most creative and best executed fine-dining experiences in Rome and perhaps all of Italy. The (now) two-Michelin starred dining room welcomes guests to an intimate and relaxed atmosphere, with few close tables, dim light and dark decor. Service is expectedly top of the line, with experienced, attentive and knowledgeable front of house staff ready to take care of any diners' needs. The sommelier service is particularly great, making excellent wine pairing recommendations for every menu. The food is obviously the star of the experience, with few tasting menus available to diners, each perhaps worth its own visit. We tried the "circus" menu, consisting of 12 creative dishes ranging from a beautifully realized vegetable wonton to probably the best squab I have ever tried. An unforgettable experience!

I must agree with a few others who describe the restaurant a disappointment. The staff was courteous and knowledgeable. The food, not so good. It started with no confirmation of food allergies prior to serving ANY food item, such as the Amouse to start. One of our party is lactose intolerant. The largest tasting menu, Circus, we were told is one with more creativity. We opted to have two courses from their traditional menu. Most of the courses leaned heavily on vegetables for flavor and texture, and yet this was not their vegetarian menu. We struggled to find unique flavors or interesting textures. None of which was apparent. The staff felt very mechanical in their movement throughout the meal, lacking warmth and feeling "welcome". The wine we ordered needed time to breathe and/or be decanted. The sommelier/waiter should have done this without us telling him. The disappointment is so much that we didn't even order coffee when it was offered.

Deserves its two stars. Outstandingly creative and delicate flavors, with each course building on the one before. The restaurant aims to put together new tasting experiences, with nods to traditional Italian cuisine. A really superior restaurant.

This restaurant was an absolute delight. I had the eight-course tasting menu, which was a mix of Japanese-, Italian-, and French-influenced dishes. (Everything from seafood served over a flan with flavors more common in Japanese cuisine; a mushroom pasta; a mashup of foie gras, sorbet, and a sort of fish carpaccio.) The food itself was well made/tasty, but I thought this restaurant particularly excelled at interesting/unique flavor combinations and whimsical plate-ing. All of that--plus great wine and service--made for an outstanding experience. I had looked at Yelp before dining here and almost reconsidered, but I'm really pleased I did not. I'm surprised at the negative tone among some of the more recent commenters. Perhaps some of the reviews can just be chalked up to bias in motivation to comment, but I found the food/wine/service to be top-notch. I also dined at La Pergola on this trip, and while I enjoyed that restaurant as well, Il Pagliaccio won on overall taste and creativity. (And that's no knock to La Pergola, which was excellent on both.) Plus, while this restaurant is definitely not "casual," the atmosphere is a little more relaxed than the white-table-clothed La Pergola, which at least for this American, is a tiny bit stuffy.

Disappoinment defines our night at what should have been a great experience. The good - the staff were great. Each was courteous, attentive and knowledgeable of the menu. The bad - the food. We had the largest tasting menu called the Circus, and each course was either off, or just bad. It started with a horrendous deep fried pocket of uni that tasted of nothing but fry oil. Most courses had some good ideas in there, but all had issues usually dealing with balance. Almost all of the courses were very one note and imbalanced, and more of a chore to eat. Their best dish was the oxtail - beautifully braised and rich. That oxtail was some of the best I've had; however, it was served with oxtail polenta that was also incredibly rich. So, you got rich on rich in rich - very imbalanced. Unfortunately, we just did not have a good experience on the night of our visit. It was a very expensive disappointment with very few good memories.

Do yourself a favor and skip this place. It was my first time in Rome and I wanted to try fine dinning here. Unfortunately this was extremely mediocre. This place is small, maybe 10 tables in totle. I give them an " A " for creativity but a " B - " for food. I'll just add that it extremely tough to find good food in Rome. Hope you fare better than me if reading this.

What a wonderful experience. From the time we arrived to the time we departed it was first class treatment. Amazing and unique dishes from this decorated chef. Absolutely worth it!

Checked into this Michelin 2 stars restaurant in Rome. Very nice and great service. We ordered 10 corse meal. Each option was great. Recommended.

I'm grading four stars for the gourmet tastes and superb service. It's owned by top chef, it's a Michelin rated restaurant, it's the elite hip at its best. I did not like it. Yes it's beautiful yes it has new tastes, but I prefer the Italian food at its classic rustic form. I'm fed up with pomposity and with paying top money to see food being presented as an art show. I can't argue with the quality or tastes, but personally it is not what I was looking for in Italy. And again - personally, I think michelin is disconnected from real life and I prefer real food. I wont reject some amusements as an appetizer or between the courses but I want to be able to differ between the amuse Bouche and the actual food. I would like to rate it below four stars since we came out feeling ripped off, but I wouldn't dare...yes I'm a chicken. See my pics. I'll let them speak for these overs.

An incredible Michelin two star restaurant. Chef / Owner Anthony Genovese makes a bold statement of true Roman cuisine. Seriously, the philosophy of the restaurant alone is intriguing: "Colors; movements; shapes; ingredients; spices; horizons; emotions; places; respect; all in a circus of flavors". It truly delivers and then some. Two degustation menus for spring, (eight course, €130; 12 course, €150) or ala carte averaging €50 per dish. Each delivers! Start with an assortment of amuses that hint at Roman sensibility and bold flavor. Continue with courses that cause a sensory overload like the red prawn, golden carrot, black rice, yellow passion fruit; a gorgeous palate of colors. Follow it up with a course called "Remembering my grandfather", a simple and perfect al dente ziti pasta with salt cod, the essence of chili and cauliflower crème. Such incredible balance. Such incredible flavor extraction; delish! The sublime courses go on and on. An expansive desert service consisting of a pre desert intermezzo to freshen up the palate. The ungodly good caramelized pear, honey and ginger ice cream, juniper and port. A brown bread ice cream and caramel chocolate truffle, crisp cornflake sand (brown bread ice cream is the basic ice cream base plus finely torn bread for the chewy, textural balance). Desert service concludes with a selection of petifores. Despite their their bold, colorful appearance, all of the deserts show a remarkable finesse and only a delicate sweetness allowing the base flavors of the ingredients to shine through. Global wine list with extreme emphasis on Italy. Use the sommelier. It is impossible to get through the 500 plus selection list. The list is heavily weighted towards Italian gems but truly stick to the Lazio DOC for the best pairings. Wines selected all sub €150. Small 28 seat dining room. Strict no mobiles, no photos policy to ensure the privacy of their guest. (still wondering how some people took pictures of the food). Privacy is so important that they lock the door to the restaurant. You need to be shown out. English menu's. English spoken. Advanced booking a month in advance required. All things considered, a great investment in pleasure at just shy of €850 inclusive of service for three. The clown is no joke giving us a glance at just how creative and elevated Roman cuisine can be.

The experience we had in Il Pagliaccio was like a dream come true. We celebrated my husbands birthday here and from the first greeting to the last course and goodbye, all was just wonderful. We tried to memorise every effort the chef had created and we must say that that dinner we had was the best in our lives. The service, the ambiance, the tastes were all excellent and made us feel ourselves very special. We will recommend this two michelin star restaurant to everybody whose road come across to Rome. Thank you very much Il Pagliaccio to be one of the best thing to remember in our lives...

Poor ambience. Tables are very close together. No view. Restaurant service was terrible. Table area was not clean. I am not sure why this restaurant was recommended to us. We left as soon as we could.

This restaurant is amazing. Great food, great service. Intimate. It's totally worth it (if you're into this kind of restaurants, because it's not cheap) Cheers.

Amazing. Il Pagliaccio is amazing. We waited for the hiccup, the course that was an afterthought. The flavors that didn't meld and dance on your tongue. It never came. We did the 10 course tasting, and really you'd be foolish to order a la carte anyway as it's priced absurdly high. I have never encountered a tasting menu where each course was at such a consistently high level. Never. All restaurants, at all star levels, that I have ever been to do not compare, and I will edit this if it ever changes. Good wine list, the bottle we ordered with their guidance was as incredible as the food. Friendly service, much less stiff than a lot of Michelin restaurants seem to be. Staff was excited to hear us gush about the food. 6 Yelp stars never in question, this clown is no joke.

We have eaten at Michelin rated restaurants around the world and this is one of the very best. From the exceptional service to the knowledgeable sommelier our 8 course tasting menu was a unique experience with fun elements and surprises along the way.

If you're willing to pay among the highest prices in Rome for very mediocre food unconnected to its Italian heritage served in a stiff setting, then Il Pagliaccio is for you. It's an example of what happens when, in search of stars, a chef abandons his roots and creates a menu he thinks will please the Michelin inspectors. My wife and I had eaten at Il Pagliaccio several years ago and loved it. We returned this month and were extremely disappointed to find that, while prices had increased and art, crystal, wait staff uniforms, etc. had been upgraded, the food had gone seriously downhill. Our meal was uninteresting in both taste and appearance and the wait staff had become cold and formal. There are much better, and far less expensive, restaurants in Rome.

At this level, you reasonably expect not mere competence but real imagination. It's hard to critique our ten-course dinner here, except to say that it wasn't particularly memorable. The presentation is pleasing and the composition sounds interesting, but the plates fall flat. The service is good, although poorly paced and a bit snippy. The gap was so huge between the palate cleanser and the main desert, I actually called for the check. The setting, too, is somewhat mediocre. The decor feels a little dated and struggles to establish, again, a memorable theme that supports anything going on with the food. Even the ambient music was a random hodgepodge of Lionel Richie era tunes (not in a good way).

A definite disappointment. I was invited to join friends for one special dinner while we were in Roma. Oh, how I was looking forward to this 2 star experience. The a la carte menu was intriguing and read beautifully. However, we chose to honor the chef and decided to order the 10 course tasting menu. To be perfectly honest we made the wrong decision. There was not ONE memorable bite of food. Not one "OMG, I want more". Of course, the presentation was lovely and the service attentive (but not outstanding). We were without wine for our last 3-4 courses which is unacceptable. Overall, it was average and not exceptional in anyway when it should have been outstanding and worthy of its rating. However, we dined with a very sophisticated 8 year old who thoroughly enjoyed his lamb entree and the special treatment he received from the wait staff. I wish I had a magic wand to waive and make the memory go away. With all of the amazing food in Roma we definitely made the wrong choice to dine here.

The ambiance was great but I knew it wasn't a good sign when the cab driver couldn't find the place as it's on a side street and looked more like a NYC flat. When getting to the door it was locked, my guess is that the odd looking club across the street may have had drifters wonder in. I made the reservation about 3 months in advance due to most of the restaurants like La Pergola (only 3 star Michelin in Rome) being booked up already and we had a goal of at least one Michelin per city and more if possible. This was the last of the higher end restaurants for this trip and no Michelin star restaurant (or any restaurant in that price range) had failed to impress up to that point, so we felt there was little reason to worry. Joining us were two friends that had joined us for a few dinners in Capri and they were out of this world great so they felt very comfortable trusting my selection even though the price range was a little out of their comfort zone. We were greeted, seated, and soon placing orders. First cocktails, above average but not top notch and my friend had to have his remade. Bread and starters, very good but not great. I had a soup that I enjoyed but I think was the only one. My friend found a fruit fly in his 1st course and was very annoyed for the get go so I called for the server and sent it back. They soon brought out a replacement (same thing) and guess what was in that? Yep, fruit fly. This is a meal that my friend would never spend this much on at home so of course he had very high expectations so you can imagine that he was not the happiest person there. The server was apologetic the first time and for the drink but the 2nd time I called him over for the fruit fly he seem agitated, almost like a how dare them. Main course, I had a lamb that failed to move my taste buds in a positive direction. The lamb seemed to be void of any flavor (at least any good flavor) and they seemed to try to cover up for it with sauce that did little to complement the lamb. At this point I think we were all ready for this dinner to be done, the service was good but not great and nothing about this place said Michelin, star, or Michelin 2 star. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel feeling like an ass for finding this place. Horrible ending to an excellent run of very good restaurants. The food over all was a seven out of ten on this trip with some restaurants being great and some being total misses. That being said I still think Spain has better food. I didn't have one bad meal there be it a pub or fine dinning. Enjoy!

First, let me say that overall the ambiance, including the generally good-humored servers, truly is wonderful. My wife and I now live in Rome but have eaten in many fine restaurants in the United States (including my favorite, The Herbfarm near Seattle) and around the world and the general atmosphere of Il Pagliaccio is certainly worthy of that company. However, the food (while very expensive) is - simply - bland. The menu descriptions sound intriguing, but for whatever reason the flavors don't "pop" or stand out in any way. For example, for starters we had a dish of foie gras, amberjack and peanuts (E40) in which neither the fish nor the foie gras distinguished itself - the peanuts might as well have been missing entirely. We also had the calamari, artichokes and tomato dish (E35), in which each of the individual elements was just fine but the combination did not elevate any of them. For primi we had the mozzarella gnocchi, snails and bitter herbs (E35): again, the combination provided no benefits and the gnocchi were mushy instead of fluffy. We had also the guinea fowl ravioli in pumpkin broth (E35) - essentially deconstructed ravioli with no detectable flavor from the guinea fowl, sitting in almost flavorless lukewarm liquid (tasting strongly of chicken broth). You get the picture. Look, we really wanted to like the place partly because is is nearby, and I understand that restaurants can have off nights, but for the prices charged the food provided just is not interesting or flavorful enough. Finally, as I mentioned, we really like the service staff but they were clearly trained in a genteel form of upselling - genteel but nonetheless pressuring, both on the food and the wine side. The wine list has a handful of bottles under E100, but many more at multiples of that. When I selected an albarinho (which has been very popular in the US for several years now) which cost "only" E40, the sommelier rather pointedly asked if I was "familiar" with the wine before agreeing to serve it. (The wine was excellent, by the way, and the best thing about the meal - the sommelier decanted the wine so I don't recall the maker.) In short, we enjoyed being at the restaurant on a winter night, but the food was only adequate and not worth the cost of the experience.

Having eaten multi course tasting menus with wine pairings at numerous highly rated restaurants across the US and Europe I can say without qualification, that this was the most disappointing experience of them all. Of the 10 courses, my wife and I can not recall one that was memorable. The wines were quite good but that offers no redemption for a tasteless array of forgettable bits and bites. Michelin should be absolutely ashamed of itself for granting Il Pagliaccio a 2 star rating. We knew that the price was going to be astronomical but we were willing to pay for what we anticipated to be a fantastic "2 star" gastronomic high. Again, what an abject disappointment. 4 October '18

Be prepared for an epic dining experience. The service at this restaurant is impeccable ... the food is inventive and bold chances are taken by the kitchen in many cases with delicious results. The presentations are drop dead gorgeous ... It's expensive but you get what you pay for. Enjoy!

A standard 1-2 star Mechillin. Not impressive but good enough. Great service. A little bit disappointed by mediocre pasta dishes and below average main course.