Metamorfosi restaurant

Serving Rome since late-2010, Metamorfosi has carved a niche amongst Rome's largely traditional dining scene, Chef and owner Roy Caceres doing so by taking local Ingredients and "transforming" them into plates that evoke ideas and emotions. Located on Via Giovanni Antonelli, in the Parioli area, it is immediately upon entry that guests are drawn in by neutral colors and wood, the warmth exuded by staff expected from a Michelin-starred Restaurant and service particularly attentive on Monday evening where only three other tables were occupied over the course of 140-minutes. Deliberately paced, and referencing everything from Chef Caceres' Colombian childhood to time in Japan, diners are asked to decide between tasting menu and a la carte after Water is poured, the latter chosen out of desire for specific items and beginning with benign Wheat Crisps followed by far more interesting housemade Bread with a blended spread of Honey Butter and Olive Oil. Dabbling in modernism, an iSi charger undoubtedly involved in Potato Foam with Octopus and Onions to whet palates, course one featured Metamorfosi's signature "Carbonara Egg 65°" riffing Rome's signature dish via immersion circulator with suspended Chicharrones while Scallop Ceviche approached a South American spice profile using Calabrian Sausage in place of Aji Peppers. Whimsical again with Primi, Caceres' S-foglia replacing Pasta with Broccoli surrounding Pork bathed by Almond Cream, "Encased" Risotto hinges more on the tableside preparation than anything else, a bit gimmicky though the taste and texture of Rice, Mushrooms and Hazelnuts are delightful. Suggesting the €85 wild-caught Mallard "for two," a tableside preparation plating Breast alongside Carob and Squash with its Seeds, steep-pricing became justified through the addition of satellite plates offering Confit with Chestnuts and Liver beneath Truffles lightly sweetened by Balsamic. Using English Stilton wrapped in White Chocolate as a bridge to Dessert, an unexpected but enjoyable choice in Italy, it was after a somewhat protracted delay thay "Malaga 2.0" arrived, the idea somewhere between Halo Halo and deconstructed Panettone thanks to Egg Yolk Ice Cream, boozy Raisins, Citrus and Bread.

It's been years and I still can't forget this meal. The carbonara made me emotional. I can't wait until next time I'm in town so I can return

My wife and I really enjoyed our dinner here. We wanted to do a mix of Michelin and non-Michelin starred restaurants during our trip across Italy, and this was one of the few Michelins we decided to go with. We were not disappointed. Each dish was creative, delicious, and celebrated Italian cuisine in different and unique ways. I'd highly recommend a visit to this place for a nice night out in Rome. The service started off a bit rocky. Everyone seemed a bit frantic and rushed. We waited nearly 30 minutes for our first drinks to arrive, and there were only 4 other seated tables in the entire restaurant. But everyone seemed to settle down after 30 minutes, and we buckled in for a yummy evening. First off, we liked the space: clean, simple, zen. We went with the 6 course tasting menu: 1) Paper thin bread crisps. These were delicious - like eating little crunchy wafers of air, lightly scented with olive oil and rolled wheat 2) Shrimps with celery bits, lime zest, potato foam, and black squid ink. This was really good. A great, light way to start off the meal 3) Homemade seed bread and extra virgin olive oil butter. Deeelicious 4) Raw shrimp with lulo fruit foam (I had never heard of lulo fruit before, but it's a citrusy troipical fruit from Latin America; also called naranjilla), dill cucumbers, and other yummy bits. This dish was also solid. 5) Carbonara deconstructed. This course was fun. The base of this dish consists of a poached egg that's been cooked sous video for 45 minutes. It's then placed on top of some pork cheek, and then covered in melted pecorino cheese cream. Then separately, they have a few bits of puffed pasta (that look like pork rinds). You drop these into the base, and voila! Pasta Carbonara! Fun and yum! 6) Macaroni stuffed with shellfish, and served with tomato confit, seaweed, and burrata cheese. This was my least favorite dish. Everything was quite delicious, except I wasn't a fan of the shellfish filling. It was a bit too, well, fishy. 7) Risotto with porcini mushroom and hazelnut, served in clay pot that's been sealed with a thin membrane made of porcini mushroom and onions. The server then poured some melted goat cheese on top of the membrane, and we used a wooden spoon to break through, and mix the ingredients up. This dish was really good. Both creative and delicious! 8) Iberian pork neck with Mexican chipotle peppers, guacamole sorbet, and chia seeds. Mexican, Spanish, and Italian fusion. Super tasty! 9) Peach sorbet wrapped in a flower petal 10) Banana Foster with lots of twists - Caramelized banana soaked in rum, white chocolate foam, armagnac jelly, toasted almond crumble, and mint leaf. The whole dish is then smoked. Great aroma and flavors. An almost savory dessert. 11) Cream cake with chocolate and fruit. Nice 12) Petit fours

The food was inventive and one of the best things I've eaten. My husband and I experienced the tasting menu with wine pairing. Definitely the best way to explore. When in Rome. It's a must visit.

Less is definitely more when it comes to the restaurant design at the hall of Metamorfosi. Straight-forward, no frills minimalism allows the unique details to shine. From warm wood supports that hold Sicilian plaster vases, to warm espresso colored walls and soft eggshell linens, the design stimulates the philosophy that tradition evolves with the passage of time, and experience is fluid. To dine at Metamorfosi is to indulge in innovative cuisine, paired with a selection of wine that exhibits knowledge and precision of selection. A culinary gem in Rome, with service that is welcoming and engaging. I attended Metamorfosi alone for lunch, in full anticipation of the gastronomical adventure worthy of a Michelin star. As the famous Carbonara egg was placed on my table, I immediately began to know why the chef Roy Caceres is the talk of Rome. A deconstructed carbonara, consisting of an egg cooked at 65 degrees for 40 minutes and topped with parmesan foam, crispy pasta and fried pork rinds. Crunchy with a beautifully warm and thick yolk. I also tried the raw tuna and herbs, wrapped in chard leaves. Eaten with my hands, each bite was fresh, perfectly seasoned, and the slightly bitter chard paired perfectly with the tang of the raw fish. The "Anti-Pasta" dish I had next was a complete surprise, as it contained noodles, made without carbohydrates and obtained from a fish soup dehydrated and enhanced by an emulsion of shrimp head and powder of sea lettuce. I have never tasted anything like this, and it was delicious. A slight seafood flavor, but with the texture of regular pasta noodles. What followed was the pigeon, cooked two ways. The first was tender and crunchy, with drops of blueberry vinegar. The second served in a corn leaf with creamed corn, huitlacoche and grated white truffle. For the first dessert, I bit into a white chocolate lollipop, to find it filled with tangy, aged blue cheese, and dipped in a Port Jam - a true original. Then came the Black Forest - mascarpone and re-fermented dark chocolate flakes, covered with cherry gel with a base of almond crumble and chocolate. The hall of Metamorfosi is truly an emulsion of creativity and craft, expressed on a culinary canvas. It's an experience I recommend: from the service, the atmosphere and the unique dishes.

We've had some very good food in Italy, from the Amalfi Coast to Rome. This place is in a class of its own. From the greeting at the door to the post dessert bonbon, they exude professionalism and creativity. The dehydrated seafood soup anti pasta with the seaweed lettuce powder is perfection. The risotto with clams and pecorino cream is a dish to dream about. Choose the octopus or the lamb shoulder and you'll not be disappointed. A bucket list restaurant for sure. 10 stars if I had them to give.

If I was to judge this Michelin starred restaurant like I would any other in my own country (Denmark) or in for example NYC or London I would have to go down a star because of the lack of formality. But no way I can do it in Rome. Somehow being less formal feels perfectly ok here. I would have thought of it as almost a deadly sin to serve a dish when one of the guests is not at the table (and during 3,5 hours some of us are bound to go to get up). And I'll admit it: I did twitch a little when it happened at Metamorfosi. But the staff was so wonderfully kind and pleasant that all was forgiven at once. And even though no one ever brushed the bread crumbs off our table, I still had a fantastic evening! We brought our two 10-year old boys to Metamorfosi. They are used to restaurants and even fine dining, so they are quite well behaved when we go out. But this dinner was actually the best evening I thing we've ever experienced with them. Somehow the ambience and the service made us all relax and enjoy the evening to the fullest. We got the Assaporando (tasting menu with "9 free hand creations"). The food was absolutely fantastic. Some dishes swooped us away, some dishes were just really really good. I especially enjoyed Raw tuna and herbs wrapped in leaves, this was two mouthfulls of pure heaven. And do not miss the Carbonara egg 65! And I so hope that you will get the perfect little pre-dessert with blue cheese covered in white chocolate - what a treat that was! Ok, enough with the exclamation marks. You get that this place is great, so now book a table. And do go all the way with the Assaporando and maybe even the wine pairing. You will not regret it!

Five stars for a fantastic last meal in Rome. My husband made reservations a couple weeks ago, easy process and done over email. I was a bit skeptical when I walked in since the restaurant was empty minus two other American couples. Dining room is simple and modern, good service and sometimes overly attentive (compared to my meal a couple nights ago in the Jewish Ghetto, very welcomed). Room eventually filled out around 9pm. There happened to be quite a few kids in the restaurant, all extremely well behaved and eating 10 course meals. Lucky kids! We had the Chef's tasting menu, priced at €100. Steep prices but for almost 10 courses, similar to what we would find in NYC. Wine pairings can be arranged for €10 / glass. Overall, thought the experience was fantastic. Olive oil foam with warm bread, deconstructed carbonara, tomato ravioli and lamb were excellent. Beef carpaccio with blue cheese risotto was a less memorable but still pretty good. A+ for overall experience and air conditioning in the middle of August in Rome. See pics I posted for menu!

Eater beware! Definitely over rated. Snobbish as can be. I wrote several times to the chef and management regarding my visit and didn't even receive the elemental courtesy of a response. Food was good but no where near others that are less expensive and/or have Michelin stars. Dissapointed to say the least.

We did the full tasting menu on our first ever trip to Rome. We will remember this evening in our hearts forever. Every bite of food we had was delicious and playful - even exciting. Carpaccio with risotto hidden underneath, deconstructed carbora with fried rigatoni pieces and creamy egg, white chocolate covered blue cheese with a berry compote. Every taste blended together - providing new texture and tastes in your mouth. Another amazing part of the experience was the beverage pairings. This is an absolute must. We were able to taste wine pairings differently than ever before - sweet or dessert wines paired with main or appetizer courses. Beers, gin or bourbon - all throne into the whimsical and playful pairing and matching with the courses. It is a little out of the way, but we took a taxi and had no problem for the night. This was one of the best restaurants we went to in all of Italy. We fell in love with the food and the service.

Had a lunch at Metamorfosi. It was my best one star restaurant experience in my life. Very innovative, modern but still traditional and classy. Service is laid back for a star restaurant but very good. Try the risotto for a new experience or the sea food ravioli for a stunning and great tasting dish.

Our last trip to Italy (2013) and particularly Rome culminated on our last night with a rainy swervey taxi journey to Metamorfosi from Piazza Navarro. We arrived in a cold drenched evening to the welcoming fresh modern interior of the restaurant. We were visiting in February, the off tourist season, and there were very few diners, this was all too fitting an ambiance for the evening. We were treated to a nine course meal and drink pairings facilitated by the sommelier. EVERY plate delicious with a quick explanation and beverage history. Of particular note, the pumpkin risoto wrap was the star, although the menu is ever changing. If you have a chance in Rome, and want some great deconstructionalist gourmet gastronomy in a city rife with old guard traditionalist ristorante, take a rainy day taxi to Metamorfosi.

I will preface this by saying that we requested a vegetarian meal. When we arrived to Metamorfosi, inconspicuously tucked away on a street in the outskirts of Rome, the staff was kind and attentive and brought us upstairs to a comfortable table. We were then told that we could opt for a 6 course vegetarian menu if we liked, which we decided to go with. We were sadly underwhelmed with the overall flavors and sensibility presented, but also feel that perhaps this is ultimately not the kind of place to really enjoy a cuisine that focuses on the essence of plants or fruits. For us, we were served nearly all back to back dishes involving very rich creams. With the exception of one dish which I will mention later and was excellent, there was never a rest from milk, butter, and cheese. No palate cleanser or nuance between dishes. Perhaps to some this would be a dream come true, but for us, we were hoping for something more refined and less vulgar and excessive. If one eats each dish individually--there are nice, well executed qualities (though honestly, nothing extraordinary.) But back to back, in a flight of dishes, the effect is very different. It's nauseating, stomach ache inducing. We yearned for refreshing tones and textures-- some vegetables, plants, something nourishing, but this never came. It was clear that this menu was not carefully or thoughtfully conceived. It lacked any kind of sensitive narrative linking one dish to the next, telling stories with ingredients, or echoing emotion through food, as one would expect in a Michelin establishment. It felt like the kitchen staff was pushing vegetarian dishes our way just to fill us. The constant offering of bread became annoying. The overall tone felt so gluttonous it disturbed us-- we looked around at this restaurant of total privilege and found it so removed from real Italian life (and not in a cool, surrealistic, Fellini-esque kind of way...) Of all of the dishes, the only memorable item was a creation likened to a taco made with a swiss chard leaf with an underbelly coated in corn flour-- within it was a chickpea fritter with beautiful herbs and a delightful sauce which, altogether, you eat with your hands. Its obvious that this chef is not as talented or knowledgeable when it comes to food that doesn't involve meat-- which is unfortunate, as this is the future of food and the well being of our planet. He should take tips from Rene Redzepi. We were still happy to have tried it, but were not impressed and actually felt a little ill at the end of the meal :( It was also very expensive and not at all worth the experience. Actually, the whole evening left a bad taste. We had a much more delicious meal for under 30 euro in Rome the following evening. In a city with so much delicious food and under such a difficult economic period, a successful Michelin star restaurant such as this should be honored to have made it so far and should treat each and every guest with respect and total commitment. We did not feel this was the case. In fact, there was a point in the night when the chef came around to every table to introduce himself and schmooze with guests and made eye contact with us, but decided we were not important enough to acknowledge. Metamorfosi is a gimmick. We will say though that the sommelier was lovely and helped us find a wonderful Abruzzi wine which we very much enjoyed. But, we came to Metamorfosi for more than wine-- we wanted to discover something meaningful, which we didn't.

My dad and I have been to Rome before and when we were there we had some REALLY bad food. This time when we went to Rome again, (with my sister) we wanted to go to really good restaurants. My Dad banged his head on walls and finally found a place that sounded good. That restaurant was Metamorfosi. We had to go far to get there because it is near Rome's rural areas. That is a great sign that it's a good restaurant. We found it and it was a okay area, but when we walked in, the atmosphere was wonderful. It was lit very well. Our coats were taken and we sat down. In the menu there was wines, but the high light of the menu was what you could get on the menu that was tasty. You could pick from 3 assortments of food and you picked from one. We picked what was called the classics and because my sister is only 6 they only gave her 3 things from the group of food. During the meal I will say I NEVER EVER thought to myself is the food coming. At some places I will think to myself if the food is coming. They were always doing something at your table like giving you wine, new silverware, or tasty food. They gave my dad lots of wines to taste. I'm only 12 so I can't have my own cup of wine, but my dad would give me a sip. The wines went VERY well with the food they were served with. We got five things, but they gave of treats so I would say it was about 8-9, but some of them were just a bite of extraordinary food. The first thing we got was a bite size piece of sardine with a special sauce. During the whole time, we were getting new breads to go with our astounding meal. We also got a black homemade pasta with a clam powder. We also had eel with ice cream. A funny thing is that the ice cream was on a rock and my Dad thought it was something you could eat and he tried to eat it! We had lots of laughs at his expense HA HA. Desert was the best. The waiter had come with a bowl covered by another bowl. Then they lifted the top bowl up and a ton of fog came out of the bottom bowl. It was a pudding with homemade whipped cream with a green and orange jelly like candy in the pudding. I could sit here all day in front of my computer writing about all of the good things they did at Metamorfosi. They really tried to make us happy. I would give this 10 stars, but I can only give it 5. To bad. Go there when you can.

Metamorfosi was at the top of our list when visiting Rome. It was a true dining experience. We ordered a la carte instead of the tasting menu. The amuse bouche was a potato foam "soup" with mussels and squid ink - it had a beautiful silky texture with amazing flavors. One of my favorite dishes of the night was the fish ravioli. The ravioli is stuffed with a seafood broth with a combination of raw and cooked seafood on top. Another favorite was the octopus dish served with octopus liver. I highly recommend visiting Metamorfosi when you're in town!

Disappointment. Period. We were not seated or helped based on where we were from.

We came here actually a few years ago, but I realized I never gotten around to writing a review. My boyfriend and I came here while we were in Rome. We wanted to try something different, so we decide to come to Metamorfosi, which specializes in molecular gastronomy cuisines. We were blown away from the beginning. Our meal started off with some bread courses (yes, courses as in, there was more than one). All of the bread was freshly baked, and there were about 4-5 varieties. During our visit, we were notified that there was a visiting chef from Japan that will be making our entree. It was an excellently cooked eel dish. The most memorable dish - the egg. They had this sous vide egg dish that was to-die-for. One advice, we took the local subway to the restaurant and thought we will do the same thing back. The local line stopped service 9 or 10PM (I forgot, but it wasn't something I was awared about). The restaurant is a bit outside of the city center. So if you're doing a late dinner, the restaurant can call a taxi for you. If you plan to take the subway back, do check the time to make sure you reserve a time that'll give you ample time to eat and make it to the subway station before they stop service. If I'm ever back in Rome again, will definitely come back here.

Very slow service. Food was good but not interesting. I have better Italian cuisine in NYC.

I normally don't write reviews but I really feel the need to write one here. For a supposedly high end restaurant, the food was sub par. We started off with an okay amuse bouche to start, then everything went downhill from there. We wanted to order one classic chef tasting menu plus one person ala cart, but was told it was not allowed. So we both ordered a pasta dishes plus an entree. First of all, the "Pasta of the sea" was under cooked, hard, and raw. To make it worse, the mussel powder they put on made it very fishy, simply non edible. The other pasta was plain non memorable as well. Honestly, you can get any pasta at any tourisy restaurant on street and it would taste better. The "squab" my wife ordered for entree tasted gamey. If that's how squab taste like, then we will never eat it again in future. We are glad that we didn't do the chef menu since all dishes were bad. The only good things were the free bread and water. We will never come back again! It was a big bill for a disappointing experience!!! Stay away!!!