Katy M.
Yelp
After a full day of sightseeing, we arrived at this pizza joint with, in video-game speak, my life-force teetering on the verge of red. We were beyond hungry and eager to dive into some piping hot pies. According to Rick Steves, this place fills up. So we arrived early, put our name down for a reservation and went to stroll down via Nazionale, one of Rome's bustling but not very bucolic main streets.
Given our hunger we decided to eat unfashionably early and sat down to our table at 7pm. We were the second couple to be seated and unfortunately the dark-wood paneled seating area, though comfortable and very classic, still smelled of cleaning fluid. Not pizza.
Our waiter was helpful as we tackled a hefty order. The first dish arrived quickly along with my enormous carafe of red wine and a crisp mug of fresh Peroni. A silky, steamy-creamy rigatoni with egg and lardons, with fresh pasta perfectly al dente. Then came our fried artichokes, a specialty of the house, the batter was fairly tasteless and thick, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The pizzas came out, we did a "fancy" Pizza con scarmoza e porchini and a not so pricey margharita pie. The cheese was nearly translucent on the margharita and the scarmoza cheese was so heavy it was almost tough to cut through. I knew this was a thicker crust pizzeria but the crust was so thick it tasted like melted cheese atop a stale raft of focaccia bread.
We ate half and then felt silly. Had we really just eaten a disappointing meal in Rome? It seemed unthinkable... But we had.
By the time we left the dining room was full, mostly tourists, but everyone seemed happy, our meal just left us wanting. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what I expected for a roman pizzeria!