Trattoria Roma

So yummy! We had to wait a bit for the reservation, but we didn’t mind. The food was great, wine was great, and prices were perfect. The décor was cute… and I liked that it’s small. People complained about the slow service, but if you go out to dinner with a group of friends and good wine, why would you want to rush it?

The reviews don’t lie – this place is cramped, but you probably should expect that in Chicago! Very nice atmosphere, just don’t expect to have an intimate conversation.
Staff was exceptionally warm and friendly; service was fast and attentive. I actually felt «at home» rather than like another annoying tourist…
Menu is small but diverse. I opted for a shrimp/​spaghetti dish while my husband choose his comfortable ravioli. The spaghetti was blah… I can’t believe it… I added PEPPER to an Italian dish! Ravioli was good, but nothing memorable. The bruschetta, however, was outstanding!!!
Enjoy!

My partner and I came here for our anniversary.
The noise was absurd. The service was decent and the wait staff was helpful but awkward. The food was blah. We had a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, which was sadly the best part of the meal. The complimentary bread was hard and bland. And they give you table pepper to go with your oil and Parmesan, which I thought was cheap and classless. For appetizers, the portabella mushrooms were flavorful but ruined by the cold, canned small sliced mushrooms they covered the portabellas with; the caprese salad was not good… the ingredients tasted like they were just brought from Wal-​Mart and the mozzarella was disgusting. For main course, the veal was decent but parts of the meat were cold… interesting. The chicken breast with vegetables was tasteless, had no flavor whatsoever, and half cooked.
We will not be returning.

We had a poor experience at Trattoria Roma. We had reservations for dinner on a weekend evening, and we weren’t seated for a half hour after our reservation time. Once we were seated, it took over 15 minutes before anyone came to get our beverage orders.
The service throughout the evening felt like they were phoning it in. No one came to check on us and while the restaurant was bustling, it just felt like no one really cared whether or not we were having a good experience.
The food was also disappointing. We started off with mussels marinara, and were immediately turned off by the strong fishy smell. We sampled a few anyway but were so disgusted that we did not even eat half of the appetizer. The seafood platter was slightly better but the mussels included in that were also of poor quality. The pollo Roma was fine if a little dry and one of my friends who ordered pizza also did not eat all of his meal because the crust was a strange flavor. The only person at our table who was satisfied with her meal ordered the pasta — so I’d recommend that if you go there.
Positives: the salads were tasty, there is a good wine selection, and the ambience was fun and intimate. I really wanted to love this place — seated in the basement while waiting for a table, I got a very home-​y, grandmother’s Italian kitchen-​style vibe — but the service and quality of food were so poor that I won’t be back. For me, there are too many great restaurants in Old Town to take another chance on Trattoria Roma.

What a disappointment. Fond memories going back decades will remain but last nights experience was a dealbreaker. How about a menu with ink so light it couldn’t be read? I couldn’t imagine putting that in a menu on purpose. When mentioned to the host that neither of us could make them out he half shrugged and said that’s all they have. Not getting off to a good start we decided to keep it short and sweet and In all fairness the waiter rescued it, by walking us through it, but for what I can’t say.
Overcooked dark brown fried calamari was so rubbery it actually had my jaw hurting we left ½ of it @ the pizza, unremarkable @ best. The crust was actually hard. Haven’t been for 7 yrs or so, but remember it’s hayday in the mid 80’s. No, you can’t go home. I wouldn’t go back and actually resented having to pay for it.

Pizza with eggs is not exactly a great idea. My husband ordered that here and it felt like eating raw egg with toppings. I ordered the salmon special and it was pretty bland. Forget flavor, it didn’t even have enough salt on it. The mushroom appetizer was fine but I did notice the same sauce was used on the spinach side I got with my Salmon. I don’t care much for ambience as long as the food is good. But, if the food is disappointing — that really ruins my mood. Just ended up going to this place because it was the only one that had tables available on a saturday night. Place was pretty empty and now I know why. Not going back again!

I went to Trattoria Roma for the first time with a Groupon, and the food was wonderful.
The décor was unremarkable to me. Their menu is all very appealing, I would love to go back and try their wine flights. I ordered the Polenta ai Funghi (polenta with mushrooms in gorgonzola cream sauce) and an Insalata della Casa with grilled salmon.
I sat at the bar; the bartender was helpful but not particularly friendly. It was early dinnertime, so the restaurant was fairly empty. When I ordered, he asked how I wanted my salmon cooked (medium rare), which blew me away. The salad with salmon arrived first, and the salmon was cooked perfectly. So delicious! The polenta and mushrooms was also very well cooked, and very rich.
Sadly I don’t live in Columbus anymore, but when I’m in town I’ll make sure to go back and try more of their menu.

Ignore the Décor!
If you can ignore the nightmare-​of-​Italy décor, you’ll eat well.
Basic flavorful Italian food is what you’ll find at Trattoria Roma.
We started our meal with a wonderfully crisp better-​than-​your-​average fried calamari. The accompanying marinara was rich and spicy. Next a caesar which was tasty and plentiful. Good to split if you only want a little salad. I had a rigatoni with spicy sausage that was delicious, the sauce had a great thickness to it and the sausage a nice bit of bite. My dining companion ordered chicken (very moist) in a pesto sauce that was excellent. We did not order wine, opting for cocktails with dinner — which were quite generous.
Our server was friendly and efficient and the food runners pleasant and well informed.
I spied some dishes on tables around us that looked great, and I’ll be returning some day to try the pizza and the lasagna.
Trattoria Roma is a good bet when looking for something relaxed and hearty in Old Town.
Recommended!

This place was a disappointment. The menu is pretty limited and nothing tasted particularly fresh or great. Nothing innovative going on, which would be fine if ingredients were spectacular.
The mussels were a hearty portion but smelled a bit fishier than I would have liked. I only ate half just to be safe. The pizza I ordered, which came with olives, mushrooms, artichokes, prosciutto and an egg, was pretty bland. The egg had already broken when it arrived and the whole point is for the yolk to break and ooze when you cut into it. The veggies did not taste fresh. The prosciutto was the best part — nice and crisp, almost like bacon. The crust was forgettable and underseasoned.
The bottle of wine we got was also pretty bad — drinkable, but didn’t add to the meal at all. The service is what bumps this review from 1 star to 2; our waiter was friendly and nice and never neglected us. For his sake, I wish he worked in a better restaurant!

I live right by this place and go here just about every weekend and never get sick of it. I love it that much more in the summer because of the cute outdoor patio that allows for the best of people watching on Wells Street.
I’ve had mostly good experiences with my food here. The pasta dishes are average to me, but the pizza and salads are AMAZING. Especially the arugula parmesan pizza — I get it just about every time.
The staff is generally friendly, but not overly enthusiastic. However, I’d highly recommend this place, and I’d go around sunset to enjoy the full ambiance and bring a friend, a date, or both.

Cute restaurant with attentive, friendly waiters and an interesting menu. The food just didn’t deliver. We ordered 3 different entrees and I can’t say I liked any of them. There was one dish that was tasty but so salty that I couldn’t eat more than half the dish. I live in the neighborhood so I probably will give them another try. Hoping it was an off night.

I tried Tatorria Roma for the first time this past weekend. I can definitely say that I was not dissapointed. The locale is hidden in the little gem of the city called Old Town, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city. Although the building is quite small, it is charming in it’s own right and has relatively fast service even for a busy weekend night. I ordered the White Fish special of the day and it was great! I’m not much of a fish person but I can definitely say that it savored my appetite.
I am only rating this establishment three stars due to the very small dining room and limited menu items.

great service, great wine… Good pizza and good plate of food, great dessert it was some type of chocolate ice cream with something in the middle. Would come back in summer to sit on patio

Vaca to Italy in this cute place in OLD TOWN! Small, but not generic like Olive Garden or as classy as Maggiano’s, but a great stop. They have a nice lounge downstairs too.
We checked out other ones in the neighborhood and there menu’s and this one we heard about from before, so we came in on a Thursday evening around 7ish.
Pizza is amazing. YES~ I saw and got pasta dishes but that is what I will get next. It was made on a «naan» type of bread (if you like Indian food, you’ll understand how soft the crust was). Perfect amount of sauce, and my friend got chicken on it too!
You have to appreciate trying a variety of taste at this place. They spiced up everything real well, you can taste the strong bleu cheese on the pizza, the lemon on the veal we got, and the spices on the scallops were amazing.
The reason I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 was because of the service. Super, super, super, slow. But the food came fast after we ordered so that was nice. Can never go wrong with extra bread with oil and Parmesan. That’s always my favorite part about Italian restaurants.

This is a small, intimate restaurant. The menu is not extensive, but what is offered is very good. And, of course, there are daily specials.
My veal dish was very tender and flavorful, others had ravioli, and raved, and the lasagna, again, got outstanding reviews. None of us had room for dessert, which, from the offerings, was our loss.
Our server, Damian, was TOTALLY outstanding and should I return, I would hope to have him as our server. And I WILL return.
I do recommend reservations given the limited number of tables.

My husband and I hosted my brother-in-law’s engagement party here over the weekend and it was a SUCCESS! We knew the newly remodeled Tuscan-​style lower level room would be the perfect private space for our 30 guests. We had our own private bar/​bartender, bathrooms and a coatroom! Our bartender, Pedro, was fabulous! He was extremely attentive and friendly. The manager, Marty, was also present that night to help make sure everything went smoothly. He was a pleasure to work with from the very beginning.
We had a variety of appetizers being served — pizza w/​multiple and fresh toppings such as arugula, Italian meats, & veggies. Also, calamari, chicken skewers and stuffed mushrooms and they made sure to replenish the food all night long! Marty was also very flexible with our requests. We paid for all our guests to eat and a very reasonable 3-​hour drink special was available for guests to purchase. They supplied the wristbands. Everything was just perfect. No ridiculous food/​drink minimums or room rental fees like most of the places we looked at required.
People are still calling/​emailing us to say how much fun they had and how DELICIOUS the food was! It is definitely a place my husband and I will use to host future parties/​events! Thanks Marty and Trattoria Roma for being exactly what we hoped for and more!

let me first start off by saying i would of easily given this place 5 stars if the incident after our meal wouldn’t of occurred.
my boyfriend and i came here with a
, and since we saw all the great reviews on here we were really interested in checking out this place for ourselves.
the food and overall feel of the restaurant was amazing, we got the ravioli and rigatoni. very delicious! the place has a small cozy atmosphere and was really romantic.
everything was going great until we got the bill, we had to spend 100 dollars to get 50 dollars off, and the
states that an 18% gratuity would be added prior to the discount. We decided to give (what we thought) an extra tip to our waiter since we thought the service was excellent!
as soon as we walked out the door, we got literally CHASED outside by our server!
he started asking if the service was good in a sarcastic manner then dropped on us that we only gave him an 8% tip, while going on and on about how we were completely out of line for not tipping him well enough.
what!?! i have never experienced anything so unprofessional and rude in my entire life. what kind of server literally chases you outside (leaving other tables unattended) to try to get more money out of us.
we asked to see the actual bill to look it over and see if we were the ones who made the mistake, (since we thought 18% was automatically added due to
) yet of course he wouldn’t show it to us and said «it’s not a big deal just for future reference»…
um?
what.
such a shame since we wanted to come back here before i leave town,
the food is really excellent.
but really? having someone chase you out the door and literally threatening us and making us feel bad about something that could of easily been fixed is bizarre.
will not be coming back.

Had dinner here after a seeing a great Second City show. It’s a small but friendly place with a private room for parties downstairs. We started out with the Grilled Calamari, which was very good and a great change from the usual fried calamari – I wish more restaurants prepared their calamari this way. The Bruschetta was decent and fully loaded with diced tomatoes. For an entrée, I got the Spaghetti Scampi, which was pretty basic. It had decent servings of scallops but only three small pieces of shrimp. We finished up the meal with the Tiramasu, which was huge – easily enough for four or five people to share.
All in all, Trattoria Roma is a decent place. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there, but its an alright place to dine if you are already in the area and in the mood for some Italian food.

YOU GOT ME AT HELLO! I tried to use my GROUPON when my girlfriend came in from L.A. since I had been holding back using it just with my boyfriend. Well the guy who answered the phone and email was simply unapologetic and so rude I had to write to GROUPON and tell them what disgusting service I had and not to even try to resolve it because if such rude service over the phone, lord knows how evil they’d be when they found me inside their restaurant holding a coupon I purchased. He pretended not to know what coupon I was referring to, maybe because they wanted you to spend $ 50 on Campbell’s tomato soup like another reviewer posted. So glad I did not waste my time there, and hope to save some good souls.
I live an 1 ½ away from the city so there was no chance of me stopping by, since I only go there for special arrivals or occasions with friends and family. I would feel bad if the owner of the restaurant doesn’t even know that the FOOL who answered the phone was such a douche.
This is the email I sent to the restaurant with no reply so then I forwarded it to GROUPON to get money back:
Dear OWNER of Trattoria,
I am writing to ask if you have received contact from GROUPON regarding the email below I had sent to them regarding someone in your management that might of corrupted your service and made it turn out to look like a scam.
Thanks,
Anne
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Subject: RUDE RUDE RUDE!
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2009 16:21:24 –0500
Good Day,
This email is in regards to the ‘Trattoria Roma’ coupon, oh excuse me GROUPON I purchased back a long time ago hoping to make a rare trip back to the city as I live in the western suburbs and anyway. When time came and I wanted to take my boyfriend, and my girlfriend who was visiting me from L.A. out using this, no one answered the phone! (Maybe because it was up to the date that the coupon was going to expire? I am so glad I did not dine there to come to discover I couldn’t use the coupon! What would have happened then? Food Fight!) This was during the month of July! I called and called wanting to use the coupon, even left a message and NO ONE EVER called me back. I could have given them such a great review.
Today I just decided out of curiousity to call them back and realized someone RUDE, named Thomas had answered and told me to basically «shove it» with his attitude and because he said «I’m not the owner.» I hate this restaurant and I haven’t even been there. The day that I realized they must have gone out of business I was about to write to you all but this just blew me over the top. I even checked their reviews to make sure they hadn’t gone out of business and I guess I was right. I called all during Friday, Saturday, when she was arriving and not a single «hello» answer just a beep and I talked into the voice message, not even sure anyone would call me back or reach it, and sure enough no one did. Then to encounter this. Please do business with well-​like minded professional people. Thomas just made one of your service providers smell like rotten tomatoes.
I would like to hear back from someone ASAP. Their number is 312.664.7907. I do not care if their stupid coupon says it expired on 7÷28÷09. By not ANSWERING THE PHONE, I could not have possibly showed up to their establishment and this was not only a waste of $ 20 I want back, but a waste of good faith. They’re a complete sham.
Thanks for having a great service and beware of lunatics,
Anne

Let’s get straight to my favorite part of the meal: They serve Negroni’s here. My favorite drink in Italy. Campari and gin… what’s there NOT to love? And the negroni’s at Trattoria Roma reminded me of what they tasted like in Italy. Perfection.
It was surprisingly not crowded on a beautiful summer Friday afternoon. Well, maybe that’s due to the fact that we opted to sit inside and not deal with the sun blazing down on us? Who knows. The waiters are super friendly here and didn’t hate on the fact that we stayed here waay longer than we probably needed to!
Since I adore anything cheese related, I’m a true sucker for Formaggio pizza. Although all the other items on the menu looked amazing, I just couldn’t resist the thought of four cheese pizza — and the waiter agreed with me. He even recommended ordering it! And… it was delicious!
Another charming thing about this restaurant? The handwritten menus that seem to change daily! Great spot in Old Town!