Baci di Roma Trattoria

Lunch at Baci’s and my Caesar Salad and Pesto Penne Pasta lunch and service were good! Hope to see you next week for lunch!

We went here a few weeks ago and it was wonderful… tonight’s meal was something else entirely. I wanted to contact them directly to tell them how the evening went, but their website doesn’t accept comments even though they have a contact form (error message). I tried to email to the catering email, and it bounced back. So Unilocal it is!
We visited your restaurant for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The dinner was perfect, the service was great, and we raved to our friends. Tonight we decided to visit your restaurant again. We arrived at approximately 5:30. We were given menus and were then left alone to wait for our server (Kristin) for a very long time. The restaurant was out of kids menus, and she was only able to give us three choices for the kids from memory. We arrived in time for the happy hour wine, and had been given that menu. She charged us full price for the house Chianti as opposed to the $ 4 happy hour price.
The wait for the food was well beyond reasonable. Plates came out one at a time, with a few minutes between each. Once be had been served, she walked past our table twice after we had finished our food and did not stop to check on us. We finally asked another server for 2 boxes and our bill. He returned with the boxes and said he had asked Kristin for the bill. We waited for a ridiculous amount of time, asked him again, and finally walked to the server station to ask for the bill again, handing the credit card over for faster service.
Finally the kids (and my aching back!) couldn’t wait any longer (we were going on 2 hours of sitting at this point!) so I took the kids towards the door while my husband waited for Kristin to return with his credit card. Apparently our leaving got her attention, because she blocked our exit and seemed to be stopping me from taking a walk with my kids. I pointed back to my husband and said, «He’s still waiting for you.» She then remembered that she had his credit card somewhere so we must not be trying to leave without paying, let us go, and headed back towards the register to get the credit card.
This simple dinner in a NOT busy restaurant took over two hours! We were so disappointed after having such a great first visit, and truly insulted that the one thing that made the server pay any attention was her perception that after sitting there waiting for her for 2 hours, we would leave without paying. I feel like retracting the positive comments I’ve put out in the community for your restaurant after this evening’s neglectful experience.

MUST READ**********THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE***********
This was the worst experience — three of us gals on a Saturday Night wanting to catch up on life, kids and family — the one night out from the family… AND we get «heckled and bullied» by a white haired, belly up to the bar, sad, old, man in his 50’s who is a Quote «regular». He is obnxious with his words — foul mouth ignorant man who has nothing better to do than drink with a buddy at the bar. He tries to engage us in conversation — cleary we were not interested — he beomes rude and «tell us to leave the restaurant» that we were not wanted there. Unbelievable — bar none the worst experience — btw — the staff only commented — HE DOES THIS ALL THE TIME — He is a REULAR — WOW — WOW — I would not WASTE my time or $$$ at this establisment — Roman Cucina, Manga, Managa — Lugi’s to name a few — ARE 10x BETTER and you will not get an attitude…

I’ve been here 3 times because it’s right around the corner from home. The food is unremarkable and I’ve tried different dishes each visit trying in vain to find a winner. On one occasion, the Margherita pizza was limp and soggy in the center. How does that every get served? Another time was takeout for the worst Mozzarella Caprese salad ever. I don’t think it’s possible they even tasted the tomatoes although the pallid off-​red color should have been a clue.
I generally review places I like to help support– businesses that deserve it. After all my poor experiences here I figured I should speak up since there are other local spots much better. Mangia Mangia and Lino’s to name only two. As for the wait staff, they were very nice every time I go, but the service is sporadic at best. Hard to flag down someone if you’re in the back and yet who would want to be near the window view of the parking lot or by the entrance door? Just couldn’t win here and don’t recommend others bother.

We came here for my dad’s bday. I was hoping that the décor would be a bit more interesting, but the ambience was nice.
The server was clueless about everything. She didn’t know what wines they had or anything about the food.
Overall we had a great time. Their house wine is delicious and reasonably priced. And, the salmon salad is amazing.
Fortunately she got our orders right and everything tasted good. I live in San Diego, but maybe I’ll give it another try when I’m up in the OC.

Wow. Wow. Wow. What a difference a month makes… My husband and I heard that there was a new owner at Baci di Roma so after a 9 month absence we decided to give it another try. it was in one word, AMAZING !!!
The new owner Phil, welcomed us back with open arms. His Son Gary, is a total sweetheart as well. The fresh bread served with olive oil, balsamic and a garlic olive tapenade is delicious. The wine selection is fantastic. We started with the Beef Carpaccio. It was perfectly sliced, had the perfect amount of capers, cheese, greens and olive oil and melted in your mouth. Then Phil and Gary did something for us that was the nicest gesture any restaurant operator has ever done… The reason we quit going to Baci was due to an issue regarding a Lobster risotto special. Even though it was not on the menu, Gary went out and purchased a lobster tail and made us a delicious lobster risotto dish on the house. We were shocked at their thoughtfulness.
Next we had the Chicken Luciana. This dish used to be hit or miss. Last nights was the best I have ever had. The chicken was tender and flavorful, the wonderful sauce was balanced just right. The pasta was awesome and the veggies were fresh and cooked perfectly.
Next Chef Cheeks (who is a wizard in the kitchen) surprised us with what he knows is our favorite dessert, his famous chocolate soufflé… OMG goodness !!!
Our server Armando never missed a beat. He remembered what we like, and how we like it, as though we had last been in 2 days ago.
We have eaten at some of the finest Italian restaurants in the world, and Baci di Roma these days is the best. Between the service, the amazing food and warm atmosphere, we will be at our favorite table 35 very often…
Ciao Baci di Roma !!!

I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t for the Groupon I bought.
Prices are average $ 12-​$ 18 per plate.
Food was decent, not super great but not bad.

I adore this place! It’s right by my work and I only get a half hour lunch, but that’s enough time for me to pop-​in for their soup/​salad lunch. For $ 8, I can get their absolutely delicious minestone soup (HOT!!), a salad with homeade Italian dressing, a drink, and start off with bread with olive oil/​balsamic vinegar and some crushed green olive mix.
I’ve also tried this dinner salad they have with sweet corn, strawberries, and feta — they make this homemade vinegarette that is SO good I wish they would bottle and sell it. I totally get cravings for it. That salad is a little pricey (dinner time prices) around $ 11, but worth it because you still get the bread too.
I’ve recommended this place to all my coworkers and they loved it too. Great ambiance and they have happy hour everyday from 4−7pm with ½ off appetizers and a nice little bar area.
5 stars from me! :)

3.5 — rounded up to 4 on Unilocal.This is the closest restaurant to my house (location-​wise) and I come here ever so often. The food is pretty solid. I didn’t come here for a few months because my boyfriend swears that he got a bad mussel in a seafood dish, but we have since returned and the food has been good ever since.
The Groupon for this place re-​peaked my interest. They make good, Napoleon-​style thin crust pizzas. It’s nice to have this place so close because I can just walk over and order a delicious pizza to go. They also make a mean pollo involotini. The service was superb last time I came here — we had an Italian waiter, and he treated us like angels. Just as the men do in Italy. It is a bit on the expensive side, even for salad which isn’t hard to make.
Nice Italian restaurant close to my house.

Solid Italian food here. Not totally amazing, but very nice and decently priced for what you get. I still like me some Sebastiani’s or Caffe Gazelle for amazing Italian food, BUT this place has a really rock star happy hour that isn’t even mentioned on their website. It goes until 6pm and gives ya’ $ 3 beers, $ 4 house wine (their red selection for house wines= chianti, pinot, cab, merlot = nice amount of varietals to pick from) I tried their chianti and cab and both were really nice for the price! YAY for not serving crap as your house selections! They also have ½ price appetizers during happy hour which also rules.
What we tried… mostly appetizers since they were cheap and we wanted to play sharezies.
Calamari – good with a really nice red sauce for dipping. Light batter and just enough flavor to it to not be boring.
The raw filet dish (I have no idea what it is called in Italian). Sliced thin and smothered in capers and fresh cut basil with a sprinkling of parm on it – SUPER YUMMY.
We also did the baked garlic/​brie/​toast points dish and this was good as well. The brie was a little less flavorful than I would like, but it worked pretty well with the garlic but had to depend on it for taste mostly.
Cabresse was sort of just there in my opinion. Good but not the best I have had. The cheese again fell flat. I slapped some balsamic on it and it picked it up nicely.
Gorgonzola fettuccine with chicken was hyper-​rich and the sauce started separating while we were eating it which made it look greasy. Still tasted good though.
Tiramisu = the men-​folk ate this and liked it, but the Italian-​snob-​roommate-​of-​mine bitched that the lady fingers were way too plentiful and not soaked enough to be all that. That being said – he still ate it all.
All of the ingredients tasted really fresh, the place is cute and the service is great.
Will add it to my best happy hour list because it really is reasonably priced for muchies and booze!

Fabulous food and superb service! Great fresh fish, pizza, lasagna, everyday they have some great specials. My favorite is the Pollo Romano (not on the daily menu-​but if the can’t make that try the Pollo Involtini) and the homemade cheesecake-​I don’t usually even like cheesecake but this is amazing! Casual dining or a special occasion this is the place. You don’t expect a location in the Ralph’s shopping center to have such great atmosphere or food– but it does.

FYI: Half of the ingredients are bought from Ralphs next door. They are always out of something or another.
The wine bar set up is really bad. The counter is really high and the bar is not deep enough so your poor knees have nowhere to go!
The owner is rude and grumpy (unless he is drinking with his buddies in the corner of the bar) In a place like this you would expect a neighborhood «Cheers» type of feel but it is the complete opposite.
The positives… Ummmm The positives… uhhhh… Yeah I would say to steer clear of this place.

Overpriced and the food is nothing special… The only reason I came here was because I got bought a Groupon at 50% discount and saw that Unilocal gave it 4 stars.
I got a pizza (thin crust) with Italian ham (I forget what its called) and asparagus, and the ham was very salty and it was placed sparingly and there was there was about a small hand full of chopped asparagus plopped right in the center of the pizza… it is probably the size of a medium dominos or pizza hut pizza for $ 16… It wasn’t awful tasting but definitely not worth it.
Also got some pasta with prosciutto (if I remember correctly) and it was there was pasta, sauce, and again, I felt like they sparing about of meat… It looked like they put small hand full of bacon bits in it… I forget the price but our total order came out to be $ 32 not including tip.
The waiter was nice, the décor is nice, but what what I ended up eating there was so plain and boring. I would’ve been happier going to Olive Garden…

My wife and I dined here two nights before Christmas. We were looking forward to having their Osso Bucco with risotto. The last time we dined here was about 8 months earlier and we enjoyed it very much.
When we arrived, we were told to seat ourselves anywhere there was an open table. It was dinner time and it was starting to fill up but I noticed there were only 2 waiters for the entire restaurant. Service was slow. The first thing we noticed was a menu change. This is usually not good when this happens as we noticed a few items were taken off of the menu including the Osso Bucco and some cheap dinner specials were added. I said to myself no biggie so I ordered the calamari fritti with the spicey marinara sauce for starters. This was good.
For the entrees, my wife ordered the linguini and clams with the red sauce and I ordered the veal scallopini sauteed with porcini mushrooms in a pink sauce flamed with cognac. I have had this in the past and it was quite good then. When our entrees were brought to our table I noticed right away that I only had 3 small pieces of porcini mushrooms and the rest of the mushrooms were cremini mushrooms. I thought porcini meant receiving porcini mushrooms? The sauce did not have the rich taste like I remember (maybe not flamed with Cognac and the lack of porcini mushrooms?) and the veal portion was small and very tough to chew. My wife’s dish had over steamed clams and the cosistency was rubbery. There was virtually no red sauce and the pasta was drenched with pasta water remenants and a little bit of red sauce. Not tastey at all, small portions, and very expensive.
Our bill was $ 80.00 and some change (includes 2 glasses of Pinot and 1 dessert). All in all this was very expensive for sub-​par food and service.
We will not be back as there are so many other good Italian places to go to near by in the area.
Food = 2 stars
Service = 2 stars
Ambiance = 2.75 stars

Good Clean Neighborhood Place but over priced.
Heard good things about this restaurant and finally I visited for dinner.
This place is very clean and simply decorated making you feel home. The decorations are nice but lacks character since they use typical Italian French restaurant posters like ad of a tomato sauce, wine and such. But the restaurant is roomy and comfortable for family gathering or a quiet date.
Tried Calamari Fritti, Aglio e Olio (Spaghetti with garlic and olive oil), Risotto Don Juan di Marco (Chicken Risotto with creamy cheesy sauce), Cannoli and Tiramisu ad dessert.
I felt price was too high given the quality of the food. Also did not think the food we tried were authentic. Marinara sauce that came with Calamari had a kick with red pepper flakes. This was good. However, both the Aglio e Olio and Risotto also had red pepper flakes. Quite puzzling. When you want to enjoy the flavor of Garlic and Olive Oil why mess up with red pepper? Also never had risotto with red pepper before. The food are above average but not what I expected as «Authentic or Homemade» Italian food. I have eaten worse food even in Italy anyway. So do not be discouraged and try them and decide on your own.
But I would recommend sticking with Pizza or Sandwich instead.
Oh the Cannoli was way too dry and old and the cheese filling was neither fresh nor cold. The tiramisu was also so so. I could have made much better dessert and they are not worth the price.

I’m in the high 3’s here. Good food, great service and while I usually satisfy my Italian cravings by cooking at home, this place is my first choice locally for Italian.
They do the best they can for ambiance in a strip mall, so a dine in won’t feel like a sub shop, but I’d prefer to take out here.

to the last Unilocaler for this business: regarding the sandy shellfish. STOP EATING SHELLFISH IF YOUR GONNA BITCH ABOUT A LITTLE BIT OF SAND IN THE SHELLFISH.
geez
food here is good and people are super friendly unlike some other Italian places around here. so far haven’t messed up my order or try to serve me rocks that they call bread. ill definitely be ordering or dining in here again soon.

II tried this place shortly after it came into being, ordered a small pizza thin crust. The crust was thin, but not at all crispy, just the opposite, way too soft, not good.
Tried this place again about a year later, had the spaghetti bolognese and it was better than average, but nothing close to great.
Months later I came here and got some pasta dish, something funezio? I ordered it with spaghetti, Italian sausage, in a light cream sauce. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and the sausage was spicy and very flavorful. The cream added subtle richness to the sauce. It was excellent, as was the garlic bread, crisped well on the outside, inside buttery w/​bits of garlic, a little cheese, herbs, etc.
Tried the pizza agan and it was much better, very thin crust with quality-​tasting (and a good amount) of cheese as well as flavorful toppings. The crust still could have been crisper.
On the inside, the décor was cool with a couple of Roman/​Greek-​looking columns and cool posters on the walls. The staff was also always super friendly and accommodating.

Another place I found in the Entertainment book (buy one get one free up to $ 13). I’m torn as to whether this place rounds to a 3 or 4, but I’ll say a solid 3.25. Probably wouldn’t go back, but had a good experience. We showed up about 30 minutes before closing on a weeknight, so service was quick and friendly too. We got some warm focaccia with olive oil and balsamic to start. Food roundup:
House salad: A cut above your normal salad — field greens, shredded carrots, mushroom, and red onion with their creamy italian.
Penne al Fumo Venezia: Perfectly al dente penne in dressed lightly in a creamy tomato sauce with bits of pancetta. Wasn’t spicy as advertised and the pancetta pieces were small. For a price of $ 14.25, was expecting a heartier protien content, but pasta portion itself was large.
Pollo Luciana: Two thin chicken breast cutlets perfectly cooked in a tasty mustard cognac cream sauce with mushrooms and onions. I was lapping up the sauce on this one, deeelish! Came with a side of that perfectly al dente penne in marinara sauce. Bit hefty at $ 15.95 for the size.
Lowdown: Location is in a strip mall and décor is a cut above your mom n pop place with tasteful décor, kinda would look like if Cheesecake Factory became a small one room dining establishment. The food was good, but I’d say a little pricey if we didn’t have the coupon. I wanted to try the calamari, but decided against it since it’s $ 11.25! Service was friendly and our server was on top of everything (we were eventually the last ones there). Lunch is a bit cheaper. For the same price if not a bit cheaper, with a great local neighborhood and intimate feel, I’d prefer to go to Cucina Alessa in Newport.

«You get the best meal awaaaard!» my husband said to me. We have the Entertainment book, and we always visit restaurants in the book that we have never been to before. Each time, we decide who ordered the «best meal.» This time my meal won! This is a GREAT restaurant!
The place is very clean and has a nice atmosphere. Not extremely original, but very nice. I have to agree that it doesn’t feel like a mom and pop place, but it is run by a family (opened a little over a year ago). I met the owner’s sister. She was very nice, though she did try to sell us on private parties, wine tasting events, etc. She was doing a little PR work, I appreciate that.
The food was awesome. I had the pollo involtini. AWESOME, I tell you. It was chicken stuffed with fresh spinach, pancetta (this was a little salty, but good), and provolone cheese. The whole thing was topped with a cream sauce and mushrooms. It was really a great meal, worthy of the best meal of the night award! My husband had the chicken picatta. It was good, but fairly basic as far as picattas go. Nothing to make it really stand out. This is why the restaurant gets 4 stars instead of 5. The picatta was good, but didn’t knock our socks off. My meal, however, did knock my socks off. AWESOME, did I mention that? The bread was really great, very fresh and served with oil and vinegar.
The service was good. We always had everything that we needed and were treated very well.
There seemed to be a lot of people working, even though the restaurant was just over half full (on a Friday night at 6:30). I hope that the economic situation in our country doesn’t affect this place. It should have been a packed house! It is hidden a little, which could account for the low numbers. It is worth looking for, so just TRY IT! And then tell your friends about it. This is a place that should stay in business for years to come.