Romano Italian Street Food

I really want to like this place as they have a great concept. The fact that they are so tight on the toppings is what kills it for me. They give you a generous portion of pasta then proceed to give you a micro-​spoon of each topping you ask for. Don’t even think of ordering artichoke hearts, because you’ll only get artichoke leaves as they break off the leaves and you get artichoke mush and not a whole heart of an artichoke. They are extremely skimpy on all the toppings and its usually not hot. Yes, I have tried more than once, but that was enough for me. For fast food pasta, go to Italian Pie or even Olive Garden. Price wise you won’t regret it.

When this place closed I was sooooo upset. It was my absolute favorite in veterans. The food was so fresh cleans and hearty. The staff remembered me and my husband and I love the spivey tomato sauce. I really miss this place.

Appears to have closed. Signage gone & the building is up for lease.

place was clean (there were no other customers) staff was friendly enough. we had a pizzetta & a pasta bowl & 2 teas. best thing was the peach mango tea. was our weekend eat out splurge & def not worth the $ 25 it cost us. food was tasteless to say the least. kind of an insult to real Italian street food.
not sure of the ingred in marinara sauce, highly allergic to onions & got a offhand remark about «there’s no onions» without much concern.
saddest part is spent too much money & now cant have an enjoyable weekend experience :-{

Y’all gotta try this place. Super clean. Super fresh. Super healthy and super friendly staff. It is on Veteran’s in Metairie, the parking is located behind the restaurant instead of in front. I think this may confuse some people but Im not sure why.
The name is a bit deceiving as the food is not exactly street food. The first time I went I was expecting fried food you hold in your hand. They do have a couple finger food items, but this is not the jewel of the restaurant.
Instead they have build your own pasta, salad, and other HEALTHY Italian dishes. I love the selection of ingredients and the build your own salad bowl or pasta options. They have a great slection of various meats, every single one I have had is very tasty.
be adventurous and add the fresh vegetables. Some are hot and some are cold but when combined, they are outstanding! It is obvious at a great deal of thought was given to how individual ingredients can be assembled. Everything works together beautifully.
The inside of the restaurant is like a café with trendy warm décor. They have industrial looking wooden bars, tables, chairs and great window seats. If you dine alone, you can look out the huge glass windows and people watch on Veteran’s Hwy, the heartbeat of Metairie.
There is a respectable selection of adult beverages, beers and wines. They are all neatly on display behind the register, adding an air of fun to the ambiance.
The little carafes of teas are super cute and the flavors of the teas are great. They have your usual selction of soft drinks but the teas are so very good they have unsweet, (never bitter) mango, and raspberry. My husband who doesnt usually like flavored teas, loves the raspberry.
They run specials often, and they even have kid’s night some time.
I never walk out feeling guilty, and I never feel like I sacrificed flavor for healthy eating. Try this place and expand your horizons!

This is a build your own pasta place. Choose your meat, veggies, sauce while they move you down the line making it for you. The food lacked flavor which is what I would expect from Italian street food! Don’t think I will be back

We’ve only eaten here once and didn’t know how it was till we got there, seen the sign and decided to try it out.
Was a pleasant change from typical restaurants, i would definitely eat there again.
i can’t say what we ate because i forgot what we ate but do remember that the food was good, was made to order in a bowl or a wrap type food.

Really good food for the prices.
I didn’t get the feeling that the ingredients were frozen or not fresh like others have said, I felt their ingredients were very good.
Overall I’d recommend checking them out. They won’t knock your socks off, but they are a great option for a change of pack meal at a low price.

Had the potential to be great, but just ended up ho hum. It reminded me a lot of Izzo’s Burrito, where you pick your meal, your meat, your sauce, your toppings etc. and they make your giant pizza wrap in front of you. It is an interesting concept and fun to be a part of your entire meal selection. However, the actual taste and food quality is nothing to brag about. I would probably go back again to try some other flavors… variety is the spice of life. But basically came here to check it out and find something not too unhealthy.

I think this place is great. The people who work there have always been friendly and willing to answer questions about the various toppings. I see other people on here say they aren’t getting big enough portions, I have never experienced that. I always get a good amount of all the toppings. All the ingredients tasted very fresh and the shrimp are always top notch.

*sigh* I wanted to love this place SO HARD, but I’m overall pretty «meh» about our experience here. It’s a little confusing figuring out how to get in he place if it’s the first time you’ve driven by – the (very small) parking lot is behind the building, and you have to take a small driveway to the left to get to it. It kind of feels like a drive-​through when you turn in (even though it’s on the wrong side), which was making the «we’re in the wrong place!» warning bells go off in my head. The setup was a little odd walking in as well, because the door 99% of people will be going through is at the back left of the place, and things weren’t marked very clearly. Where on earth am I supposed to go?
The inside itself is clean and fresh and vibrant and colorful, which I love. The concept is pretty straightforward and has been covered thoroughly here so I won’t go into it again, other than to say the idea is great. The execution was a little off, though. Although the toppings available were fresh (yay!), I would have loved to see more choices, and the quantity of sauce (two tiny ladles?!) of sauce on my pasta just wasn’t enough for my liking. I was also expecting that super-​amazing authentic pasta like we had in West Palm Beach (which is what The Guy swears the pasta in Italy was like when he studied there for a semester), and was pretty disappointed in that regard as well.
I’ll probably give them another shot after they’ve been open for a while longer, give them a chance to get some more of the kinks ironed out, and hopefully have a better experience. This was back in mid February (yep, I’m that far behind), but I’m definitely not in a rush to get back there anytime soon when there’s sooooo much amazing food around, you know?

Stopped in on Tuesday for lunch. We observed this little restaurant being built and decided to try it this week. So disappointed in the wraps. They were cold, too big and not very satisfying. The style is VERY similar to Subway. I had the one of the Chef’s special’s and my husband had a Shrimp one. The wrap dough was so big I had to rip it off to get to the meal.
New Orleans Italians have high expectations of places that taut Italian fare. I hope that things improve rapidly in the taste department.
On a positive note, your website is fantastic but your implementation of the food is a disaster. Your site was the reason that we picked your place for lunch.
Very clean atmosphere.

Nice atmosphere. They constantly keep it clean. You have a choice between a wrap, pasta, or salad. I had angel hair pasta with chicken and alfredo sauce, a very basic dish, and the portion was very fair and for $ 7, I can’t complain! It was very delicious! My boyfriend had the wrap with wheat angel hair pasta, italian sausage, spicy tomato sauce, cheese, lettuce, bacon, etc. It’s like Izzo’s with an Italian twist! for $ 7 – 8, it was pretty worth the money and satisfying! Around $ 20 to feed us both, why not!

Because I can’t directly respond to Ben’s response, I had to create another review.
Thanks for taking the time to comment on my response but honestly, your comment demonstrated to me the culture that y’all have there.
The ingredients were not fresh, and the prices were not reasonable. I compared y’all to Taco Bell and Subway because that was exactly the quality of the product you were serving.
I went with another friend of mine. We chose the toppings that were most appropriate for our meals. She got a wrap; I got the pasta. I’m not complaining about the topping choices.
I’m complaining about the quality and quantity of the toppings. The amount is slim to none. As I said, when I go somewhere and get a topping, I do not expect an artichoke quarter– broken up. That is taking cheap to a whole new level.
Not sure what I was supposed to do about the 5 pepper slivers and the other lackluster ingredients. They certainly weren’t enough to really cover my pasta. I’m not sure how this «falls solely on the choices of the guest» when there’s nothing else that could be substituted. And to make that comment shows me what type of customer service I would have expected if I were to complain.
Definitely not sure how you expect to remain open in the New Orleans area since we’ve got plenty of awesome restaurants that serve great food. With excellent customer service. I’m sure that once the newness of the place wears off, people will realize how sub-​par everything is.
I don’t like to complain about places, but this place was just plain awful. And to know that the restaurant is manning Unilocal to ensure that there’s only good reviews speaks volumes of seediness and shadiness. I will definitely not be back and will tell everyone about this Unilocal experience.

Fresh clean atmosphere. Very friendly staff. We even had a table visit from a manager in a chef coat.
I ordered the salad with grilled shrimp option for 6.95. You also have the option to add 6 items besides your salad dressing. I love that they carry fresh kalamata olives and not the canned ones like Izzo’s and Subway, etc
All of the ingredients were extremely fresh actually. We tried the chips with artichoke dip and connoli pieces with a cream cheese and chocolate chip dip. Yum! the sides were reasonably priced at $ 3.
Three different types of teas. Peach mango, lemon green tea (unsweetened) and raspberry.
Another nice feature is that you can place your order online before hand and choose dine in OR take out. This feature starts when they open at 11.
Parking lot is on rear of building. We were there at 11:30 and had no problem.
My next visit I want to try their spicy tomato cream sauce over angel hair and maybe add artichoke hearts and shaved parmesan;)
Overall everything had a very good fresh flavor and priced right.

Tried it for lunch and I really enjoyed it. I had the combination salumi and grilled shrimp over romaine lettuce, topped with cucumbers, red onion, mushrooms, artichoke, peppadews, shaved Parmesan and ranch dressing. Tasted fresh, was very filling, but not heavy. Husband had the Italian sausage in the wrap with spicy tomato sauce and a mixture of toppings. It was very good also, but he said next time he will probably add a small salad to it because it didn’t quite fill him up. He loved the flavor and the bite I had was very good.
The manager/​chef came out and checked on all the tables himself, which I thought was a nice touch.
I could easily see myself eating here for a quick lunch on the weekends.

This was an excellent deal for the price. I got a huge bowl of pasta with various toppings including Italian sausage, which was cut into coins and fried or grilled. Very good! I also tried the artichoke dip, it was only like a dollar extra. I didn’t realize it was a cold dip, I was expecting it to be hot, but it was really good and spicy. The flavored ice teas were nice. I do not like the cardboard bowls, I feel like the cardboard imparts a cardboard taste to the food. But it was a great deal, I got all of that for about $ 11 and had enough for leftovers the next day.

Think of this as a Chipotle/Qdoba/Izzo’s/Felipe’s BUT with Italian food.
You pick either a wrap, pasta, or salad, and then whatever protein & toppings you want.
Personally, I’m a fan. I purchased a HUGE bowl of pasta loaded with fresh toppings — including pancetta — for under $ 8. It was enough for two meals and it was very, very good. I wanted to try their housemade «chips» with the artichoke dip, but after seeing the portion size on the pasta I knew I wouldn’t have room. Next time!
Parking can be a challenge, as there is a very small lot behind the building. Otherwise, I have no issues with Romano. I’ll definitely return for a quick and filling lunch.