Walked by this place in the afternoon looking for the laundromat and arrived just as they closed…read morefor the afternoon siesta so we were unable to grab some lunch. We decided to go for a late dinner as we had enjoyed what we had seen at the tail end of the lunch service. What a great choice!
We were seated at a table for two across from the pass through from the kitchen. Normally I would not be overly pleased with this seat location, but the sheer volume of activity made it the place to be. We watched as a large number of dishes at a time were assembled and whisked off to their awaiting guests.
We ordered a bottle of red wine from our server, an older Gentleman that clearly was one of the people in charge of the floor. We determined a couple of appetizers and ordered from him our selections. He immediately made us aware that our selections were not what we should order, given our wine selection and the specialties of the house.
He couldn't have been more right as our appy's of spinach and pumpkin stuffed ravioli's in a butter sauce and tortellini in brodo (chicken broth) was outstanding. The lovely K found the brodo on the salty side, but I found it to be terrific. We make our own chicken stock at home, painstakingly using old fashioned methods, no salt added and found that this broth had a depth of flavour that is difficult to replicate. The ravioli's were superb, the pasta beautiful and delicate and the filling amazing.
Our secondi, we had breaded veal for myself and grilled rib eye for K. We got to chatting with a German couple and her Father as our second course arrived and did not finish either. That said both were well prepared and although the only things on the plate (we passed on the accompaniments off the cart as we were already getting full) they were again perfectly prepared.
The atmosphere is what one would expect from a place that caters to families, especially on a the Sunday of a long weekend. The following day was a national holiday (Liberation Day) so spirits were high, and the volume loud. People wander from table to table visiting. We watched a Grandpa, Grandma and Mother walk around with a baby each taking turns while the others visited. It was a heartwarming and stomach satisfying experience in the middle of Italy that we will not soon forget.
Dining in places like this is what Italy and family dining is all about. To illustrate this further the German couple and her Father we met by chance as they were at the table beside us we will be dining with in Rome later on this week, how does it get better than that.
