Il Cantinone

Tried to get lunch here after arriving in Rome and was pretty disappointed. Went in hoping for pizza (they are literally a pizzeria) but soon found out they only serve some anti pasta, pasta and secondi dishes (steaks, meat, etc) during lunch. No pizza, no bruschetta, very limited. We ended up settling for vegetable soup (they didn't even offer the other soups on the menu) which was the last thing we wanted given how hot Rome is in the summertime. The decor was dated and frankly a bit depressing. Finally, the service left something to be desired. The waitress was on her phone in the back while we waited to pay our bill.

Maybe this place is better at dinner time, but we had a very poor lunch experience.

On our first evening in Roma, we decided to have dinner here after walking the streets, trying to relieve the jet lag. Although I'm not quite sure why this was the place we chose, I'm glad our curiosity (or stomachs) led us here.

For the four of us who have never been to Italy, we were excited to taste genuine Italian food over something we've been familiar with like The Olive Garden or the places who 'claim' to be authentic Italian. A bottle of red was ordered, and soon enough, we all had steaming plates of some sort of pasta/seafood/carne in front of us. I stayed true to my old standby (spaghetti bolognese) which was like a dream come true. I behaved by not gorging on the fresh bread prior so this accompanied my dish quite nicely. I have a habit of dipping my bread into my sauce, and tonight was no different. The crispiness of the crust blended perfectly with the ragu, and the added parmigiano cheese I added (okay, saturated) topped it off.

I knew I would most likely never eat like this again so I savored every bite. We had other amazing meals throughout the week, but this one in particular stands out. I never take photos of my food, but I almost wish I had my camera on me; even though this trip was prior to Yelp itself. Guess I have to sustain it in my memory...unless I return...

I'm not sure there is a better value in Rome.

We stumbled on this place our first night in town, and compared all of our other meals to it. We had far more expensive meals that couldn't hold a candle to this place. The food is fantastic -- we ate there 3 times in 5 days. Over those visits, we had a variety of pasta dishes including a boar sausage pasta bolognese, carbonara, and a mushroom pasta dish. We also had a fried stuffed squash flowers appetizer, and a grilled octopus appetizer. And, pizzas. The pizzas are good and straight forward, but the pasta dishes were the stand out. Entrees were in the 8-13 euro range.

The red vino della casa (house wine) and the wine that is one price level up (can't remember the Italian term) were both really delicious and priced in the 10-15 euro range.

The service was odd. Not bad at all -- we found it kind of charming -- just odd. They all speak English, but they will hand you an Italian menu first, and speak to you in Italian until you have passed some invisible threshold of struggle. Then, they smile at you, hand you an English menu, and talk to you in English. The same guys seem to work there every night, and they have a perpetual smirk on their faces. We didn't mind the light hazing -- it worth every bite.

And this place is open really late! We definitely sat down for dinner on a Tuesday around midnight, which isn't that common in Testaccio.

This was one of the best places we ate during our 5 days in Rome. Loved the Pizza, and thought it was the best we had anywhere.

Bad service, bad pizza. I kind of like the interior, quite kitsch in a very 80s way. If you have to try it, go for the pasta. And not happy with the service at all, I felt like we had to be Italian or something....