mromalley

I had to go look for these reviews.

Per Trip Advisor
They have a 4* rating.
Out of 1691 reviews,
53% are Excellent
29% are Very Good
12% are Average
4% are Poor
2% are Terrible

One of the reviews complained because the restaurant had not gotten their shipment of truffles and therefore no truffle dishes were available. Another complained because the waiter didn't ask about their drink order when they were seated. One complained about the cut of the beef fillet, expecting filet mignon. Fliet mignon is typically not served in a Roman trattoria. They were good for a laugh this afternoon.

I've eaten at Armando al Pantheon many times. as a solo diner, a couple, in a group, with native Romans and with tourists. Most recently as October 2017. I have never had a negative experience. Either food or service wise. Part of it is knowing, as Perche says the Italian style of dining out and part knowing what style of restaurant it is. Armando al Pantheon is a Roman Trattoria. It is not fancy, they are not interested in being your BFF.

There is a thread on dining in Rome with many recommendations in it. Type Rome into the search bar and it should come up.

Perche

Very interesting post, and spot on. Nothing can ruin a trip more than relying on TripAdvisor. Relying on a tourist who spent three days in Rome in their life to be their expert in Roman restaurants is the clueless leading the helpless. I think in Italy, although I don't exactly remember how it was said, TripAdvisor was referred to as the ignorant teaching the unschooled, or something like that.

The reasons you gave for the bad reviews are really funny. Many people think that Italy is supposed to be like the Italy of their imagination, relying on visiting a "Little Italy," the movies, or family folk lore. Thinking that a Roman waiter is going to take your drink order when you sit down is very funny. Armando is not the Olive Garden. Your lucky if the waiter comes over in the first five minutes, anywhere in Rome. They want to give you a chance to sit down and get settled before coming over to bother you. There is nobody to come right away to give you a glass of water, much less take a drink order. The sooner that people get over fictitious stereotypes of Italy based on family lore and what is supposedly Italian in the USA, they better they will enjoy themselves. Italian-American in the USA is a completely different heritage, food, customs, and beliefs compared to Italy.

As far as the bad reviews of TA, erybody in Italy knows that this was historically one of the worst seasons ever for truffles. In Italy the good restaurants only use fresh, seasonal food. Last fall there were almost no truffles. What they had were too small, gnarly, and their rarity made them crazily expensive. I guess in the USA we would serve frozen truffles. In Italy, they won't serve frozen truffles. They will just say there aren't any truffles, and everybody is OK with that. To squawk about that is like asking why there are no strawberries in December. In the USA they are available because they pick them in the Southern Hemisphere when they are far from ready, and ship then here in a dark container, and they never ripen and develop flavor, but they are on the supermarket shelves in December, along with bananas and other things that don't grow. They won't do that in Italy. Strawberries are on the market when local strawberries are ready.

There is no, "Like grandma used to make it." If grandma or great grandma came to the USA in the late 1800's or early 1900's, there were few if any ingredients to make Italian food. They took what they had and invented a new type of food called Italian-American, that doesn't exist in Italy. For example, if you go to a restaurant in Italy and wonder where the marinara sauce is, you are going to be disappointed. There's no marinara sauce in Italy. OK, there is a pizza marinara in Naples, and there are a few restaurants in Genova that have it. Marinara means in the style of a sailor, and Genoa was a major port, with even Christopher Columbus sailing from there. If you see marinara sauce other than on a Naples pizza, or a few places in Genoa, walk out. If you see, "A light creamy marinara sauce," don't walk out, run out! There is no creamy anything, except for desert.

There is a popular restaurant In Milan that opened in the last year, but I forgot the name. They advertise that they serve Italian American food. It became very popular because Milan is a very sophisticated city, and young Milanese people wanted to taste Italian-American food, in the same sense of adventure as going out and eating Ethiopian food as a foreign food experience.There is one thing they don't serve, and that is spaghetti and meatballs, a combination that would make any Italian choke or vomit, because you'd have to have a very high fever to think that meatballs could possibly go with spaghetti. The thought of it is called, 'schifo," which means disgusting. They won't even serve it in the only Italian-American restaurant in Italy.

People expect to eat lasagna in Italy, but it is only available around Bologna. Of course, it's not made with marinara sauce not made with marinara sauce, but with béchamel sauce, a white sauce of basically flour, water, and cheese. It's not what grandma made in the USA.

You can certainly get Italian food in New York, San Francisco, and other major cities, generally at a very high price. I seriously doubt that they have served Italian food in New York's Little Italy for over 50 years, or maybe even ever. It's an Italian-American variant. So, when someone goes to Armando's, a real Roman restaurant and expects a checkered table cloth, bread with butter or olive oil to dip it in, they are going to get disappointed.

Anywhere, even in the summer when it is roasting, when you finally get to order water (yes, you really should buy the bottled stuff and not ask for tap water), it will be at room temperature. If you complain that the water is not cold, and ask for ice, they'll more than likely come out with one cube, because they don't understand the concept of putting ice in water, soda, or anything else. It will make the waiter shake their head, as if you are crazy to put ice in water. When they put a basket of bread in front of you, and you start eating it, they will think you are really nuts, because who fills up on a basket of bread before they eat a meal, so that now they are not hungry, and who is so undisciplined that they can't wait for the food to come, so they start eating the bread, which is an accompaniment to the food, not for before the food, and if you are eating pasta, you don't touch the bread, because you are already getting enough starch.

People who do these things write reviews on TripAdvisor.

It doesn't matter that restaurants come and go in Manhattan. Italy is a different country. Time has a different feeling here. I routinely walk past buildings including apartments, that were built in the year -15. That's 15 years BCE. The only substantive changes made is that some tenants added air conditioning. Although there is restaurant changeover in Italy, there are institutions that do not change. In Venice I sometimes eat at a place that has been open since before Columbus sailed to the America. It won't change, just like Armando.

Armando's sits next to the Pantheon, The Pantheon was built from 27 BC to 14 AD: You don't have the same turnover as Manhattan in the Eternal City. It is almost impossible to find a decent restaurant near a historic monument like the Pantheon, and Armando is one of the few who has been able to pull it off, and who has resisted more lucrative catering to tourists by putting ice in the water, not letting you rest before you order or between courses, or serving unauthentic food.

Bad TripAdvisor reviews almost always turn out to be on service, even though service styles are different between Italians and Italian-Americans, and that puts people into a gripe mood, and then they complain about everything, like why it took 20 minutes for the food to come. That's why a tourist eating in Italy cannot rely on another tourist who just ate in Italy two times for food recommendations, because it's like the blindfolded leading the blindfolded. Rely on TripAdvisor, and you'll be steered away from the best food in Rome, towards a shish kebab truck stand with, "The best food in all of Italy."

Fundamentally and even more important , in Italy the problem with TripAdvisor is the fake reviews. The reviews appear to be real, but many of them from, "Jenn in Ohio," are fake. Good or bad reviews are sold in packets of 50 at a time, often written by college students. In the USA college students put themselves through school driving for Uber. In Italy they put themselves to school by writing fake reviews for a restaurant that wants to damage a competitor in the neighborhood.

There was a great TV news video about two months ago. Two restaurants across the street from each other spent most of their time writing fake reviews on TripAdvisor against one another. It went to insane levels, like saying there were bugs in the food, a particularly rude waiter (kind of a tip-off that it's a fake review), and one evening just like in the movies, the fake bad reviews of each other reached such a boiling height that all of the employees of one of the restaurants armed themselves with clubs and chairs, and attacked the other restaurant, resulting in a giant brawl while people were eating. I wish I had saved it.

Everyone knows that when it comes to, "the reviews" Italy has a huge problem with them being fake. The bad ones from the tourist from St. Louis are usually written by the competitor down the street. Armando is not one of the places that is going to change their quality. They are an institution, and OP made a huge mistake by relying on TripAdvisor.

PS: In some places you actually get a discount if you leave a positive review before you leave the restaurant. There are some places (hotels) that make you sign up to agree to pay additional charges on your credit card if you don't leave a positive review on TA, and the charge is about $160 US dollars.

Akcaver

With significantly less experience in Rome than most people on this forum, I can only give my experience at a few places in Rome from a few days this past spring.

Da Enzo al 29- In Trastevere. My favorite place we ate dinner by far. From many online reviews and comparisons of "Cacio e Pepe", this was one of the top ranked, and it was delicious. Granted, I ordered Ox Tail, but I think four of the six in our group ordered the Cacio e Pepe. Small place, close atmosphere, delicious food. Dont be late for your reservation, which I recommend. I thought the walk there along the river was beautiful also. We heard of a nice bar down the street, but by the time we finished dinner it was already late.

Roma Beer Company- Campo Dei Fiori. One of the top Tripadvisor reviews says "Quintessential Piazza Dining". Which is true, but that doesnt mean its worthwhile by any means. The food was fine, and the beer list was pretty great. If you like piazza dining in a tent, it was fine, and aside from the beer menu likely being better, no different than the other 4 piazza restaurants right next to it. I did try the Birra Antoniana for the first time there, so that was a plus.

Be.Re- Just North of Vatican. I wanted to like this place more, as both the beer and food was good for lunch (if i recall correctly, the beer was from the pub, and food from the place next door associated with it?), but the constant interruption from street 'vendors' coming to our table and asking us to buy selfie sticks, it was difficult to enjoy it. Must have happened at least 5 times.

I believe we ate at a place called Antica Taverna, west of Piazza Navona. It was our first night and its a little hazy. It was fine, the staff was pleasant, and a group of american students/backpackers were quite rude to the staff, it was really quite impressive.They ordered a dish and it turned out to be something different than what they thought. Which in their minds was totally the staffs fault and not worth paying for, even after they ate it.

We didnt eat at Roscioli, or Filetti di Baccala, but I really wanted to eat at both. We actually sat down at Filetti di Baccala, but when my parents saw the menu was only fried fish fillets, 'we' decided to go somewhere else. Roscioli was packed, so id recommend reservations.

I recommend planning out a few reservations, and leaving a few open lunches and dinners for when you are just wandering around and happen upon a place that catches your fancy. Those are some of my favorite.

As for breakfast, the quote i've heard (also heard it for Parisians) "An Italian breakfast is an espresso and a cigarette."

Perche

Akcaver, you are very right on about breakfast being a caffe" and a cigarette (although I don't smoke). I just find it very funny, and hadn't heard the expression before. You also provided another reason to not use TripAdvisor, which says that Filetti di Baccala is in the top 10% of all restaurants in Rome. It is a fast food place, and just like its name says, it pretty much serves one thing: fried codfish, wrapped in wax paper, for 4.5 euros, generally for take-out, and is something like eating in McDonald's. Did you know that the McDonald's in Rome serves beer?

Why TripAdvisor fans think that Filetti di Baccala is in the top 10% of Roman restaurants is one of those unanswerable mysteries of life but to solve it just wait a week, and I'm sure that another flood of fake reviews will dislodge it from it's place.

You cannot get into Roscioli's without a reservation, even a week or two in advance, even though it's just something like a fancy deli. They are one of the few places that you want to seal up reservation about a month in advance. I'd suggest asking the waiter to order your wine there when you go back. Since there is no tipping in Italy they have no incentive to increase the price of the check to get a bigger tip, and always do a great job in pairing. The waiters pride themselves on that.

highlanderfil

When we went to Rome in May of last year, I went to my trusty source of all things food-related: Thrillist. After paying a visit to two Fatamorgana gelato locations, as well as Pasticceria Regoli, we realized that we couldn't have begun to wish for better suggestions. Pastificio also looked like a great fast-meal suggestion but we didn't end up eating there.

Perche

highlanderfil

Thrillist doesn't actually have a page for Rome (unlike, say, Paris). So...yeah. Not really sure what you're looking at. If you're just typing "Rome" into their search bar, you're going to get imperfect results, sure.

I'm sure your points are perfectly valid and that to you my opinion is just that of a typical American (male) who wouldn't know a plate of cacio e pepe from mac'n'cheese, but that doesn't invalidate the fact that the meals that I've had in restaurants recommended by Thrillist have, without fail, been great. I cannot say the same for Tripadvisor or Yelp, however.

Perche

When you said you went Rome last year and used Thrillist as your trusty source for things food related, but then say that they Thrillist doesn't actually have a page that covers where to eat in Rome, that is confusing. How can you recommend them as your trusty source for for recommendations in Rome, if the company's NY City based free lance writers haven't yet written an article about Rome?

highlanderfil

I can recommend them as my trusty source things food-related, not Rome-related. And I do that because I've followed their recommendations in at least half a dozen cities and haven't had one bad meal between them.

There doesn't need to be an all-encompassing dedicated page to the city in order for Thrillist to have listings. Thrillist doesn't have a dedicated page for Ann Arbor, MI, either, but it has recommendations for restaurants here. In order to get to recommendations about Rome (or any other place), you click on the THRILLIST MAPS DISCOVER THE BEST BARS AND RESTAURANTS, WHEREVER YOU ARE image, which takes you to a world map. Navigate to Rome and you get over a dozen listings.

The fact that they are a NYC-based free-lance company (that you seem overly fixated on) doesn't really matter if their advice proves to be good. I really couldn't care less what the source is if they continue to give consistently good advice. Their organization could use work, but that's a different story.

Maybe instead of discrediting them as a source you could tell me if there's anything wrong with the establishments I listed, assuming you have any knowledge of them. Then we can judge Thrillist on the actual merit of their recommendations, rather than your interpretation of their reputation.

By the way, they do have an actual article about Rome (although that, in and of itself, is not enough for them to claim knowledge about all things Rome-related, but they actually don't do that, nor did I): The 14 Best Places to Eat in Rome.

Perche

Please, let's calm down. This is a peaceful forum, even though it's Italian Election Day. They either do notactually have a page for Rome or, they published an article listing, The 14 Best Places to Eat in Rome. It can't go both ways.

I can tell you that it's BS. Yes, some of the restaurants are good, because most of the reviews are copied from Google and plagiarized from knowledgeable food critics by people who have not been to these restaurants. I can tell, because I live in Rome a few months a year. I was supposed to move back in December, but things got in the way, so I haven't been there since last July, but I'm already packed, and waiting for the go signal.

The Thrillist article about the 14 best places in Rome is right next to the article, "THIS SUSHI RESTAURANT INVENTED THE SPICY TUNA ROLL." They say it was invented at the, "Gastro-Garage" in LA, by auto mechanics who thought of a novel way to use their flame thrower/blow torch. Actually, the spicy tuna roll was invented to get rid of the tuna before it is too old and needs to be discarded because it will smell bad, but if you mix it with a lot of fiery spice no one can tell that the fish has gone bad. it was invented as a way to get rid of old fish.

Since whomever wrote the Thrillist article about the 14 best places to eat in Rome, and it was written several years old, caution there. And, it really is a copy and paste job, that I can tell. OK, here goes.
1. Armando al Pantheon: yes, go there. But they don't tell you that you need a reservation at least a week in advance. Googling doesn't give them that info.
2. Pasticerria Regoli: yes, good, but I have a hard time believing that someone is going to backtrack to the Termini train station for breakfast, and I hope that few people stay at Termini. If you are staying in Monti, yes, I can see walking there, but it is not better than the local places in Monti. Remember, pastry is mainly for breakfast in Italy, not for an after meal dessert. In fact, it is kind of nonsense, because the picture on Thrillist is showing something that an Italian would never think of eating for breakfast. I don't remember what it is called. Not pancakes. you take a piece of bread, dip it into whipped egg, then fry it, and serve it with butter and fake maple syrup. Is it called English Toast? I really don't remember, but people not eat that way in Italy, and for it to be shown in a picture highlighting the place is no encouraging. Oh no, that's right, I think it's called French Toast.
3. Next is Coromandel, described as, "Upscale takes on traditional American breakfast favorites like eggs benedict and pancakes." Ugh. In Italy, people do not eat breakfast, and there certainly is no eggs Benedict.
4. Next up is Pizzarium, but I can guarantee you that no tourist will be able to find it, unless they are told a secret. Bonci, the pizzaiolo, opened a branch in the Mercato Centrale at Termini train station. I make the trek to the original pizzaerium all the time (it's better), and I can tell you, you won't find it. One time, I was very jet-lagged, and really needed a pizza, and since the pizza in Rome tends to be terrible, I tried to walk there, and got "lost. I was very, very tired. Crossing a street, there were two young ladies, and I stopped them and asked, "Dove la pizzeria Pizzarium." (Where is pizzarium). One didn't know but tried to help, the other one looked at her and said, "Quest'uomo e' pazzo." (This man is crazy). Almost nobody knows where it is (Insider information: Take the train, A line, and get off at the stop Cipro. Yes, Cipro like the name of the antibiotic your doctor will give you if you have a cough. It's right down the street from there.) The chef is going global, and just opened a branch in Chicago at 161 North Sangamon Street. I'd recommend it, so that people stop eating that deep dish thing that is not really pizza, and should be called by another name.
5. Roscioli. Duh, they don't tell you that you need reservations a few weeks in advance. I rarely follow my own advice, unless I am bringing a date and will have a reservation made weeks in advance, other wise I just try to sweet talk my way to a seat at the bar, where they have the same food. I'm successful about 75% of the time for lunch, and maybe 20% of the time at dinner. It's a tough assignment. Just listing it on a website without the context that you can't get in, is useless information. The food is great. They make an enormous mistake in their other article about Italy, criticizing Burrata, which they couldn't spell. You go to Roscioli specifically for the burrata.
6. Fattamorgana for gelato, sure. It's almost impossible to find gelato in Rome, but Fattamorgano, at least one of the two branches is down the street from the apartment I rent when in Rome, and evenings often end there. After a Negroni.
7. Mordi e Vai, I have not eaten there. They specialize in offal, which means the worst, usually discarded body parts. I don't like eating a brain sandwich. Plus, they get it completely by describing it as a place for on the go locals to eat while walking around. Stop. I love the Testaccio market, I just don't offal, things like eyeballs, and unlike in the USA, you will not find a Roman, or even an Italian, eating anything while on foot. People pay too much attention to their food than to try to walk while eating it. The writer might have googled some of the correct places, but it does seem like she doesn't know Rome.
8. Marzapane. This is where you lost me. "chorizo sprinkled on sweetbread spaghetti". Chorizo is Mexican food, and there is no such thing as sweetbread spaghetti! Italy has its own famous sausages, and they don't need no stinking chorizo! OH NO
9. Il Margutta is one of the 14 best restaurants in Rome, because Thrillist says that they have a vegan lunch buffet? Come on!
10. Trapizzino is recommended as your best after midnight snack. I'd have to agree. They have a few of them around Rome, and the only one that is open at midnight is at Ostiense, and I doubt you will find a tourist willing to go to Ostiense at midnight. What is a Trapizzino? For New Yorkers, in addition to having opened several in Rome, the creator just opened up a branch at 144 Orchard Street, on the lower east side of New York City. If it's half as good as the one in Testaccio, you can try it, and die happy.
11. Beppe e Suoi Formaggio, no argument there. It's a great place. The only problem is, it cannot be amongst the top 14 restaurants, because it is not a restaurant. it's a cheese store. They do have tables, and it's a great place to get a glass of wine, and some nice cheese tastings. No problem with this pick. Just don't go there expecting dinner.
12. Next is Hopside? Really? In Ostiense? A place to get an American Hamburger, and American beer? Please. Really, do you want to walk past the sketchy area of the Termini train station and go deep inside of the sketchiest area on the outskirts of Rome, in the dark, at night, to eat a hamburger, and to drink Coors? Bring a switchblade for the walk back.
13. And finally, Pianostrade, as best hole-in-the-wall in Trastevere, for the best sandwiches in Rome?

I simply can't go on anymore, because this is a joke. I only came up with 13, so I must have missed one, but relying on websites like Thrillist is something you don't want to do. There are people who make it their business to actually go around and do it for a living, and do it well. I am certainly not one of them. I have zero conflicts of interest. I don't know Katie Parla, or any other name I've mentioned. Since I used to go to school in Rome, as an adult, and have a really hard time not being there for at least 2-3 months per year, I know nonsense when I see it. I am not a restaurant critic, and have no monetary, love life, or any other kind of conflict of interest. It's just that some websites reporting expertise on Italy can make you laugh until your side hurts. If I can save someone from a bad meal, that is all I'm aiming to do. After all, if you don't live there full time, you don't want to make too many errors, because it's time lost.

highlanderfil

I'm perfectly calm. You're the one who is being unnecessarily confrontational. Exhibit A below:
You're getting bogged down in semantics, but as you've dismissed Thrillist out of hand, I'm not surprised that you aren't making the distinction between having a "page" on a city (which is its own sub-section, with multiple articles) and having written an article. I repeat: Thrillist do not have a page for Rome (like they do for London and Paris). I never claimed they did, though you seem to think otherwise. They do have an article called The 14 Best Places to Eat in Rome. The two are really not mutually exclusive. And now that we're done being pedantic, maybe we can get to the actual subject matter.
I am even willing to stipulate that their entire article is plagiarized. That's not what we're debating here. My question was: are those restaurants they are recommending (by whatever means necessary) actually worthy of being recommended.And that's relevant...how? I get it, you don't like Thrillist. By the way, I'm not sure why you think your account of how the spicy tuna roll was invented is any more or less true than theirs, but let's leave that alone for the time being and finally get to your opinion (let's also forget that it's an opinion of one) of the restaurants they have listed.Definition of "several":

sev·er·al
ˈsev(ə)rəl/
determiner & pronoun

1. 1.
   more than two but not many.

The article was written less than two years ago.Once again, I get you don't like Thrillist, although you might be better served by not making accusations of plagiarism without backing them up.

OK, here goes.
The article isn't called "easiest places to get reservations in Rome". It's called "best places to eat in Rome". We will score one for Thrillist here.
Have all the trouble you want - we went there specifically because of this recommendation. And we'd do it again. Also, the French toast photo is from Coromandel, as is stated in the caption. Pay attention, at least. 2-0, Thrillist, so far.
I just went to Tripadvisor and literally the first photo I got from Coromandel was of eggs friggin' Benedict. Also, "in Italy, people do not eat breakfast"? Did you mean they don't eat eggs benedict for breakfast or that they skip the morning meal altogether? Because I may not be Italian, but I've been to enough places in Italy to tell you this is BS. And also, countries do adopt other countries' cuisines. I would personally never eat American food in Italy, but as Thrillist does cater to American tourists, it's not an unreasonable recommendation. Given you've not bothered to offer an opinion of the restaurant itself and that photo just proved you wrong, it's a shutout so far. 3-0.So, it's a place with good food that is hard to find. Got it. 4-0.Once again, they may be omitting an important piece of information, but I refer you to the same comment as I made about Armando. 5-0.I really hope you're being sarcastic about it being impossible to find gelato in Rome. Maybe good gelato - I wouldn't know, but I never had any problems (though, to be fair, Fatamorgana was one of the main reasons I didn't bother looking elsewhere). We went to two separate locations and both were stellar. So far, Thrillist is six out of six. Not a bad job for a copy-paste website, I'm sure we'll all agree.Offal is disgusting to me, but tripe does seem to be a delicacy in many places in the world. I don't see it. I'm willing to give you this one just because I threw up in my mouth a little bit by reading the description.I mean...I don't really know what to tell you here. Chorizo is not Mexican - well, it's not exclusively Mexican. It can be Spanish or Portuguese just as well. Is it possible that a Roman chef incorporated it into his dishes? I'm sure it is. I don't even see it on their current menu, which does look pretty good. I don't feel particularly strongly about this and sweetbread is nasty, so have this one as well. 6-2.
They make mention of the fact that they are exclusively vegetarian/vegan (which, in today's world is actually pretty important), but do not claim that it's because of that alone it belongs on the menu. Don't try to bend facts to serve your argument, especially since you have, once again, ridiculed the message but not the underlying facts. Is the food good? You haven't told us, so I'll pass on counting this one.Well, if you concede it outright, you make my job so much easier. Seven of nine, then, is it? I wish my basketball team's shooting was this good...Technically, Pasticceria Regoli is not a restaurant, either, by the common definition and neither is Fatamorgana. But the article is called "The Best Places to Eat", not "The Best Restaurants", so I almost feel like taking an extra point here for your being overly pedantic. 8-2. Shades of Sir Alex Ferguson's demolition of Arsenal seven years ago. A score near and dear to my heart.
You're thinking of a switchblade. Sure. have a third one, as none of this sounds good.Are you asking or are you telling? Confused, so calling this another draw.Actually, the joke is entirely on you. Of the thirteen you've listed (you forgot Pastificcio, which I'm going to count in Thrillist's favor, because I've actually been there and can attest to the recommendation), even you admit that a few places are good. There are three places on this list we can call a miss, but the rest seem to check out pretty OK.You may not want to do that, but until such time that you manage to get paid and published for your food criticisms, your opinion remains that of one person, and of the one who, for G-d knows what reason, seems to be overly bitter and prejudiced against a website that has proven to another person (whose opinion is no more valuable than yours, but no less valuable, either) to offer good advice.I'm not sure how loudly you've got the right to laugh between your "yeah, this place is pretty good", "yes, go there", "yes, good", etc. I'm sorry if Thrillist offends your sense of aesthetics and fails to offer advice on how to get reservations in popular places, but the unfortunate (for you) truth is that it does seem to offer some pretty stellar advice - by your own admission, no less.

KLouis

Guys, you both use very relevant (logical) arguments to make your point, unfortunately interspersed with points of view that I'd be expecting from 15-year old boys. Well, now that you both feel better thinking you've won this debating contest, please consider the fact that absolutely nobody reading the thread will spend time actually visiting all of these places to see which one of you was right!

highlanderfil

I didn't visit all of them, either, nor am I recommending anyone actually do that. With this said, I am still dreaming of the wild strawberry pastries at Pasticceria Regoli. Damn it, why can't the U.S. learn how to grow proper produce...

KLouis

Now, THIS is really off topic in the Italy forum! still, I guess the problem is not that the US can't learn. They do know! The problem is how to get the good stuff to the supermarket chains across the country fast, and this for a cheap price. What the US actually lack with some exceptions, are the local markets of which there are plenty in Italy. Get stuff at the Italian market in Philly, or eat real NJ tomatoes at a local farmers' market in July and August you'll see thet they're not that different from what you get in Italy. But in addition to the logistics I mentioned, the really big problem is that most of the US Americans don't care about what they're given to eat! Obviously, this has nothing to do with anti-American feelings. I only have to think of my ~40 years old German niece who visited us in Crete and decided that the "industrial" bananas one gets in Germany (same like the ones in the US) taste much better than the Cretan ones, which according to her had too much... aroma!

PWMTrav

Pretty much. The US as a whole has a climate somewhere within it to grow just about anything in near native conditions. You can find that stuff, but you have to go out of your way, because everything else is optimized for yield and transportation. At the same time, if you want raspberries or tomatoes in February in Maine, they'll be there. Seasonal and local are always better for produce (because they can pick it ripe and have it to the store before it goes bad).