Rebecca_Ziggs

This restaurant is the worst tourist trap we have experienced so far! Located just outside the entrance to the Vatican, it is designed for famished tourists who have been wandering the museums or the basilica for hours and need a convenient place to lunch. At the entrance was a tout waving pamphlets at us and exclaiming 'really good! really good!'. We were ushered in by a waiter who barked the menu choices at us, (followed by a 'very good! very good!' at the end). They did not give us any menus and regrettably we didn't ask for prices. Having had excellent pasta and pizza for reasonable prices at much fancier-looking restaurants so far in Italy, we thought that we couldn't go too wrong at this place and ordered two spaghetti bolognaise with meatballs. The first bites brought back awful memories of the food they serve you at school camps. The meatballs were cold and when I asked for them to re-heated, they heated it along with the pasta so that the entire dish was scalding hot when it came back. I've had much better TV dinners that come out of boxes.

The quality of the food was disappointing but would not warrant a warning post on Fodors had they not charged us exorbitantly for the food. We have had fantastic pasta and pizza in Italy for around 7 euros each. Our bill at this restaurant came to 30 euros for two spaghettis and two bottles of water. We realised that the restaurant doesn't offer menus to customers because they don't want to reveal the extortionist prices before their customers have ordered and eaten. It's pretty low.

Italy is a culinary paradise but falling for a tourist trap can really dampen the experience. So choose carefully- avoid large cafes next to main tourist sites, especially ones who use touts to lure customers, and always ask for a menu so you get an idea of the prices.

zootsi

Although Italy has fabulous food, I've learned to steer away from any eatery labeled 'Snack Bar'. This usually indicates they are serving prepared frozen foods. If you look closely at their glossy, photograph laden menus, they are often printed by a frozen food wholesaler like Butoni. We had a similar experience with a 'snack bar' by the Forum.

Ackislander

A well-known downtown casual restaurant on Main Street in Nantucket uses frozen fried eggs on its breakfast sandwiches. I didn't even know such things existed until I photographed the box on the sidewalk as the food service truck unloaded.

The moral: if they cater to tourists, they don't care about return business and so don't have much real interest in quality. There are many exceptions to this, but not enough to take the risk of eating anywhere with touts at the door and plastic menus with pictures.

hazel1

Why is it that you can always bet that any post with the word "AVOID" in its title is from a first-time poster to this forum? Frankly, is there anyone out there that would NOT expect a restaurant/snack bar located right next to any major tourist attration to be a big-time overpriced tourist trap? How naive do you have to be to not have warning bells go off when they practically drag you in and then don't give you a menu? Sorry, Rebecca - you got what you deserved, but then again, from your first sentence, it sounds like you're well-aquainted with tourist traps.

nytraveler

Italy is full of wonderful foods, BUTthere are severa rules:

Do not wat at anyplace that has pictures of the food
Do not eat at anyplace that posts menus in 12 languages
Do not eat at anyplace that is immediately adjacent to a major tourist sight (unless you're dying of thirst and just get a bottle of water)

And it Italy eat at a restaurante, a trattoria, a tavola calda - or even a pizzeria or a sandwich bar (but look inside to be sure everything is feshly made). Do NOT eat at a snack bar.

Peter_S_Aus

NY Traveller is absolutely accurate.

I got ripped off by a cab driver in Rome - I blame myself entirely for my stupid escapade.

nytraveler

Oh - and if there is someone outside trying to haul yuo into a restaurant - NEVER go inside - any place in the world - not just Italy.

laurie_ann

I agree that you take your chances when you go to a restaurant that has someone outside trying to haul you in, but I think you have to trust your instincts.

On our last night in Japan a few years ago we had planned to go to a sushi restaurant near our hotel in Tokyo that we had walked by often and seen lines outside. We thought we arrived early enough but when we got there that night the line was the longest ever and we were told that no one else was allowed to join the line as you wouldn't get in before closing time.

So disappointing especially on the last night of our trip. It was raining. It was cold. We walked around looking for alternatives.

At one small place I would not have even recognized as a restaurant a woman was outside and she gestured us to come it. It turned out to be one of our best travel experiences ever. It was a sushi place that sat only about 8 people and we were the only non-Japanese.

The man at the table next to us was Japanese but wearing a Chicago Cubs hat. We are from Chicago so we said hello in Japanese and told him in English we were Cubs fans too. We ended up in a nice conversation and he translated too between us and the owners (the woman outside was one of the owners and was very curious about us) about Chicago and USA and Japan. It was fabulous (and the sushi was too!)

ggreen

From what I understood in Italy, it's required that menus identify items that are made with frozen food. Famished after our own Vatican adventure, we ended up at a tourist trap right on Piazza Navona (long story). Sure enough, there were asterisks next to every food description, leading to a tiny note at the bottom of the page indicating some if not all ingredients were frozen. We ordered accordingly.

Zerlina

Another warning sign: No eating establishment in Italy that is *not* a tourist trap has spaghetti bolognese with meat balls on the (written or unwritten) menu.

elaine

this place has been trapping tourists successfully for years.
here is a thread from 2002 http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...can-museum.cfm

and I recall there have been other warnings over the years. Sorry you had that experience.

joe4212

I always smile when I read a report like this.

Around 10 years ago a business colleague and I were at a conference in Rome in the middle of January. On the first Sunday night we wandered from the hotel into a bitterly cold evening to find that there were no restaurants open around our location. Then a guy appears and suggests we visit his place which was along a dark lane. Yes, I know!

Both of us were very hungry so off we walked and arrived outside an old traditional looking small restaurant right at the very end of this dark lane. The only strange thing was the man in the black suit ‘guarding’ the door.

The lovely elderly lady inside immediately brought us a menu from which we ordered. The meal arrived quickly and it was delicious. There were no other customers in the place.

Then we begin to notice women, very attractive women walking from a door inside the restaurant out onto the street. No coats etc and the skimpiest of clothes, each with legs that went on for ever. Yes, again…I know! For about 30 minutes there was a constant stream of them.

Then the next two who came down into the restaurant, I presume from apartments upstairs, headed right to our table, sat down and asked if we were travelling with our wives, or on business and, after a gently rub of my leg, asked if we would buy them both drinks. At this point her hand was traveling. I explained we wouldn’t and preferred to finish our meal, alone.

The older lady, who had served us our meals hurried out, apologised and brought us two drinks. We were now thinking that the bill was going to be huge and that we had been caught in a trap. The drinks were declined as I figured they’d each cost us 50 bucks!

We asked for the bill and the cost was exactly as advertised on the menu. The suited man on the door shook our hands as we left and said in perfect English. No women? You want something else?

We still laugh about it all and I have to say that traditional dinner was the best and cheapest we had during out trip! And, i still feel embarrassed at declining the drinks as it was done as a gesture of goodwill and we possibly caused offence.

annhig

if there is someone outside trying to haul yuo into a restaurant - NEVER go inside - any place in the world >>

except NYT, we had two great meals, one in Italy and one in France, when we broke this rule!

the trick is knowing when to break the rule!

StCirq

Good story, joe!

I think almost every traveler in the world has experienced the rip-off place near a major tourist attraction. I think we actually had this same experience across from the Vatican years and years ago on our first trip to Rome. Might have been the same restaurant - but it was 22 years ago or so, so who knows? Point is, if you let it happen to you more than once, it's pretty dumb.

nytraveler's points are, as usual, well taken. And zerlina's - spaghetti and meatballs is Italo-American, not Italian, far as I know.