The only reason we fell in this trap was because it was close to the Vatican (St. Peter's Basilica) and we were very hungry and the people who worked there all spoke Italian and it had an accessible entrance without any steps (one of us was on a wheelchair)

First of all the menu did not list any price. Secondly we were served re-heated OLD food. Thirdly the food was SAAAALLLLLLTTTTYYYYYY and was a shame to the Italian cuisine.

Lastly when we notified the waiter and the manager, the manager (the guy was in his thirties) got mad at us for complaining about the bad food and walked away. We asked him if we could speak to his boss and the elderly women was more rude than the earlier guy and her response was, "It is a busy day, so may be the food was not that good". We said we are not ready to pay the bill (77 Euros for two people, how insane is that - 2 sea food spaghetti, a stuffed eggplant and 2 espressos) for bad food and terrible customer service. After some argument and with a moderator(an elderly man who could converse well in English and Italian) , she gave us a refund of 10 Euros.

I reviewed my trip expenses after my return and this was the top most I'd paid for a restaurant during this entire trip and for such horrible food, makes me mad!

Apparently it's a well-known tourist trap on Fodors. The thread below contains a link to an even older thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...he-vatican.cfm

~Liz

Sorry - but one should never enter a restaurant that doesn;t post a menu with prices outside. This is just standard everywhere - and especially in a place near a major tourist attraction. And when one orders something with seafood the prices are often quite high.

I'm sure the food was awful and the staff unpleasant - but you need to be careful not to put yourself in that position.

Not sure exactly where this place is - but we have eaten several times at casual places - granted several blocks from the Vatican - and had food that was fine - and priced per the posted menu.

But you did the right thing. I've had to do it in Venice and in a different neighborhood to yours in Rome.

They assume that no one will complain. I complained and got €50 back in Venice and all the extras removed from the bill in Rome, €25 or so.

You didn't pay for the food, you paid for the convenience.

I own a food business in a huge footfall location. We bought the property two years ago because of the success of the business. It probably costs us 10x the price of a similar property 2 miles away.

It never ceases to amaze me that people think a plate of pasta on the steps of the Vatican should cost the same as that in some back water of Sicily.

First, this is hardly a trip report. Perhaps you'd like to add something about your trip to make it a trip report. As is, it's just a complaint about one restaurant in Rome.

Second, why didn't you ask the price of the food before sitting down or ordering?

I for one am glad when people post experiences like this one, and it appears that this place has been causing people to complain on Fodors for years. The more posts there are about it, the more likely that the next person will avoid it.

The Vatican area has a lot of restaurants serving mediocre overpriced food. Somewhat higher prices may be jusutified, but there's no excuse for bad food and bad service, except the cynical excuse that very few of the customers will ever be back that way, and that new tour buses keep unloading new candidates for a fleecing.

Italian law requires that prices be posted outside or at the entrance to a restaurant. The menu must include all prices, including beverages, service charges and any other extras. This place was thus breaking the law from the start.

Sorry to hear about this. Yes we've all experienced "dining stings". Thanks for posting this. It reminds us of the rule of thumb when dining at tourist haunts. The closer the restaurant is to tourist sites the more likely it will serve overpriced slop. I suggest also posting your unfortunate experience on Chowhound - http://chowhound.chow.com/boards. Tourists need to be warned about these "schifosi".

I think most of us have been hosed at one time or another in a place like a restaurant near the Vatican. I certainly was. It was years ago, a place with no prices but menus with photos of the food (what was I thinking???), and I'm glad it informed my knowledge about how to avoid getting hosed in the future.

You've learned your lesson too. That's good.