Piccolo Abruzzo
Via Sicilia, 237
Rome
Date of Last Visit: Friday, April 17th
The Victims: Kellie, Julie, Feathers, Anna
The Damage: 40 euros each?
The Background: In preparing for our trip to Rome, I consulted a ridiculous number of reviews and resources in order to find some good places to eat. Guidebooks. Discussion forums. Blogs. I wanted someplace fun for our first night. Not expensive. Honestly, “fun” was really the operative word.
One place came up again and again. Piccolo Abruzzo. Ms. Expatria gave it rave reviews. Chowhound loved it. American in London was very lukewarm about it. But it still sounded fun, so I booked it.
The Entrance: Piccolo Abruzzo LOOKS fun. The walls are action-packed with Italian stuff and there’s a huge table overloaded wtih food as you enter. Our server is friendly and kind and gracious and brings us some assorted salamis and wine to start.
There is no menu at Piccolo Abruzzo, so it’s a go-with-the-flow kinda place. They bring us two cheeses–a mozzerella and a ricotta–and some wild boar to kick things off. They are all very pleasant. The wine even more so because you don’t pay by the bottle. They just keep bringing you wine. It’s all included in the price. (Although Anna complains later in the evening that the wine didn’t get her drunk enough. It is her weekend away from the three-year-old and the baby, after all.)
The Mains: I think it’s this dinner that makes me think, “Hey, maybe it’s time to give up carbs for a while.” Because they bring us two pastas and I think they’re pretty darn good. Why so few outside of Italy are capable of cooking pasta al dente, I will never know. There’s a penne first. Penne with RABBIT no less. Hop hop! And then a spaghetti.
And we’re not done. There’s still another dish coming our way. It’s a generously thick slab of veal and half a potato. It’s all too much for me at this point and I stop eating. But from the tiny bit I tasted, it was nice. This is followed by some dessert (which I again skip) and some grappa. (Blech.)
The Loos: Holy tilework! Clean at the begining of the evening. A mess at the end. Oh, and we all had to take trips to check out the large plastic phallus standing guard over the kitchen. Classy.
The Verdict: Piccola Abruzzo isn’t super gourmet. It’s just a fun place to go with a large group of friends. I would probably say that four or more people is about the right number. Somehow, eating all of this food if there’s just two or three of you seems excessive. But if you’ve got no place to be and you’re looking for someplace casual and good fun, this is a pretty good option.
4 comments
oh my – linking to one of my first blog posts . . . I’m cringing at how long and random it was. eek.
Anyway, I did have a pretty awful meal at Piccolo Abruzzo, but it was late August, so maybe the real chefs were out of town for the month. I didn’t mind that it wasn’t fancy/gourmet food so much as that I thought most dishes we were served tasted bad.
Glad you enjoyed, though. I would’ve been happy if they’d just served me fresh buffalo mozzarella and left it at that.
This sounds like my kinda place!
You summed it up perfectly – a great place to go with a bunch of people. Glad you liked it!
@American in London – yeah, late August really is not the time to try a new place. Most likely they brought some cousin in to cook. Sorry (on behalf of Rome LOL).
I think you did a good job at not drinking too much because as you have said, it didn’t make you drunk even if the wine was bottomless. And that place was good for drunkards huh (lol). The food was superb as the pics says it all.
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