Il Fiore all'Occhiello Bistrot

Small portion, price is on the steeper side.
Nice deco but we left feeling underwhelmed.
We especially did not enjoy the half-burnt bland patate al forno.
The primi pasta both lacked seasoning hence tasted the exact same, despite them supposed to be of different flavors.
The starters and the service are where the redeeming qualities at.

Small but cozy bistro, beautiful decor.
Not many dishes to choose from but the choice they have is excellent.
I especially like the fact that everything is bought fresh daily so nothing frozen! The food is really good, tasted like home made! Gluten free pasta available too (much appreciated but I wouldn’t mix different types of pasta that have different cooking times! This would be my only negative point). I’d definitely recommend dining here.
Located about 20-30 min by taxi from the center.

nt. The meal were all on a smaller scale & a little bland.
We ordered the squid fettuccine with basil oil as an entree to share (€12), then a blue swimmer crab linguine (€15) & a cod fillet with chestnuts (€18) as main courses with a side of baked radicchio (€5) The only beverage we had was only a bottle of still tap water which the waitress filled them up with taps as the waitress offered to all other tables. Came to payment, the bill came to €56, which included €1 each for still water per person and €2 per paper napkin per person!! We didn’t challenge the waitress and paid for these but we felt like charges like tap water and thin paper napkins were a bit of a rip off whilst the restaurant clearly knows we were tourists. If there are any local Rome residents who read this could share with us if this is a common practice to be charged for tap water (€1 p/person) & paper napkin (€2 p/person) when dining at this casual dining place in Rome? ############################## (Review added below in response from the owner) Dear owner, Thank you for clarifying this as we weren’t sure of your microfiltered water that comes to a cost of €1 per person. Secondly, we didn’t have any prosecco.
As for your so called “Welcome entree”, did you mean that one mouthful bite of square crusty bread served on a big white round plate? Yes we remember being offered that. My subsequent question is: If you refer that as a “Welcome entree”, why did you charge €2 for something you offered to a guest as a “Welcome” item? Maybe this is a cultural difference but if a “welcome” gesture is chargeable in Italy, I learned it now and will respect that.

Owner response