Café Trastevere

Taste: 5/5Value: 4/5Ambiance: 5/5Honestly some of the best Italian food I think I've ever had. Everything we tried was delicious, I'm excited to go back and explore more of the menu!The atmosphere is super cozy, with options for indoor or outdoor seating. It is small so might be a good idea to make a reservation. We purchased a Groupon, which helped make the price very reasonable, especially given how tasty everything was.

This place has been around for quite a while and I have always wanted to see since they must be doing something right to have such longevity. We were a larger party so we made reservations and were seated promptly by their friendly staff.The Caesar salad had a different dressing than I expected. I am familiar with traditional as well as American but this was neither. I asked the server and was told the dressing was made in house. The dressing was more like a 1,000 island both in taste and color. Not bad just not what I was expecting. Since I was surprised with the salad I though it better to ask if the carbonara had guanciale or pancetta and was told it was just bacon. That seemed odd so I decided to go with the four cheese gnocchi. The portion was ample and well cooked. I thought it was tasty, not the best I ever had but not bad. The price was OK, the food was OK and the service was great. I can't say this is someplace I would rush back to but it's fine.

Had a 5:00 dinner reservation for a larger group to celebrate a birthday. The place is small so definitely recommend reservations.The decor is cute for the small space, but they still have window A/C units and they had just opened so there was a small musty smell when we first arrived. It did seems to lessen as we were there.We were not too hungry so just ordered entrees. My husband got the Zuppa Di Pesce and he really enjoyed his dish and said was cooked great. I had the Pollo Francese which I enjoyed, but did have a little more butter than I would have preferred. One of the kids had the fettuccine alfredo which she said was ok for flavor. The other had bruschetta and calamari. She prefers cheese in her bruschetta and this version did not have it, but said it was very good. The calamari was also good.The service was good, nothing over the top or missing. There was no mention of the birthday, but we also didn't want dessert since we were full from our meals. There was nothing that stood out as really good or bad in our experience and was ok for us.

Drive by this place a few times. No long wait n a Friday night.We sat outside. Alfresco. The outside seating is perfect for a January night.The salmon was perfectly cooked. The capers and onions he buttery sauce was the perfect combination. The salmon had a slight crisp.The lasagna was ok, better than mine. It was cheesy and cooked right.I would recommend this place.

I went here for a party that was outside. The patio area is cute. You can hear all the traffic from the street. There are no fans, but they had a heating lamp that wasn't on, because it was hot out. The food is good here.Now the service... was not so great. The girls were so rude when you asked for something I got a whole long story instead of a I'm sorry and quick polite reason why I couldn't get something. They were not accommodating at all! This place might be nice for a date, but not for parties outside.

A decade later and all I can say is the food was better this time. The main waiter (owner?) still seemed absolutely bothered he had customers to serve. The waitress was very sweet and attentive so she was a bright spot in the evening. Decor and comfort levels have not changed. It's still a chill romantic vibe but poorly air conditioned (it's a converted house so not a huge surprise). We had a reservation for 6 of us and we're seated at a small round table that with place settings and bread basket would have been challenging for 4 people let alone 6. Thankfully as the appetizers came out the waitress had the good sense to pull over another small round table and it was easier to navigate. Bruschetta was presented on flattened and overly oiled/toasted halves of their rolls (which the rolls are good when not soaked in oil and bitterly toasted) which killed the flavor of the toppings. Toasted cheese ravioli were just that. Calamari was cooked very well and still tender so I give points for that. Lobster ravioli was a favorite across the table in flavor and texture, gnocchi was good, carbonara was fantastically smoky, filet was cooked a bit too rare for my friend but perfectly for me and had a killer mushroom demi. Rigatoni vodka was well prepared. My chicken Francesca was bitter beyond the normal standards you'd expect of a lemon and white wine butter sauce (almost like they used lemon pith and a very astringent white) but the chicken was more tender this time. Salads are still not included but the prices haven't gone up much in a decade so kudos to that. Oh, note on the salad - I have no clue what their house dressing is but it was NOT good. A weird pink color like a creamy French but didn't taste like that. Almost like they emulsified carrots and olive oil and a splash of vinegar? Do not recommend. If it's still here in another 10 years maybe we'll try again.

Reservation recommended seating is limited, so is parking. The waiter is nice & attentive, they also speak Italian. Very traditional Italian feel. Comes with complimentary bread & oil/butter. Our pastas were delish with tasty sauce, seems authentic. We'd come back!

This is one of those places where ive told myself for years I wanted to go and that finally happened this week!The restaurant is very cozy and small inside and it has a nice garden seating area as well. They bring you bread and have balsamic and olive oil on the table so you can dip it. We then ordered the bruschetta as an appetizer and it was so savory. The olive oil was amazing and all the ingredients were very fresh.For entree we had the Spaghetti alla Carbonara and Penne alla Vodka. The spaghetti was not heavy and tasted amazing. The penne was also really delicious and it came with Salmon! Both portions were really good.Our servers were very attentive as well and would make sure we had everything we needed to make for a lovely evening.Will definitely be coming back to try more dishes!

This was my first time here with four other people who was their first time and two who had been there before but a long time ago. Although the food was stated as Roman style Italian, and in our party several had been to Rome as recent as March of this year, this was not the case. Two in our party ordered lasagna and only ate a small amount of it. The bruschetta was very good. We ordered that for the table. One person ordered the seafood with pasta and said it was really good. I personally I ordered the traditional pasta and meatballs. The sauce was very bland and the meatballs were not meatballs. They were pieces of meat, large pieces of meat. I ate a little bit and took the rest home and that was that I also ordered a Caesar salad which I questioned when it came before I even tasted it because it was orange and color the dressing and they said that was their Caesar dressing. Well Caesar salad normally has Caesar dressing and not a mix of Caesar in Russian or Caesar in French so I ate what I could the cheese on it was excellent, but the dressing left something to be desired All in all we did not leave with empty stomachs we were satisfied, but don't think we'll be going back anytime soon. Really we're looking forward to it as it was kind of a celebration, which is why there was such a a larger group of us than normal but we enjoyed our evening. The place itself was cute if a little loud, it was kind of warm and there seem to be a little bit of an outer in the restrooms, which I'm sure was not due to cleaning this because the place looked very clean.

The ambiance was particularly pleasant and reminiscent of our trips to Italy, very mom and pop's warm and friendly. You can't eat ambience! And the food excelled beyond the romantic setting I enjoyed with my wife of 55 years. The service was casual, no rush; enjoyed our time dinning and chatting. My beer was ice cold, not cool as in most restaurants, the soup was pipping hot not lukewarm as in all the chain places. What was most impressive was the calamari and shrimp served "divine not diabolico" fradiavlo. Just an appropriate spicy or offered with marina sauce for those not appreciative of the red pepper. I cannot speak for the veal piccata since it was my wife's order. She literally cleaned her plate of all remaining piccata sauce with the tables bread. I tasted that; in brief fantastic. My shrimp and squid (calamari) was the best I have ever had in the USA or in Europe. Thanks to the cook staff and those serving; you are simply the best my wife have ever had.Steve and Henny