Core de Roma

A couple going into the restaurant stopped us as we made our way to the car. "What did you think?" they asked. I hesitated. "Well.... I thought it was very average; likely a one-shot deal for us. BUT, the restaurant appears to be popular, so you may think it's great." I hate assessing Core de Roma as less than wonderful. The owner is so gracious and wants everyone to be happy. But the reality is, with so many Italian restaurants in and around Philadelphia, you've got to be on top of your game.They start you off with warm Italian bread and a plate of tasty cannelloni beans in olive oil. We ordered calamari as an appetizer, described as being served on a "bed of greens." Had we known the "bed" was two meager leaves of lettuce, we would have ordered a salad as well. The calamari should be crisper and include tentacles in addition to rings. My husband's chicken Francese was pretty much indistinguishable from my saltimbocca. I like when the breasts are pounded thin, but these were sliced overly thin, and the portion, somewhat skimpy. One piece of T's was lemony, the other not. I did taste sage on my saltimbocca, but had I not known that the chicken was topped with prosciutto, I wouldn't have guessed it was there. I read that some restaurants don't serve angel hair pasta because it's easy to over-cook. You guessed it. Boiled to the point of being almost mushy, with sauce that literally had no taste.When we split a small piece of limoncello cake, T said "this is the most flavorful thing we've eaten." And sadly, I agreed.The restaurant is BYOB with a reasonable $5 corkage fee. The staff is young and efficient. There's a parking lot down the hill in the back. Ambience is okay -- despite some other Yelpers' complaints. The only thing needing improvement: the food.

This is a hidden gem on the Main Line that I would highly recommend. How often do you have the owner wait on you? He's also a gem and can explain any of their amazing dishes. Highly recommend the artichoke appetizer and my wife loved the eggplant special. The food is on par with the food we had on our recent trip to Italy...amazing! Remember, it's BYOB and there is a small corkage fee per bottle so don't complain as you've been warned...lol! Lots of free parking in the back.

My friend and I were craving pasta so we were very excited to go to Core de Roma! We went on a Friday, early evening, and luckily we got seated without a reservation (it was getting busy though!). We brought a bottle of wine since it's BYOB ($5 corkage fee). We enjoyed the free bread and beans in oil as we checked out the menu. We were having so much trouble deciding between all of the amazing pasta choices so we picked 3 - spaghetti cacio e Pepe (amazing!), penne arrabiatta (yummy), and we asked for the penne vodka with rigatoni instead (our favorite!)! The service was great and quick and the restaurant had such a friendly family feel. We left very full and are definitely looking forward to coming back soon!

Not an attractive place but we heard good things so sat down at table with family 3 adults 2 teens. Service very spotty. Long story short. I have never had such inedible, terrible food at the worst place I've been in my life. One family member who will eat anything, left his food after a couple bites. There is nothing good I can say about the food or the place except we got out of there and no one got sick from what few bites we did eat. I cannot understand how it stays in business. Sorry to give a bad review but all 5 of us agreed and everyone got something different.

What a gem of a restaurant! The bread came with a lovely seasoned olive oil that I found amazing. I ordered my go to dish - Fettuccine Alfredo and I was not disappointed! The fettuccine was a light homemade pasta - and the sauce was perfect! Great find!

Second time in a row there only one waitress, big parties plus other tables not looked at for 20 min, wine not opened, no bread so we left and went elsewhere. Not sure why they only have one person. People waiting at door to be seen and seated. First impressions are important. Not sure we will be back.

Have been to this restaurant several times. Food is delicious, service very good. It's a BYOB. I brought in a screw cap bottle of wine, opened it myself, and poured it myself. We were charged $5.00 corkage. No way was I paying that. We were told all restaurants are charging just to bring in a bottle. No way. Never heard that. Was I wrong?

Service is fine. Ambiance is meh -- paintings of sad clowns? Any way, was looking forward to eating here, based on the reviews. I cannot agree with the positive reviews of the food. The artichoke specialty? Neither or us liked it. We split one of the three and left the two. My pasta fagioli was red base -- unusual from my experience. Usually I love this dish and order it at every nice Italian restaurant I visit. I had four spoonfuls. Tasted like tomato soup with rigatoni and carrot bits. My entree was veal osso bucco. The meat was tender, but the red sauce was passible. Over all, very disappointing. Perhaps my expectations going in were too high.

Delicious food... a hidden gem in the neighborhood with wonderful ambiance and very good service. Everyone in our party loved what they ordered - from the Eggplant parmigiana to the Bucatini alla Gricia to the Veal Core de Roma. Will definitely be back to discover other delicious dishes. Thanks for making our evening a culinary delight at a very reasonable cost.

Got takeout. The pasta dishes were all excellent as was a veal Marsala dish. The bean salad was a bit too oily for my taste. The special artichoke appetizer was loved by the artichoke fans in the group.