Cafe Vaticano across the street from the Vatican Tourist Entrance - Don't Eat There

There should be a special place in hell reserved tor the people that run this place. Or alternatively they should be subjected to a combination of the exquisite methods used by the inquisition and by the Elizabethans to torture and kill people.

The only possible reason that this place can stay in business is that it is located directly across the street from the entrance to the Vatican tours. For us, it was by far the worse meal in terms of value of any of the restaurants that we ate at during our trip in Italy. Caffe Vaticano combines grossly overpriced food with surly service and mediocre food to provide a unique dining experience.

When you sit down, they refuse to give you a menu so you do not know what your meal is going to cost. That should have told us to run away but we were going to meet our Vatican tour guide in front of the place so we stupidly stayed. We ended up paying 81 E for a poor lasagna, a tasteless salad, 2 beers which we ordered as small but which was served as medium and 2 gelatoes. The gelatgoes cost 15 E EACH!!

They even had the nerve to add a 10% service charge to the meal. In any other restaurant in Rome, this would have cost 1/3 the price.

Take my advice - stay away.

Unfortunately this place is well known and discussed on Trip Advisor, in their reviews section it comes out in the bottom 10% of restaurants in Rome.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d1089060-Reviews-Caffe_Vaticano-Rome_Lazio.html

There should be a special place in hell reserved tor the people that run this place. Or alternatively they should be subjected to a combination of the exquisite methods used by the inquisition and by the Elizabethans to torture and kill people.

 

The only possible reason that this place can stay in business is that it is located directly across the street from the entrance to the Vatican tours. For us, it was by far the worse meal in terms of value of any of the restaurants that we ate at during our trip in Italy. Caffe Vaticano combines grossly overpriced food with surly service and mediocre food to provide a unique dining experience.

 

When you sit down, they refuse to give you a menu so you do not know what your meal is going to cost. That should have told us to run away but we were going to meet our Vatican tour guide in front of the place so we stupidly stayed. We ended up paying 81 E for a poor lasagna, a tasteless salad, 2 beers which we ordered as small but which was served as medium and 2 gelatoes. The gelatgoes cost 15 E EACH!!

 

They even had the nerve to add a 10% service charge to the meal. In any other restaurant in Rome, this would have cost 1/3 the price.

 

Take my advice - stay away.

Well... coffee on St.Marco in Venice cost 20 euro so this bar is pretty cheap. ;p why people don't ask how much I don't know, but apparently all reviews complain about price.:rolleyes:

Well... coffee on St.Marco in Venice cost 20 euro so this bar is pretty cheap. ;p why people don't ask how much I don't know, but apparently all reviews complain about price.:rolleyes:

And, there are these really nifty things called smartphones and tablets. Apparently one can instantly look up an establishment before entering and see reviews... If someone goes in "blind" to a restaurant/store/etc., well... Yes, I DO check on places; if nothing found, I go in knowing that I could get ripped off, but that was MY choice to go in. Apparently, the OP knows about such things as the OP reviewed, almost verbatim (could have been, but I don't do that level of stalking) this place on Yelp...

I'm assuming by "Vatican" the OP is referring to the Vatican Museums. There has always been a food truck by the entrance - get your snack and drink there. Or, walk 10 minutes down the hill to the Cipro Metro station - across from it is the world-famous Bonci Pizzarium and excellent pizza al taglio (and other offerings).

The 10 % service charge was for the SURLY service, still service albeit surly still comes at a 10 % surcharge.

When in Roma CAVEAT EMPTOR (Latin for BUYER BEWARE ) . We were there late October at St Peters when Frank canonized some new Saints !!! The on street vendor price of Rotary Beads doubled on that day compared to the previous day, and they had to bring in extra supplies from Bangladesh !!!!

....of Rotary Beads.....

A classic example of why I leave predictive text switched off :D

JB :)

Thanks for sharing your experience.

On our last visit to Rome we had several memorable meals by getting away from the tourist areas. Often we would walk up and down small streets where locals live and find a cafe/restaurant where mainly locals ate and that worked out very well for us.

We are returning to Rome next year and plan to take the same approach.

For some meals we do use trip advisor so glad to hear that the reviews also noted issues with this restaurant.

Keith

I use Trip Advisor a lot when planning to eat dinner out but wouldn't tend to do so when just out and about during the day. However, we stumbled across a restaurant in Rome a few years ago when looking for a table in the sun and had the worst experience ever - similar to the comments about Caffe Vaticano above. I reviewed it on Trip Advisor to find that everyone felt the same about this terrible place and I wouldn't have set foot in there if I'd known. I vowed in future to quickly check for reviews before sitting down.

Just looked back and find it's rated even below Caffe Vaticano for restaurants in Rome - that's how bad it was :loudcry:

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

On our last visit to Rome we had several memorable meals by getting away from the tourist areas. Often we would walk up and down small streets where locals live and find a cafe/restaurant where mainly locals ate and that worked out very well for us.

 

We are returning to Rome next year and plan to take the same approach.

 

For some meals we do use trip advisor so glad to hear that the reviews also noted issues with this restaurant.

 

Keith

Please use more than Trip Advisor and don't take TA as gospel!!! It is "pay for play". An establishment can pay to have it's place put at the top of a list. Naive people will look at those at the top (who have paid) and think they are the best, not seeing that the ones actually ranked are a few below. And, establishments can have fake reviews placed.

Same for Yelp - you have to beware what you are looking at. For Italy (and Rome in particular), look at some well-known foodies found in travel magazines (like Katie Parla, Elizabeth Minchilli), or hit up another site for recommendations, Chow.

Please use more than Trip Advisor and don't take TA as gospel!!! It is "pay for play". An establishment can pay to have it's place put at the top of a list. Naive people will look at those at the top (who have paid) and think they are the best, not seeing that the ones actually ranked are a few below. And, establishments can have fake reviews placed.

Same for Yelp - you have to beware what you are looking at. For Italy (and Rome in particular), look at some well-known foodies found in travel magazines (like Katie Parla, Elizabeth Minchilli), or hit up another site for recommendations, Chow.

Maybe my post was not clear.

Many places we went to were where the locals went that we found in small neighborhoods.

We also use Trip Advisor as a tool but are very careful how we use it. I consider the number of reviews and with a simple click you can see what other places the reviewer has reviewed including places in other cities and countries. Google is our friend and we do other searches. We also get input from people we respect including friends. We use Cruise Critic. And we look at the web site if they have one. We also inquire at the hotel and we ask very direct questions. I want to know where the concierge goes to for lunch or dinner not where the tourist might go to.

Oh and I don't like Yelp.

So, yes we don't limit ourselves to one source. And as I said we just wander into small neighborhood looking where locals eat. Works well for us.

Oh, I don't really care about the ranking.

Some of my most favorite hotels around the world are not necessarily the top rated hotels. That's fine with me. The key is does it work for me. :)

Keith

Please use more than Trip Advisor and don't take TA as gospel!!! It is "pay for play". An establishment can pay to have it's place put at the top of a list.

Yes. Trip Advisor's greatest benefit is to know what places to avoid. Always check to see the number of reviews, the larger the number the less likely the average has been swayed by purchased reviews.

And, there are these really nifty things called smartphones and tablets. Apparently one can instantly look up an establishment before entering and see reviews... If someone goes in "blind" to a restaurant/store/etc., well... Yes, I DO check on places; if nothing found, I go in knowing that I could get ripped off, but that was MY choice to go in. Apparently, the OP knows about such things as the OP reviewed, almost verbatim (could have been, but I don't do that level of stalking) this place on Yelp...

 

I'm assuming by "Vatican" the OP is referring to the Vatican Museums. There has always been a food truck by the entrance - get your snack and drink there. Or, walk 10 minutes down the hill to the Cipro Metro station - across from it is the world-famous Bonci Pizzarium and excellent pizza al taglio (and other offerings).

My problem is that we do not activate our smart phone to coverage in Europe. I can pick up stuff in my room as they always have WiFi but when we are out and about we do not get coverage.

I admit that I should have walked out when they did not give me menu but in my defense - it was partly the fault of my wife as she was tired after a lot of walking and she did not want to leave to look for another place. I do share the blame of course.

DON

My problem is that we do not activate our smart phone to coverage in Europe. I can pick up stuff in my room as they always have WiFi but when we are out and about we do not get coverage.

 

I admit that I should have walked out when they did not give me menu but in my defense - it was partly the fault of my wife as she was tired after a lot of walking and she did not want to leave to look for another place. I do share the blame of course.

 

DON

Switch to T-Mobile! Or, even if you have an unlocked phone that has the bands for Europe (I remember either Sprint or Verizon phones used to be unusable) and get a cheap SIM card for data usage. The phone is a great travel tool around the world.