Pastificio San Lorenzo
Price guide: Mid-range
Via Tiburtina 196, Rome, 00185
Loading map...
#16 of 40
expert-rated restaurants in Rome- Recommended for:
- Business travellers, Couples, Foodies, Seasoned travellers, Singles, Relaxation, Trendiness
Expert review of Pastificio San Lorenzo
Substance meets style in this new creative Italian bistrot-restaurant in artsy San Lorenzo
Set up by four art world insiders, this trendy new bistrot-restaurant occupies the ground floor of a former pasta factory in the artsy, studenty San Lorenzo district. But with its warm retro interior design and upscale creative Italian menu, the Pastificio is aiming for the area's more gentrified and well-heeled habitués. I only finally made it here a year after the place's September 2009 opening, and was pleasantly surprised to find it all a lot more laid-back and approachable (and I'm talking about the food, the services and the prices here) than reports had suggested. The kitchen has its hits and misses, but overall this is a very pleasant alternative venue for a convivial night out - and it stays open into the wee hours.
Food and drink:
Chef Stefano Preli steers a safe and mostly dependable middle course between culinary pretension and same-old tradition. Potato gnocchi in angler fish sauce, or baked suckling pig with potato and hazelnut purée and fruit 'mostarda' are two typical dishes - creative but tasty. He does some interesting variations on Roman stalwarts too - like the inventive (and delicious) deconstructed tiramisù, served in a glass with coffee granita in place of the usual coffee-soaked sponge fingers. At lunch a smaller selection of the same dishes is on offer at lower prices - plus a few good main-course salads. The wine list is full of interesting left-field selections, and the mark-ups are surprisingly reasonable.
Ambience:
Old-fashioned artisan's workshop meets nouveau-retro gentleman's club. There's even a vaulting horse. The interior designer also worked on 'Gusto - which shares some of the same retro factory feel.
Service:
The waiter dropped one of my mackerel kebabs just as it was heading tablewards - but he was terribly apologetic, and overall I was pretty impressed by the service, which is not of the glacially cool school that you often find in such stylish joints.
Location:
It's on the quieter eastern stretch of Via Tiburtina, near Rome's main La Sapienza University and on the northern edge of the funky San Lorenzo district.
Price advice:
Allow around €45 a head for dinner with a decent bottle of wine; at lunch, you can get away with €20 or even less.
More information on Pastificio San Lorenzo:
- Price guide:
- Type:
- Bistro, Restaurant, Wine bar
- Food:
- Italian, Mediterranean
- Address:
- Via Tiburtina 196, Rome, 00185
- Telephone:
- 06 9727 3519
- Website:
- http://www.pastificiocerere.com
- Serves:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Opening times:
- Tue-Fri & Sun 12.30-3pm, 7pm-2am, Sat 7pm-2am
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Reservations:
- Suggested
