Ristorante Vecchia Roma- anyone been??

[emilief]

Read a review in last week's Globe about this place. The review was good. Would like to hear from anyone who has been and your opinion, as well as info about what is good there. TIA

[Velda Mae]

I've been there once and thought it was terrible. It was more than a year ago and I remember only that I had a pasta dish that was nearly inedible. Even my father, who is far more generous in his reviews than I, agreed that it was mediocre and expensive.

[emilief]

Wow= love it, hate it. Thank you everyone for your comments. It seems that it might be worth trying once to make up my own mind. The review in the Globe (10/26) complained that they do not serve tap water.

[hiddenboston]

Our server said that the tap water issue written about in the Globe was a misunderstanding, and that they do offer tap water now....

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

Are you guys referring to the place in The Lake or maybe some other place. the place I'm thinking of would barely hold 12 people total!

[silver queen]

It was no misunderstanding- they were total jerks about it. They absolutely would not give you tap water. Bottled water or no water. A waiter told me that the owner was concerned about "issues" with tap water and refused to serve it. I'm glad if they changed their policy, but I still have hard feelings about the place. It is the place in The Lake. I think they have expanded and are larger than they used to be.

[Velda Mae]

I recall that they were total jerks about my request for tap water. A polite explanation rather than a hostile response would have helped improve my experience. I hope hiddenboston is right. I Between people's environmental concerns and concerns for their pocketbook, it's getting harder for restaurants to force bottled water on customers.

[hiddenboston]

I was drinking tap water there by the gallon last week, so unless they were doing me a special favor (hardly likely!), they now indeed offer it along with bottled water.

[Ralphie_in_Boston]

Good heavens...issues with MWRA tap water? Which is piped safely into the homes of milliions of MA residents. Yeah don't want to serve that.

I actually had a very good meal there a few years ago (without this problem). Been pondering going back, until reading this thread.

[fbf242]

To be fair, I think that the bottled water thing reflects not only the custom in restaurants in Italy, but also a more general Italian hesitance to drink tap water. When I lived in Italy, my roommates were shocked that I refilled my water bottle in the kitchen sink. It's extremely wasteful, considering that the tap water is perfectly fine in most Italian cities, but the obsession with bottled water is definitely a cultural thing.

[bakerboyz]

I was in Florence in March and had tap water without problem or questions at every restaurant I ate at.

[macadamianut]

It's a charming place with excellent food. Great appetizers and salads. For dinner I had a pappardelle dish with sausage and pumpkin. There is an appetizer that is a soupy kind of bean dish that they serve with bread that is great. They do not offer tap water so you must buy a bottle of water when you go. They also sometimes give you a free digestive after your meal. I was given apricot brandy.

[hiddenboston]

Actually, they do offer tap water now. I believe they started doing this fairly recently...

[hiddenboston]

I wrote a review on the place earlier this week. About 10 or 12 of us went last week, some for the first time, and some for the umpteenth time, and every single person except for 1 (no names, hehe) absolutely loved it. I sampled a number of dishes and personally thought that the food rivaled any Italian that I've had in the Boston area.

A few more of us are going back next week to try it out again. I can't wait!