Ristorante Il Pagliaccio ** Review

Original and creative dishes with a base of products of the highest quality to enhance each distinct flavor

We had the 10 courses tasting menu. It was amazing. 3.5 hours of joy. Smart and Excellent food. Superb service.
It was really an amazing experience.

It has a taste, but it was not surprising for the price, and the service seems to be somewhat lacking.

It's the only 2 Michelin Star in Rome. To find it is a maze so our night probably didn't start right with finding the place. Majority of the food we tried are high quality however, I'm probably too conservative to have chosen the Circus tasting menu. I will say the experience is not bad but I can't say we were "wowed" by it.

Nice setting and good service. A "jacket policy" in 2019 is beyond ridiculous...especially in a contemporary/modernist food setting. The food is good, definitely michelin-level, but it never seemed to hit notes of deep pleasure.

I don't think my humble review is needed to describe the sensations one can experience, experiencing a dinner or lunch at Il Pagliaccio Restaurant.
2 Michelin stars that can be heard resonating very well in a room with an oriental and refined design.

Very refined and expensive. Impressive how they managed to cook healthy lamb in macaroni with a complex set of cooking

A two-star Michelin restaurant with cozy, non-obliging setting. The service was excellent, efficient and genuinely polite. The food was excellent, with one exception, which we noted to the staff and they took it very seriously. A bit pricey, but that's what you'd expect from a Michelin place.

Incredible experience! Very flavorful cuisine on the Parallels tasting menu. Everything was unique and exciting along with great service. A must experience in Rome.

Great expectations for Anthony Genovese's cuisine, if only for the long militancy among the starred stars (double star for almost a decade) and for his always evocative and highly respected figure.
But there is a bit of disappointment. We choose the tasting menu Il Pagliaccio; the emotion is slow to arrive and only with 1-2 courses we can catch the creative genius of the Master. In the impeccable service room, as expected by the rest. And just like from the script we are disappointed because the "play" that is staged (as the starry bon ton requires) is far too muffled and a little fluency and personality would not hurt, on the contrary. At times we felt "diffidence" and also a little presumptuous when we asked for an opinion on our choice of wine. (Maybe we have chosen a too inexpensive wine - 100 euros) Hot disappointment on the small pastry shop, absolutely not at the level of the menu and the brand.
The expectation (high) and the bill (important) did not give us the emotion that we expected from those in the Gotha of catering. But this impression is now a constant in many starred restaurants in the Bel Paese.

It was a unforgettable night. Outstanding food and service together with a collection of beautiful wine. Thank you

Amazing experience, incredible staff and wonderful delicious plates

Un luogo per viaggiare nell'arte della cucina. Senza dubbio al livello delle 2 stelle Michelin.

An incredible dining experience with impeccable service, creative dishes and good choice of wines to complement each dish. We had the 10 courses tasting menu, many of the dishes incorporated Mediterranean and Asian flavours, so if you expect authentic Italian cuisine, this might not be the place for you. All in all this is the best fine dining experience for us in Rome.

Definitely an experience to try for those who are not used to certain places, there are difficult combinations to even imagine. Michelin stars don't come by chance

The food was great, the fare you would expect from a two-star Michelin restaurant. There were some rough edges, and that's why I'm not giving it an excellent recommendation. First and foremost, it felt very crowded, and once it filled up it got quite loud, taking a lot from the experience. Second, there is a water "sommelier" to help you choose from a menu of ~16 waters. I don't believe that this service is needed, but since it's offered, I can comment on it. The "sommelier" was an inexperienced waitress who didn't speak much English and rushed me to make a decision without letting me read the menu or explaining what was going on. On second thought none of the waiters was able to explain themselves well in English. Third, and this is a personal one, I would have liked some more options for dessert, but very little was offered.

Unique dishes in their complexity and delicacy, professional service but that does not make the diner uncomfortable.
Summary everything in 3 words,
professionalism, creativity and elegance,
But above all many many compliments ..

2-star restaurant, which is well worth it!
The dishes were sublime, very well balanced and flavors!

Well what about. Starred restaurant with haute cuisine and qualified people. Ideal place to make a good impression in terms of setting ... As for the food I would not say, although good and refined it is not worth the price it costs

2 . . . ? ? . . . .
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I do not recommend this restaurant to asians. The chef is way too much inspired by Asia. Its not fusion its just asian.
Familiar food ingredients, and taste. Especially sesame leaves, popped rices are very cheap ones that you can easily buy from supermarket at very low price less than 2euros you get plenty of them. I would rather enjoy other italian restaurants than this one!
Asian inspired chef sounds great, but i think i expected more of fusion and creative ones. If the chef get to study more of asian food culture, he would not use those cheap ingredients as a dish on the table, would he?

Explosion of the palate ... emotions at every course. So I can describe the experience with the clown ... attached photos of some courses the others I let you imagine. Cozy little place but cared for in every More

Great atmosphere, and fantastic food. Every course was a surprise delivered with creativity and care. Every dish was an exploration into what was possible with food. The staff was incredible and probably the best I have ever experienced in a restaurant.thisnwas a night I will never forget.

More than 150 euros to eat like a canary, the stars leave them in the sky, in the kitchen .. cook !!

Everything is fine, only the price bites ... A wonderful rich wine list of Italian and French wines. Separately, it is worth noting the coordinated work of the maintenance staff: polite, correct, competent, pleasant faces, kind smiles. Food .. I do not agree with negative reviews. For me, every tried dish is an explosion of taste, sensations and an explosive mixture of different cuisines, a symbiosis of opposites ... The food is just different with a pronounced Asian and Mediterranean hue, different from what we are familiar with .. but it really tastes good and matches Michelin food . The restaurant is very expensive. Wines are more expensive than in typical restaurants. Tasting dishes from 150 . The average check for one client is 70-75 .
Everything is great, only the price bites ... Wonderful rich wine map of Italian and French wines. Separately it is worth noting the coordinated work of the service personnel: polite, correct, competent, pleasant faces, kind smiles. Food I disagree with the negative reviews. For me every tried dish is an explosion of taste, sensations and a greedy mixture of different kitchens, symbiosis of opposites ... The food is just different with a pronounced Asian and Mediterranean shade, different from what we are familiar with .. But it 's really delicious and consistent with Michelin' s food. The restaurant is very expensive. Wines here are more expensive than in typical restaurants. Tasting dishes from 150 . Average check per customer - 70-75 .

Small restaurant with creative cuisine. Amazing and tasty tasting menu. Deserves the 2 Michelin stars

It is not often that as a solo diner with no relationship to hospitality industry does one get the best table. I did here, but it was only the beginning of a fabulous evening. Firstly, the service - one of the best, if not the best, ok perhaps equal placed with another 2 star The Ledbury, in any Michelin establishment I dined in. It was just perfect, like clockwork, genuinely caring, on occasions humorous, just wonderful (beautiful uniforms on ladies). Given it is relatively small space at the front, only 13 diners on the night I visited, the staff created such lovely atmosphere. Special mention goes to Luca who doubled at sommelier. On wine, I loved that one is not locked into "wine flights" or some other countless glasses of wine one cannot possibly drink as solo diner. Here one can opt for own choice by the glass, or 3 glass or 5 glass option, and you decide with your sommelier, depending on your menu what would work best. I loved all the choices that knowledgeable Luca put forward. Now to food, exquisite overall, yes some bits of it doesn't blow your mind, but it so perfectly executed that one doesn't notice. I loved everything from perfect green butter and home bread, to many fish options offered, rabbit ravioli, and the beef was perfect too. The gorgonzola dish with peach blew my socks off. I am not a dessert person so dessert wasn't my cup of tea (too much cream not on par with other 2 star experiences I had), but that's a tiny complaint over a perfect evening.

Definitely doesn't let you down by any means! It is a solid two star restaurant leaning towards three. Their service was amazing, top notch, and didn't feel like a tourist at any moment of the night.

The menu isn't traditional either which matches the amazing chef. You work your way through the menu in the shoes of Anthony Genovese. He worked in France but a almost Asian twist is on a few of his courses. Very clean and refined flavors.

The wine selection would take days to go through, but can save some time by letting the house sommelier work his magic and guide you in the right direction.

Overall a perfect way to end the day in Rome! Definitely recommend it!!

Up to the well-deserved reputation of the cellar kitchen and attentive but not overwhelming service

Impeccable service. Dishes of the highest level, you experience without risk and self-satisfaction; everything is aimed at taste without ever forgetting to properly balance the flavors. Oriental aesthetics and a wide selection of wines complete the picture of two widely deserved stars.

I cannot rave about Il Pagliaccio enough. Presentation, creative blends of flavors, wine pairing, and service are all top notch and beyond deserving of the 2 Michelin stars. I had the 10 course tasting menu and each of the paired wines (and even one beer), and I highly recommend that when you visit the restaurant you trust Chef Genovese and the sommelier with this. Thank you for an amazing experience and food journey!

Nada superou mi has expectativas. Esperava muito deste restaurante MIchelin

This was a unique and truly special dining experience. It made our trip to Rome. I hope to return soon as the food, wine and service were all second to none.

Well deserved 2 Michelin stars. Food excellent and service is unparalleled.An experience worth having.

Truly disappointing. Not only was the food unimpressive in flavor and composition, the service was indifferent. The power went out half way through service for 15 minutes. When the lights came back up a new dish was dropped in front of me instantly. Clearly this was on the pass for 15 minutes waiting. Do yourself a favor and skip this place.

The decor is set up, the bread can taste the original but ordinary, the main course steak is fresh, and the other dishes are made with different ingredients to match the taste. Under the taste, there is no special food.

Unfortunately the food was ok at best and then there were courses that were just disappointing. That being said the staff tried to do their best but ok the end the food is the most important. I just wouldn t recommend someone to go there.

I used it for a little luxurious dinner during my stay in Rome.

The course meal was novel and enjoyable, with Japanese tastes and Asian tastes.
Each one is small, but there are many items and I am quite full.
Of course the taste is perfect.

I ordered wine for pairing, but I drank a lot. It was delicious mainly in Italian wine.
The customer service of the staff and the sommelier was also very good.

On my way home, my wife got chocolate and olive oil. I was happy with the consideration.

8 courses / 150 Euro
Like fettuccine.
cream cheese

fettuccine google maps

Have to reservation in advance, you will not regret!!!

Great restaurant, high standards, great menu, amazing taste. That is what you should expect from a 2 Michelin restaurant. The only negative thing is that the waiters didnt speak good English, so we couldn't fully understand each dish explanation.

Michelin 2 star - fully deserved. We were lucky to dine in the chef s room, a private, enclosed space with a library of fascinating culinary books. Every course was perfect, and the wine/acqua selection was perfetto.

Sophistication and elegance with a dash of daring creativity, and a warm but refined hospitality one would expect from the world class establishment this is.

Kudos to Chef Genovese - we were completely blown away, and will remember this evening flr the rest of our lives.

Highly recommend the Parallels.

Fantastic experience by the Genoese chef !!!! Flavors of the Italian territory with Asian external influences. Welcome and top services!

The experience of dining here was deeply disappointing. Overall, we were left with the impression that the chef simply could not care less.

Most dishes were untoughtful and bland combinations in which the Asian components added nothing to the composition.

In the printed menu a big list of exquisite ingredients are listed, claimed to be featured in the tasting menus. Well, for some reason ours did not include lobster, pigeon, etc. but very cheap ingredients, e.g. plain edamame beans were featured in 3/8 dishes. And come on, deep fried cucumber is not what you expect to get in a Michelin 2 star restaurant...

It was also very disappointing that most of the dishes had no aesthetic consideration, and consequently, very little visual impact.

For an 8 course menu costing 165 euros, supposed to consist of the restaurant s favorite signature dishes over the past decade, one is entitled to expect so much more!

As regular customers in Michelin starred restaurants around the world, we can say that this place is way below the standard for meriting even one star, not to mention two. Luckily, there are many other restaurants in Rome offering more beautiful and delicious dishes, made from more sophisticated ingredients, at a much more affordable price than Il Pagliacco.

Lovely staff and tasting menu was a long and varied tour de force. I found the sommelier a bit pushy. In a 2 star that is unacceptable. All the food was decent with moments of inspiration but a number of courses had one thing in them that either rocked the balance or were just average, with others being a little dull such as the dim sum and a rather uninspiring clear soup which the chef decided to add 70EUR of truffles to with lacklustre effect. It was not the best dish to add the ingredient to. We were cold throughout the meal. Sadly the venue was an overly bright venue and very cold even though the staff tried their best to turn up the heating. It was nothing cosy nor romantic. All sounds a bit picky? Yes sure- I paid 400Eur for two with only one bottle of wine. I have in London visited many restaurants with zero stars and left having a better experience. Inconsistency is unacceptable at this level. My advice to the restaurant is to look at refining the courses further and build more narrative in the dishes, improve the interior and plating to create more drama and look for weaknesses in the entire tasting menu and omit them.

Delicious and delicious restaurant, the plate is also very good

Impeccable service - tasteful decoration - presentation of impeccable dishes - there is a lack of magic for the rank of this restaurant (2 Michelin stars) - where the rub is when one of the guests requests a doggy bag and that it was refused; they prefer to throw away food than to give it to the people who paid for it. Very bad point.

I have eaten three times, and the people are very satisfied. I can only order one set meal at the same table.
not bad

I ate eight courses. Very disappointing 2 star like the minute below. Why are you two stars here? It was questionable. Go somewhere else ~~

Great meal, but being the last lunch seating didn't do wonders for the service you would expect at a place at a level like this. Forgotten intolerances and decreasing presence.

we were not satisfied, 1 shameful prices and price increases of 500% on wines, too elaborate dishes with a confusion of flavors, we do not understand if you eat meat or fish, and then we have not found an excellent raw material, but normala ... a big disappointment ...

Impeccable in service and with a thousand attentions. Sublime food

I don't think I should eat if I am not sick. Christmas eve to eat, the menu looks good, but actually my partner and I feel very unpalatable, without any delicious and impressive dishes. The service is very general. The Italians said that English is not very good. It is also very fast. When I was talking about food, I didn't know if he said it to the table. The presentation of the dishes is good, refreshing, but there are so many good things to say. The taste is too embarrassing, the combanition is disgusting, and there is no balence at all. Impressively, there is a sea urchin in a dish, and the treatment of sea urchins is simply a contamination of its own taste. The original fragrance is lost, and the things on the plate look like excrement, which tastes more like the excrement of aquatic animals. The way to arrange guests is almost rude and terrible, non-Italian sitting in the room and so on, half close to an outdoor atrium, while the Italians sit in the other half of the room, the half room is merely empty. All in all, it is not worth a try. Both stars are given more.

High level restaurant with creative dishes. Proportionate and adequate prices. I recommend the tasting menu at 150 euros excluding drinks. Compulsory jacket. Impeccable service. A gastronomic experience that gourmets cannot miss.

A beautiful experience, local to the height of expectations, in spite of those who say that the dress is a must, I've been there in all stars

Delicious, strange Italian!
ristorante michelin al top, cucina italiana con influenza giapponese

I found everything excellent, dishes studied in detail. Deserved Michelin Stars

Restaurant overall good that deserves the Michelin stars. The only discordant note is Genovese's aide who is not very humble, I don't know his name but he is a tall boy with a beard and tattoos

Definitely overrated. There are many one-star restaurants, which have much more appreciable menus and wine cellars. I must say I did not even like the service. List two restaurants in Rome, cheaper and less superb, where I found myself better. Achilles at the parliament (really remarkable) I would say just another level compared to the clown and the undervalued glass hostaria.

Amazing experience through a range of flavours and tastes

Outstanding, one of the best if not the best meal I have ever eaten. Beautiful wines and amazing service

Great tasting menu, disappointed in the staff who did not explain each meal completely, scallops and fish over cooked, when we told the staff it was over cooked they said the chef wanted it to be that way.

We are great connoisseurs of haute cuisine. The food is delicious. Staff - professional, polite, hospitable - well done.

Hands down one of the best meals I've ever had! Great service! ** Michelin well deserved!

An "other" cuisine that is supposed to be the 3rd best table in Rome. A map that develops according to the mood of the chef. A beautiful wine list and 2 options to choose 8 or 10 dishes.

This rating is a reflection of the price and my expectations for a 2-star restaurant. Not a place I would recommend to anyone.

Technically, the food was well prepared, but it was neither creative nor interesting, and almost all dishes left me wondering a) is this one dish with two parts or two dishes that happen to come together, b) why is the aftertaste so bitter, c) what did I just eat because I have already forgotten, or d) all of the above. The flavor combinations mostly ranged from subtle to more subtle to interesting in a gimmicky way. Of the 8 courses, only the turbot stood out as both well prepared and delicious.

This is one of the few times I find myself agreeing with the detailed reviews here (mostly negative but too nice to give less than 3 stars) and wondering what the folks at Michelin and Zagat were thinking. Yes, I recognize that this is a 300 mistake, but I'm owning up to this mistake. I just wish other reviewers used the full range of 1 to 5 stars.

Excellent cuisine, balanced, harmonious in all its parts. No dish has disappointed expectations. Atmosphere and service simply at the highest levels.

good attentive service even if from a two star I expect something more

We went to Il Pagliaccio for my birthday and overall it was a very sad affair. TLDR: Go somewhere else...And in more detail
Service: great
Location: cute
Wine pairing: the wines themselves were chosen well and matched the dishes nicely - if there was a pairing for the dish. The menu was 8 courses and the pairing was only 6 glasses... because... eh...why? And never have I left a fine dining restaurant that sober... usually you need to take care that your glass is not refilled all the time... at Il Pagliaccio they made sure to only pour you one measly glass. At least I will not wake up with a headache.
The menu itself: 8 dishes ... including the pre-desert and the two first very small dishes that would have been an amuse-bouche in most restaurants. There was not a single exciting/surprising dish and only the lamb was excellent. The deserts were good - and also the bread. Thanks to the Patissier! The pasta was ok. The dumpling and the melon-filled tomato did not deliver in the end. The fish could have been great with the nice fresh herbs and wild strawberries had it not been so terribly oily and finally the octopus terrine was not edible.
I am not sure why the menu was touted as a journey with all dishes being connected allegedly. The only thing that connected them was their being rather underwhelming and the empty glasses next to them. Not all journeys are good. Lastly, after watching chef Anthony Genovese explain his cuisine in a video we were excited, but in the end when tasting his cooking there was very little substance and it all seemed like empty marketing Blabla. No wonder the restaurant was empty.

There are plenty of wine types!
You can enjoy Italian-French-Asian fusion cuisine.

Beware of the White Truffle "Big Scam" The staff is not very friendly "it takes you up" it does not weigh in front of you !!!! Although it is the express scale .... for the rest too much sorbets accompany the dishes ... 2349 for / people with a bottle of Masseto 1400 but with the truffle RANK 440 (more expensive as tasting menus 370 for 2) we will never come back

A temple of the kitchen. Two Michelin stars, Relais & Chateaux member. An absolute certainty. My last taste goes back to the four-handed dinner between Anthony Genovese and Mauro Colagreco. A perfect tasting menu, paired with Krug champagne. Returning to the Pagliaccio is always a great pleasure.