Roman’s
“As someone who lives in North Brooklyn, I'm an unabashed fan of the Marlow & Sons empire, and especially love Diner.”
“We had the beet and orange salad, carrot and ricotta, the crustini with a fried egg, the pasta in broth, and the sunday ragu.”
“Where Bonita took Mexican food with American influences and made it boring, Roman's gets American food with Italian roots exactly right.”
Roman’s
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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8:00pm on a Saturday. Table for 6. I was running late from Manhattan, so luckily there was a 25 minute wait for a table.
No one was super hungry, so we decided to go family style. The waitress was very informative and helpful. We had:
Appetizers:
– Baked stracchino (salty cow's cheese). This came with 4 very toasted baguette slices – delicious!
– Fried zucchini. This was ok.
– Romano beans and fava beans with pancetta. The greens were so fresh. And one nutritionist in the party told us that fava beans are great for brain development. The pancetta bits were a great complement.
Second:
– Risi e bisi – This risotto was many people's favorite dish! It is so flavorable, well cooked to the perfect consistency, and not too salty. They must stew pancetta in the stock or something. I could go for some more right now. The best risotto I've ever had.
– Spinach fettucine – fresh pasta always tastes great. I forget what it came with.
Third:
– Quail – I'm a big fan of quail. This entree had two pieces and they were super juicy and cooked medium rare. The salad it came with was also delicious.
– Sea bass with tzatziki. This was another awesome dish. The sea bass was perfectly broiled and the Asians in the group definitely made sure every single piece of meat was devoured. I thought it was good enough without tzatziki, but their homemade cucumbery tzatziki was a showstopper on its own.
We ended up paying $35 each (including a bottle of white). Service was great. Seating was a little crammed so don't bring too much stuff with you.
Delicious food and knowledgable/attentive waitstaff, but I found the portions to be quite small. I ate half of their crostini appetizer and paccheri pasta entree, which were delicious! But I was still hungry after the meal, which isn't my preference after spending $70+ on a meal.
While I was initially unimpressed by this establishment and overwhelmed with what I perceived to be pretension and pomposity run amok, this place slowly but surely revealed itself to be a strong contender for my personal title of Fort Greenes best restaurant. This place takes the whole locavore, seasonal farm-to-table deal to pretty much the furthest possible degree. The small simple menu, which is really Italian-meets New Brooklyn American, seemingly changes to some degree every day. Seasonal farmers market ingredients are featured often thru out the menu in the traditional Italian course arrangement, often in austere minimalist preparations. The pastas are usually a great bet, simple yet delicious ones Ive tried include a Bucatini with Block Island Sardines that tasted briny and fresh and as bracing as the early spring sea of that time. In th depths of winter I had a hearty and rich Lasagna that warmed the soul. More recently in the early summer I had a mind blowing burrata with braised fennel which tasted about as fresh as any dish I have ever had.
Now my initial concerns regarding the attitude heavy self satisfied service was not completely unfounded. The staff can be a bit much in the most "New Brooklyn" way possible. The simple and perfectly prepared food makes it well worth it however and luckily the same quality translates to the cocktails here, which can certainly help make dealing with the smugness easier.
Fantastic choice for a fancy meal/splurge/special occasion. I came early on a Tuesday evening and enjoyed an unforgettable meal.
I ordered the spaghetti with artichoke & rosemary, which was beyond amazing. The bread and wine were both equally delicious. The roasted chicken though? It's quite possibly the best roast chicken I have EVER eaten. The meatballs were also stellar.
Oh, and do not leave without trying the dark chocolate sorbet. Trust me.
It's a little on the pricey side, but it's worth every penny. Service was also just as impressive. Love.
We are not coming back. Here's the bad and the good:
We were a party of 8 and they had us wait over TWO hours for a table squeezed in the back when there were three empty tables of four in the front that could have easily accommodated us. I guess we weren't beautiful enough.
So there we were, squeezed into our table and the deal was "we need you to order your entire meal now, no apps first then dinner etc.".
Rushed…,
Prices are outrageous! Ran out of 8 oz steak for $30 so they substituted a larger steak for $38 instead of honoring the original price quoted. We had to ask for bread…
And for the good: The food is very good. Delmonico steak; blue fish; pasta; duck confit. The setting is very pretty: wood tables, chandeliers, candles. Don't be fooled by the outside-the inside is lovely.
The service is whatever they want it to be. It's not customer oriented that's for sure. Just doesn't rate a return trip.
Friend suggested this locavore, Italian restaurant around the corner from his apartment as our going away dinner on the last night of our trip to NY.
Try something new and order one of the daily changing Sour or Bitter cocktails before you place your food order.
The menu changes daily and is based on seasonally available ingredients. We had a 3-course meal:
*Crostini highlighting a peppery Sicilian olive oil
*a puttanesca with swordfish instead of tuna
*my first gnudi ever which is like a dumpling made only of ricotta and greens in this case chard
*rabbit prepared three ways – my favorite taste was of the pate
*monkfish with sausage and clams
*an ember-grilled flank steak served with rocket and aioli
We had to leave for JFK and unfortunately were forced to forgo dessert.
The restaurant interior, staff, and patrons set a nice vibe to complement the delicious Italian food.
I would definitely hit this place up again for dinner… where do I start? It's a small and intimate space, very simple with nice wood tables. Their burrata app is a perfect start, followed by a delightful piece of swordfish. A friend had a wonderful homemade pasta dish but I forget what kind. For dessert we ordered a chocolate ice cream that was very tasty, and I do not go nuts for chocolate… This is the kicker though, the menu changes daily to provide the freshest food for your mouths!
I've been walking by Roman's for over a year and it was long past time to try it out. I probably won't be back–it wasn't SO bad but there are so many other fantastic spots in Fort Greene that it seems pointless to go back. My biggest issue was the service, it took about 35-ish minutes to order our meal (and we were eating pretty late on a Sunday night so it wasn't exactly slammed–though to be fair it was somewhat crowded). It seemed to also take disproportionately long to receive our drinks, dishes, pay etc. But the lag time was also highlighted by the fact that the table next to us was clearly Marlow & Sons insiders and servers kept stopping by to chat with them–while we were still waiting for more water, to pay etc. That was quite annoying, and to top it off I think the food was only so-so. My boyfriend's braised beef dish with ramps was fantastic (and I was jealous) but my pork ragu was rather dry. We also split an order of bruschetta which I typically take to be bread with a topping but note that it's simply grilled bread in olive oil. Fine but nothing exciting. If you want Italian in this neck of the woods, go to Dino, or to most of the other spots on DeKalb. I think you'll have a better time.