I’ve talked about this dinner for weeks (nearly four, in fact), and I will probably continue to talk about it on an annual basis as my birthday comes ’round because it was EPIC!
When I first mentioned to Christine about coming to Rome on my birthday, she asked if I liked seafood and whether I’d like to go to this seafood restaurant where they spoil you for about three hours. Absolutely!
Costa Smerelda is outside of the city centre, and from what I was told and what I observed it’s mostly a locals place. Read a review here:
Costa Smeralda da Achille – Fixed price, fixed quality
Last updated: Aug 22nd, 2008 | By: Annalaura D’Errico
A fixed-price menu for a great Italian seafood experience. This is what this restaurant has to offer.
But here are two warnings: 1) to eat here, you absolutely must reserve 2) to best take advantage of it, you have to be as hungry as a bear!
The fixed price is 35 euros, and there is no menu. The article’s description is bang on when it lists everything that comes to the table, including drinks. Basically, they keep bringing out platters of food until you beg for mercy because your buttons are popping.
It was just the ladies for this meal, because Luciano finds Costa Smeralda far too loud for his tastes. When we arrived around 8:30, we were early by Italian standards because the restaurant was mostly empty. But within minutes, very large families poured into the place and the dinner din grew and grew until it was truly deafening!
The wait staff were outstanding, I must say. I have never seen harder working servers in all my life! They raced around at top speed in a tight space to keep up with everyone streaming in through the door at the same time. I tried to capture on video just how quickly they dished out massive quantities of food, but the waiter didn’t approve so I stopped. I borrowed Christine’s digicam to shoot some stealthy video at our table, but I haven’t got the video from her yet. It’ll look like I fast forwarded the video, they’re moving so rapidly!
The dinner photos are below: (more…)
