Cesare al Casaletto, Rome, 12/14/15

exterior
exterior

A medium sized place located on the first floor of an apartment building in a residential neighborhood. It would seem to be populated with lots of regular guests.  The friendly and helpful waiter helped us make selections from the huge menu and did tell us we had ordered too much and helped adjust to what he thought we’d want. Even though the large menu had 2 pages for pizza options I saw no one order it. The fried appetizers seemed to come to most tables. Timing was a bit slow and often both plates were not brought at the same time. The interior is fairly plain but is helped with variously colored water glasses at every table. It’s a nice place but the food is a bit bland. We tried for a panna cotta with caramel for dessert but they only had fruit or nutella so we passed on dessert.

entry part of interior
entry part of interior

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interior
interior
fun glassware decorate tables
fun glassware decorate tables
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Frankie checked out the bread
table set up
table set up
cover
cover
starters
starters
more starters
more starters
first courses
first courses
first course with seafood
first course with seafood
second courses
second courses
side dishes
side dishes
pizza
pizza
pizza 2
pizza 2
dessert
dessert
beverages
beverages

The polpette were made of shredded beef and were very nice but could have used a little zing.

Polpette: fried meatballs with pesto
Polpette: fried meatballs with pesto

The eggplant had a little spice and the coating was quite good. These are a winner.

Eggplant croquettes in a spicy tomato sauce
Eggplant croquettes in a spicy tomato sauce
Frankie was overcome
Frankie was overcome

The carbonara was a very tasty version. It was creamy and the bacon added a good amount of flavor. This was made with dried pasta but had a wonderful essence of butter, parmesan and eggs.

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Spaghetti alla Carbonara: Roman classic made with pecorino romano cheese, Italian cured pork cheek, parmesan cheese, black pepper and eggs

The grisi was made with fresh pasta which was perfectly cooked. It was loaded really tasty pork pieces.

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Tonnarelli alla Gricia: Italian cured pork cheek, pecorino romano cheese and black pepper

The lamb was huge looking on the plate but the chops were lots of bone and cartilage. It would have benefitted immensely from more than one small wedge of lemon and a salt shaker.  It needed something.

Breaded lamb chops
Breaded lamb chops

The beef rolls were stuffed with sweet carrot and celery and covered with a very tasty sauce, however the meat goes to dry as soon as you chew it.

beef rolls in tomato sauce
beef rolls in tomato sauce

Chicory was nicely flavored with a hint of garlic.

Chicory
Boiled chicory salted with olive oil, garlic and chili

The fried potatoes are a single fry and thus not a lot of crunch, but a good potato flavor.

fried potatoes
Handcut fried potatoes
Frankie wanted a little sugar
Frankie wanted a little sugar

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