Felice a Testaccio

We went to Felice after booking online (€15 deposit per person, a clear sign the place is always packed). The restaurant is exactly what you'd expect: historic, beautiful, and teeming with locals and tourists alike.

Let me start with the dish that absolutely blew me away: the eggplant involtini parmigiana. Serious stuff. "Excellent" doesn't even cut it, really. Then we shared a cacio e pepe and a bucatini all'amatriciana.

The amatriciana is fantastic. Finally someone who still uses proper bucatini—something that's becoming rare in Rome these days. The sauce was perfect, the guanciale fat beautifully emulsified with the tomato. The guanciale wasn't crispy but hey, the dish worked brilliantly as it was.

The cacio e pepe, though... look, it's their signature dish, they even toss it at the table in front of you, which is quite the show. But there's way too much pecorino. Really, too much. The portion is generous and after a while I got tired of it, because every bite was identical: flavorful sure, but flat. The pepper? Completely buried. It probably appeals to tourists because it's straightforward to understand, but this isn't the cacio e pepe I'm after.

The tiramisu was good, sweet and bitter perfectly balanced, with a generous drizzle of dark chocolate on top that worked nicely.

The service is quick and friendly, all the dishes are hearty, and looking at nearby tables I saw things that looked absolutely delicious. €28 per person is fair.

Despite the cacio e pepe not winning me over, I'd go back. Book ahead—the place deserves it.