Photo: By Miwok from France (Piazza del Popolo, Rome.) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Dining At IL Porto Di Ripetta Restaurant
We arrived at this restaurant at 8:45 PM for an appropriately timed dinner. The extremely attentive staff greeted us immediately at the door. There was a male host who brought us to a wonderful table that had a gorgeous view of the Piazza. A very friendly waitress was soon at our table.The waitress was very helpful in suggesting which appetizers and wines to choose from. We choose a special white wine with artichoke appetizers that paired together magically. The wine was named Poggio Le Volpi People. It was not a very expensive wine at eighteen dollars a bottle. However, the waitress’ suggested pairing of the Poggio Le Volpi People and salty appetizers defined the waitress’ professionalism. It’s amazing how attentive to details the waiters and waitresses are in Rome. We thoroughly enjoyed the taste and pairing suggestion. The Poggio Le Volpi People had a 12% alcohol level which also paired well with light pasta and vegetable dishes on a hot summer day.
We enjoyed this wine also marinated salmon with crusted vegetables. There were so many tantalizing appetizers on the menu we decided to have some fun trying many of them. After finishing our appetizers, we ordered a bottle of Frascati Superiore wine to go with our main course. With so many choices on the menu, I once again turned to the waitress for help in choosing our main courses. She recommended a dish called Ravioli Del con Gamberi with Salsa di Arancia. The dish consisted of fresh ravioli and shrimp in orange sauce. The notes of the Frascati Superiore wine and the fruity flavors of the meal really complemented each other in such a way that would get any customer to want to return again and again. To simply taste the explosive combination again is something I have been dreaming of ever since that evening.
My girlfriend ordered the Picci con Spigola, Vongole e Pachino, which was an incredible mixture of sea bass and clams. We both sampled off of each other’s plates and we actually could not decide which entrée we enjoyed more. We split a second entrée of Palamite on cream of yogurt on top of fried Cassava. The food was so incredible we wanted to order even another entrée, but we did want to also leave room for some of the incredible deserts that we noticed on the menu.
For dessert, we both split Panacotta with Rosemary which was just as outstanding as the rest of the dishes. We actually decided to order a bottle of Champagne to really enjoy the Panacotta, which is a very creamy and delectable dessert. We ordered the house champagne for only €28 to enjoy with out amazingly delicious dessert. After we devoured every morsel of Panacotta we dipped our champagne and really savored our experience. It was the last night that we were in Italy, and we wanted to remember every little bit of our experience. So of course we ordered one more bottle of champagne, and at this point it was about 11:30 PM, but the staff did not seem to care. There were other customers in the restaurant who seemed to be doing the exact same thing that we were doing.
Rome is so wonderful! Nobody rushes anyone ever out of a restaurant. We got complimentary cappuccino along with our new bottle of champagne (that we did not end up finishing.) We ended up packing up some of our second entrée with the second helping of Panacotta with Rosemary in a take out bag. We left right before 12:30 am with a large take out bag and almost a half bottle of the house champagne. The experience was astounding and the service was even better. If you ever travel to Rome, I highly recommend you visit the The Piazza Del Popolo and have dinner at Il Porto di Ripetta. Places and restaurants like these are truly life changing experiences. There were for us. Can’t you tell?
Kristen Leigh and friends dining at IL Porto Di Ripetta
