Well I can’t really disagree with the headline of the last review but if it’s “average” – why not give it an average score? Whatever… I had such high hopes of Collegio - being literally around the corner from our favourite hotel and having both...restaurant and bar. Under normal circumstances, it could have serviced all of our needs. Sadly for everyone, the Covid situation changed all that. Customer numbers inevitably took a nose-dive due to the pandemic. On the day of our visit, we were the only diners indoors. The few poor souls who ate outside, in the glorious, warm late autumn sunshine, had their ears assailed by the constant low-frequency “thrum” from a portable generator nearby. Piazza Capranica was quite the little gathering-place for protests and political party grandstanding. Being on our own didn’t bother us too much but the constant adjustment of the piped-music levels did. One minute raised voices were required – the next the music almost disappeared. The patron popped in on a few occasions to gauge the amplitude. Perhaps it was a brave but futile attempt to try and drown out the noise from the generator? It wasn’t too serious to be honest but the food? Now that’s a different story. The “Tagliere del Collegio” starter was a very good selection of cheeses and cold cuts, an excellent start to the meal. All the items were of good quality and there was ample for two persons. I followed this with a fillet steak which was well cooked, (having a good “crust”) and quite a decent sized cut for €24. It was served with some very “meaty” fungi, which again – were of good quality. The whole thing was almost spoiled by a “fruity” sauce that liberally dressed the steak and plate. It wasn’t unpleasant but it didn’t really bring anything to the “party” - as it were. That steak could have simply spoken for itself. My wife’s “Mezze maniche carbonara” was truly appalling. I can take poor versions of this classic – but not in Rome. The pasta tubes were well cooked but the carbonara sauce was simply a pale-yellow “soup”, with hardly any flavour whatsoever. When I say “soup” the pasta was literally floating in it. My wife could have eaten the sauce with a spoon. None of the richness of egg-yolk, or even the “heresy” of cream, with almost no cheese flavour. The guanciale had been fried to a crisp and sprinkled on top. Quite the most awful carbonara we had all week, with my wife being unable to finish it. On the basis of this, my wife nearly dodged the dessert, (very rare occurrence for her), but the sound of a coconut panna cotta drew her in and that brought things back to a more reasonable standard. Light, not too much gelatine and a lovely rich but not overpowering coconut flavour. With the meal we had a very good and competitively priced bottle of Primitivo and I had another glass of red, while my wife ate her dessert. The coffees and grappa were also excellent. Service was very good, (sound problems apart), and were it not for that appalling carbonara would have merited a strong four stars. That appalling mess dragged it down to an “average” three.More
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