Trattoria Romana South

After a terrible experience with a different Italian restaurant, this is going to be the only Italian restaurant I go to! The food is delicious and the portions are perfect! While the prices have slowly been creeping up over the years, it’s still a great value for the price. As a college student it’s a bit of a splurge for me but its absolutely worth it!

We moved to Wakefield a few months ago, and while there a plenty of good restaurants in the area, a finding a fine dining establishment has proven a bit more elusive. We finally tried Trattoria Romana just down the street for our traditional pre-​Christmas dinner, and now we wonder why we waited so long. The tastefully decorated restaurant was spruced up for Christmas, but not overwhelming so. Our reservation was honored promptly, and we were seated comfortably at a window table.
But it’s all about the food right? I ordered an oversized meatball appetizer, which I couldn’t finish, or rather chose not to so I would have some room for my entrée. The meatball wasn’t my favorite part of my dinner, but the delicate tomato sauce it was served in gave me some hope for the rest of the meal. My companion had a wedge salad, which was sprinkled with bacon, and topped with a blue cheese dressing. A rather mundane dish, but she reports that all of the ingredients seemed fresh, and only the best lettuce leaves were used in the wedge.
My entrée was gamberi, all y oglio, served over delicate angel hair pasta. The shrimp were fresh, the pasta was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was light and perfect for dipping in the great crusty bread that came at the start of the meal and was re-​filled upon request. My friend had the pappardelle bolognese, which she thought was beautifully prepared, with the outstanding flavor of the meats in the bolognese shining through.
For desserts we had a decadent chocolate layer cake, and a wonderfully refreshing limoncello torte.
Special mention should be made of our server, Michael, who provided outstanding service throughout the meal. His informal, friendly style made us feel comfortable from the start, and we will request him again when we return.

I had read a lot of these reviews prior to having dinner last night after my friends suggestion to celebrate a group birthday there. It was my first visit and these extreme high and low ratings definitely had me curious. First impression was that it’s a warm and cozy interior — nicely decorated for the holidays. Our reserved table was ready on time although one of our guests was not, but the server took care of in the meantime. There is a large selection for wine, dinners, cocktails. We enjoyed three courses — apps, dinners, desserts and coffee and all were timed nicely. The dinners were delivered as ordered by our server and food runners — not «sold» at the table, which I expect from a nicer restaurant with their price points. The food was good, portions were appropriate — everyone was happy with their meal. The bathrooms were spotless. It’s a decent place! If they had more low carb options for dinner I’d inclined to return more often. The menu is VERY pasta heavy — almost every dish, but that’s what they do. It felt like a worthy indulgence to put away a whole plate of pappardelle pasta as a once and a while treat.

What a great place in south county. Welcoming the moment you walk in. Great location, wonderful and knowledgable staff, accompanied by delicious food that is quickly brought out to you. The bread at the beginning is wonderful and the atmosphere is Devine. Highly recommend for Italian food lovers.

When trying to decide which appetizer to select, my server recommended the pumpkin ravioli with squash and toasted pine nuts. Brilliant advice. The light browned butter sauce brought out the delightful all the flavors. I am still thinking about it 2 days later. Wonderful restaurant!

The food and service were good. The only complaint I have is I was quoted $ 31 for a special of the night and the bill came with a price of $ 40. The waiter said he was sorry and went to the manager to explain the error and get the bill adjusted. He returned and said the manager would not adjust the bill. On my way out I asked who was the manager and was informed a very young woman who I thought was the hostess was the manager. I told her I did not feel it was right not to adjust the bill and her response of «the waiter should have known better» just proved to me she should stay a hostess and stop playing manager.
Needless to say I will not be returning.

Not sure why this place is so popular. True, its convenient and a nice looking place inside, nice atmosphere. I’ll admit to that. But, oh the prices for such meh food. I’ve been here maybe 3 times, always hoping that my meal will justify the absurd prices for a strip mall restaurant, but sadly they did not. Last time out I ordered the veal prepared in the «boconcini della nona» style, which boasts veal medallions stuffed with mozzarella cheese and prosciutto. I ended up getting chicken instead of veal, but didn’t say anything because somebody else was paying the bill and I didn’t want to kick up a fuss. I was floored to see that not only did I not get the veal I ordered, but instead of a big, fat juicy chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto, I literally got 3 small chicken thighs (I cook; I know a chicken thigh when I see one) with maybe dime size pearls of mozzarella in each. All for $ 22.95 (or if they charged the chicken price, $ 20). I’ve been trying not to eat carbs, but I had to dip into the bread basket twice just to feel satisfied. Just a lot of hype for incredibly disappointing and overpriced food.

The place itself looks inviting and the hot bread was a good start. It went downhill from here. The veal could not have been pounded any thinner — the Milanese tasted like breaking only. I could go on, but will never return for their pricey & disappointing entrees.

Amazing rip-​off. Swordfish puttanesca was mediocre — all sauce and no flavor costing almost double ($ 37) compared to most restaurants in larger urban areas. Glass of La Crema PNoir at $ 14 a robbery if one of theirs that retails $ 17. Chocolate gelato delish but can’t make up for rest of meal. Insist to management for better food and much lower entrée and wine prices or stay away.

Gluten-​free options were great! Jose was a wonderful server. I also had the Vodka Infusion martini which I highly recommend. Next time I’ll come without my 16 month-​old so I can have a few!

Great food and great service… NY style Italian! You can’t can’t go wrong at this restaurant

My girlfriend and I were in the mood for Italian and figured, based on the reviews, this place would be a high-​end joint with good house-​made fare. Unfortunately, we were both disappointed.
The ambience was very nice and so too was our server. However, the food did not live up to expectations; it was average and bland, not at all worth the price we paid. I had a house salad with blue cheese and the dressing was definitely not «homemade» as claimed; tasted like it was store-​bought right from Sysco. For entrees I had the Bucatini Al Pomodoro and she had the Sea Bass with Risotto special. The San Marzano marinara sauce on the bucatini was bland and unflavorful — seemed like it came right from a can. My gf tried it and agreed. Her see bass was good, but for literally drowning in butter, lemon and white wine sauce. No supposedly high-​end restaurant should have to drown food in butter to make it taste good.
On the basis of the food alone, we don’t plan on returning. The ambience and staff, however, seemed quite nice.

Once again a Canova creation is amazing! Being a regular at the family’s Attleboro Ma location, I had to try this place being on vacation here. The manager Scott was a complete gentleman and when he knew it was my Birthday dinner bought us a drink. He had recommended a steak in the Ala Mama style and it was beyond fabulous!!! The bartender Ann Marie was so attentive, couldn’t be more available, and accomidated all of our needs. We had the eggplant rolatini appetizer and it was enough for a meal! My boyfriend got the lobster mac and cheese and it seriously was enough for 2 people and had an entire lobster in it! The bar back was very nice as well and refilled my water 20 times and brought out bread and oil as soon as we got our menues. The prices were similar to the surrounding restaurants, atmosphere was beautiful, very clean nice bathrooms, ouside seating, enormous wine list, specialty martinis, I highly recommend trying this place!!!

My husband I have been talking about going here for 2 years since we moved down to SK. When our friends from NYC came down we figured it would the perfect spot– unfortunately we were wrong. Nothing lived up to the reviews we read– chicken parm was nothing special, calamari was tough and came with plain cocktail sauce and the device was HORRIBLE. The only thing good we got was the wine and it severely overpriced.
Our waitress spilled out friends beer on him and STILL charged us for it… Don’t waste ur money. We spent almost 300 and it was worth about 50… Ur better off to walk across the street and go to Shogun.

We went for dinner and were disappointed. The sauces were bland and the food had no flavor. Their signature drink is a mojito and it was not made well. The tables were narrow. Everything but the bathroom which is nice was disappointing. We would not go back which is a shame because we were looking forward to dinner at this place.

I sat at the bar and ordered a house salad and the Salmone Con Aragosta. It was dim. They asked me if I wanted some bread. The bread arrived cold and hard. I think it was sourdough. I was also given a dish of olive oil with salt and pepper at the very bottom. The salad arrived. It had a couple slices of cucumbers, a couple slices of tomatoes, onion slices, olives, and lettuce. They only have three types of salad dressing. I chose the oil and vinegar option.
The salmon was good. It wasn’t the best salmon I’ve ever had, but it was decent. It was overcooked. It sat in a pool of butter, lemon, and white wine sauce. I didn’t like the bearnaise sauce. The mashed potatoes were good.
Also, it couldn’t find it on their menu, but they gave me a small dish of zucchini and yellow squash in a marinara sauce. It was so good!

I’ve been to this restaurant 4 times. If I had reviewed after my first 3 visits I would have given 4 – 5 stars-​each time.
However, my last visit (Valentine’s day 2015) was a true culinary disaster.
I ordered a chicken/​mushroom/​pasta dish in a red sauce that cost $ 45+. Unfortunately, the mushrooms & tomato sauce were both canned! Seriously?! Canned, rubbery, tasteless mushrooms have no business in a «fine-​dining» restaurant and if you HAVE to use canned tomatoes b/​c fresh aren’t in season, learn to cook to cover the canned taste. The plate was simply awful and I told our server who apologized but never offered to switch it…
The asparagus that accompanied my friend’s meal was as thick as his thumb and completely inedible-​he sent it back.
We asked for a basket of bread (as we always do) and the bread tasted as if it had been microwave reheated-​several times.
Those are just a few (of many) things that struck me as completely off, culinary-​wise that evening. I could write more but suffice it to say that no one was happy with their meal that day. We did mention our concerns to our server but he never offered to call the manager over. He just said «I’ll let both the manager & chef know». thanks, whatever…
As always, the ambience was nice but at $ 280 + tip (for four) I need the meals to be super as well.
Obviously, Something has happened in the kitchen since I first started going and if they don’t manage to fix it they’ll loose more than just my business.
That being said, I may give it one more try just for old times sake and see if things have improved to their previous standard-​which I did like. If not, too bad, R.I.P. To one of the few truly nice restaurants in South County.

Food is consistently good, the very best bread !!! Service is always excellent and food is plentiful. Seafood pasta dishes always perfect as well as the veal parmesan. Will continue to enjoy eating there in the future!

I really want to give them two stars. It feel ALL the things they do well, and there are plenty of things… but they are all negated by the most miserable bar staff I have ever experienced. And this is not from one visit. This is from 20 – 30 over a two year period. I can say SO many great things about Tratoria but that one thing… being made to feel like you don’t matter, that you are a nuisance, clearly not wanted at the bar. Hey, don’t believe me. Go there some Th night and see how long it takes you to get served at the bar! You’ll get served when the waiters are damn good and ready… and generally only when the bar tenders finish all their non-​customer related work. Their bar chores come FIRST… customers are simply a nuisance they have to tolerate. Go see!

Love this place! Have never had a bad experience here. The wait can be long on weekends, so it is best to make reservations. We ate there with a party of eight last night, including 2 children, and everyone had a great time. The salmon dish was delicious, as well as the tender veal dishes. They also serve the most delicious bread… So crusty! And if you are lucky enough to have Mike as your waiter, expect to be served by the best.