roman bistro

good first experience. my wife and a couple of friends had dinner here on their first open-for-business friday. i never expect a restaurant that's been open for less than a week to have everything figured out, but the staff seemed relatively knowledgeable, courteous and adept at running their new restaurant. i had the pork osso buco and was pleased...the brocoli rabe and mashed potatoes that accompanied were excellent. my wife enjoyed her smoked salmon flatbread sandwich. as a beer connoisseur, i was very pleased with the selection. i read a few complaints about the prices of the beer, and while i won't argue that it's rather expensive, i still feel that they are fair market value prices. only one complaint was a somewhat flavorless roman burger that we had better expectations for. calamari small plate was tasty...lightly breaded and seasoned and perfectly cooked. we'll be back.

great experiance. hmm not sure what some of the problems are i am reading. i had a wonderful experience at roman bistro, food was excellent, staff was friendly and were quick to find out answers to questions about a brand new menu if they were not sure.
beer menu is fabulous and not at all expensive for the craft beers on tap. if i wanted a miller light i would go a chain restaurant.
plan on going again and trying out the lunch menu. good luck !

want it to work. i too have had great expectations for this new addition to the food desert that is forest hills, and i want it to work. i'm no gordon ramsay, but for what it's worth, i'd offer the owner this advice:

1. it's not a destination restaurant, and never will be, but that's fine. make it a pleasant place where locals can stop for a meal and a drink. emphasis on pleasant. that means interesting decor, fun and engaging. a good ambiance doesn't require a lot of money. just forgo the cliches and make it fun.

2. put something on the menu that you can call your signature dish -- something you're really good at making and something that will generate buzz. even if it's a specialty hamburger.

3. learn a lesson from the previous owners' failure and don't gouge patrons just because you have a liquor license. it's okay to take a 150% markup on some wine, but also have a few bottles that complement your food specialty, and offer it for $15. have a couple beer specials that are not $6 a glass.

there are a lot of us who want to see roman bistro succeed. the above may help.

eh.... we were so excited for the bistro to open. sadly, it wasn't as good as we thought it would be. the beer selection is great, however, the food is lacking. we spent $113 between drinks and food and it was not worth the money at all. my husband and i love going out to dinner and don't mind paying a higher price for delicious food, but roman bistro seemed to miss the mark. the food just didn't have a lot of flavor and isn't worth what they are asking. even the tiramisu was bad. and it cost $7. we will probably go back, but just for drinks. we will pass on dinner and hit taco bell on the way home:)

never again!!!. i was really excited to try out roman bistro, only to be severely let down. the hostess last night was awesome and had a great personality but the personality was left at the door. the entire wait staff had no idea what they were doing. the restaurant is nice but wow.. what a waste. the food was awful. my pasta came out cold and disgusting. when there's more than 6 people in the restaurant everything gets backed up, so it seems like there's even more problems behind the scenes. i'll never waste my time there again. i rather spend my money else where, i'd even take olive garden or any chain restaurant over this place.

save your time and money and go somewhere else!

do not go. i know some might not believe me, but i have had a far worse experience with the roman bistro. it is horible service, i waited over an hour for my food when there was a good 6 people in the resarunt. the servers had zero personality. the decor gave me a headache. and though the prices were reasonable for the food, 4 dollars for a draft beer is simply unexceptable. if these folks have any intention on secceeding, they have to make some major improvments. the manager that i spoke to had an attitude the entire time i was talking to her. there is no way people are going to continue going to the roman bistro. with my experience, i wouldnt wish it on anyone. nice try but you will never last. horribleeeeeeeeeee

new but.... i like many other's have been waiting for this place to re-open, but again i feel they have missed the mark. looks like they have spent some more money there, but their menu is all over the board. no veal in an italian restaurant, and perogies with a new york steak. if you were on polish hill that would make sense, or if your theme was "ethnic" food. but your name is roman bistro.
the food is just so-so, definately not special, steak was very tough, although my wife enjoyed her ravioli's. again for some reason the other side of the tunnels cannot keep good restaurants. maybe we will try again for lunch as it seems you have put more effort into that menu than your dinners. cheaper to eat off your lunch menu since i believe you offer it all night long. keep trying

i found the service to be slow. the food, just ok, and my bill to be a bit over the top for what i ordered. will i go back? doubt it. some things need to be critiqued a bit more.

love it!. we found the website from one of our friends and it looked like an inviting place based off the pictures. im glad we went, because everything from the atmosphere to the food was top notch. i am a self proclaimed calamari connoisseur and that what we started off with. well, it made my top five list for sure. my entree was the smoked chicken ravioli , and was delicious. i will definitely be back to work my way through the rest of the menu (and the beer list : ) ) !

new favorite restaurant. what an enjoyable place to have lunch or dinner! we had a most delightful late afternoon enjoying the food, ambiance and friendly service. seated in the contemporary back dining room afforded us the pleasure of enjoying our meals amidst crisp, bright decor, which is a refreshing change from the traditional "90's type" atmosphere.
our waiter was friendly, knowledgeable and attentive without being intrusive. he made recommendations and explained menu items with detail.
our selections arrived without unnecessary delay. the shrimp and pasta were hot and the salad was chilled. all were beautifully presented. the salad was the best i've ever had with both red and yellow beets. the shrimp was tender, meaty and tasty in garlic sauce---so good we soaked it up with the hearty italian bread. we were delighted to have the homemade pasta with tomatoes and garlic. an excellent alternative to the traditional pasta dishes in most eateries.this pasta dish is something i believe you can only get here at this reasonable price.
finally, we chose a slice of coconut cream pie, which was fluffy and light with the taste and aroma of coconut that you expect. we also shared a generous slice if chocolate cake, triple-layered, fresh and moist. both deserts ewere expertly presented and large enough to share. a cappaciono and raspberry iced tea topped off the dinner and a beautiful evening with new friends at roman bistro. you will not be disappointed. it will be your new favorite restaurant, too!

ok -. i had high hopes for roman bistro. forest hills is in desperate need of a local eatery with good food. sadly, the place is just so-so. our food was ok, not great - but acceptable. the service was friendly and fine. we both enjoyed the beer list. taking a cue from the owners of the last restaurant in this location, the wine list is overpriced. the whole experience was very predictable. what this place truly lacks is any kind of atmosphere or charm. we were seated in a back dining room that was completely gloomy and dull – (think the room in the residence inn where you serve yourself coffee and grab a stale bagel, except not as nice). the lighting was so bad that my eyes actually hurt, and the wall color made me not want to eat. not to mention the off gassing from the paint, carpet ect..this place is in desperate need of a qualified, experienced interior designer (not someone’s spouse or friend who thinks they know how to pick out colors)and a good reality check on what people in the neighborhood want to eat and drink and what they will pay to do it.

good, worth trying again. i went to roman bistro's grand opening tonight with five friends. we all live in forest hills and were very excited to have a new restaurant open in the small borough. though service was friendly, everyone was obviously very new, but i definitely forgive that as it was the restaurant's first day.

we all ordered a drink or two each and had the cheese plate, stuffed banana peppers, breseola sandwich, caprese flatbread and duck confit flatbread. overall, i was most impressed with the flatbreads, especially the duck confit. it was absolutely delicious, and definitely worth the $9 price point. the stuffed banana peppers and breseola sandwich were also tasty. however, two of the items we ordered - a beer and the artichoke/goat cheese flatbread - were not available. the menu was obviously very temporary, so why were these updates not made before opening?

overall, i believe we all had an enjoyable experience and will be trying roman's bistro again.

i liked it but thought the food and beer was pretty expensive. my wife ordered a framboise lambic and they served it in a 6-8oz glass which cost $8 which is expensive even for lambic. the food was pretty good but don't expect to spend less than 9-10 on anything. beer selection was decent however better than any place in forest hills at least. the service was pretty good the waitress was nice and they came back to the table several times to see if we needed more beer and our water glasses stayed full the entire time. all in all pretty good i'll be back.

looks promising. i just like the fact that this place is opening. i am moving to forest hills mid-june and i will be first (or second) in line to try roman bistro. i hope they can pull it off and attract a sustainable level of business with something unique and fresh.

forest hills has a lot of potential charm but not a lot of options for nightlife/dinner/drinks/etc. it will be nice to have something close to home that affords these things. hopefully a success here leads others to take a chance in forest hills!

just noticed the '33' beers on tap. this now looks more promising....however, please don't fill these 33 lines with the same cadre of boring domestic and import staples that haunt the big box/strip mall restaurants and bars. the beer selection alone can be enough to keep them (me) coming back!

question. how can someone have given a thumbs up for this place? it:s not open yet! we drove by two days ago.