I'm not entirely sure how I came across this name in my research. I think there are so many (Italian) restaurants in Rome that the advice should be to stick to the usual rules (ie. away from tourist areas, busy with locals, menus not in many languages etc.) rather than necessarily relying on an internet source. Nonetheless most people agree that Trastevere is the area of Rome of choice for locals and food and so this well regarded place seemed a good bet (ranked #2 for Trastevere on Tripadvisor).
The first good sign was that it was located on a quiet side street in Trastevere; the second good sign was that there was Italian language to be heard by customers (inevitably some tourists also but I suppose they feel the same way about me); the third good sign was we had to wait 20mins for a table (for which they apologised); the fourth good sign was the hostess chased away any flower sellers that tried to bother her guests. She was fantastic and friendly, using her own initiative to seat us, stabilise a wobbly table, explain the specials and apologise if something wasn't quite right.
But let's cut to the real deal - the food. It was superb.
We started with a special Swordfish Carpaccio with White Truffle emulsion & Tomato (white truffles shouldn't be in season and whatever they used is not as good as the fresh slices and I think unnecessarily overpowered the raw fish, but still nice flavours) and Fried Zucchini Flower stuffed with Cheese & Anchovies (delicious salty combination).
Everyone seemed to be ordering pasta and I understand why - they are great. The special Mushrooms & Black Truffle Ravioli was a flavour explosion that I will dream of. The housemade Pasta with Swordfish was a simpler classic pasta flavoured with the salty fish liquid. To add meat to the meal, Roman style Oxtail braised with Celery, Tomato, Carrots was a typical stew with beef easing off the tailbones. A good hearty dish although not especially creative.
Dessert was swayed by watching endless numbers of Apple & Cinnamon Pie steaming out to other customers. A whole peeled & cored apple encased in thin pastry with chocolate sauce at the bottom, contrasted by vanilla icecream topped with strawberry drizzle. Great.
Next time I would order just about anything on the menu as I think it would be a safe bet to be good. The Ravioli is the only dish that universally wowed all of us, but most eaters would be happy with the Fried Zucchini Flowers and Apple & Cinnamon Pie. I would like to try their other meat dishes as I expect they would be tasty (they offered pork or chicken from an oven and also a rabbit dish). Those in search of something more traditional could try their Roman Tripe stew.
There are a lot of restaurants in Trastevere that look and smell worth an effort - just wander around and pick one.