Frequently asked questions

A guide to Rome's restaurants where the places tell their own story in their own voice. On many listings you'll find a recorded introduction by the owner, the menu described aloud and the dish of the day, along with practical information: address, hours, price range, photos.

Every entry is transcribed and translated, so you can read it as well as listen to it, even if you don't speak Italian.

You search for a place by neighborhood, cuisine, price, occasion or proximity to a landmark. You open the listing and listen to the person who works there describe the place and what's on the menu. If you go, you can in turn leave a voice review.

Browsing the site is free and you don't need an account. An account is only needed to follow places, receive their updates, leave reviews and write to restaurateurs.

Menu di Roma has been online since 1999, when restaurants on the internet almost didn't exist. It's run by Giant Cat Studio S.r.l.s., a Roman studio that designs websites, platforms and digital products, and that brings artificial intelligence into everyday work: the voices transcribed and translated into five languages that you hear here come from there.

Behind it is someone who has been doing this job for almost forty years, between publishing, photography and the web, with the same idea as back then: telling Rome to those who want to eat it. We are not a group of restaurants and we don't sell food.

Two things. Restaurants speak in first person, with their own voice, instead of being described by others. And reviews are left only by voice, with a real Google account: it's much harder to write fake ones in bulk.

Whoever works at the place: the owner, the chef, the people in the dining room. Above each voice message you'll find the name and role of the speaker, when the venue has provided them.

They are real voices, recorded by the venue with a phone. Artificial intelligence is only used to transcribe them, give them a short title, and translate them: the voice you hear remains the original one.

Yes. Every voice message has a transcription translated into English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese, and the whole site can be read in these languages. The names of people and dishes remain in Italian: a carbonara is a carbonara in every language.

No: every voice message has its full text below the player. You can read everything without ever pressing play, for example on public transport or if you have trouble hearing.

Probably us: transcriptions and translations are automatic and can make mistakes, especially with Roman dialect, proper names, and uncommon dishes. If something sounds funny or confusing, let us know: we'll fix it, and the restaurant can correct it from their panel.

The dish of the day is valid for the day it was recorded and disappears automatically at midnight. If the restaurant offers it again on the following days, they can extend it: in that case you'll still find it on the page. But portions run out: if you care, call before you go.

Prices, dishes, and availability are provided by the restaurant and may change. Menu di Roma is not part of the relationship between you and the restaurant: for any dispute, speak with the restaurant. If you think some information is misleading, tell us.

Because they haven't registered yet, or haven't recorded anything yet. Pages without a voice message still show practical information. If you know the owner, tell them they can do it for free in just a few minutes.

By name using the search bar at the top, or by browsing by neighborhood, by cuisine, by price range, by occasion (romantic dinner, outdoors with a view, kids welcome, large groups, business lunch…) or near a landmark. There's also the talking map, where you can listen to the venues directly on the map of Rome.

They are indicative spending ranges per person: € up to 20 euros, €€ from 20 to 35, €€€ from 35 to 60, €€€€ over 60. They're set by the venue or by our editorial team, and the actual bill depends on what you order.

On the «Today's dishes» page you'll find the dishes of the day and the deals registered today by the venues, all recorded by voice. It changes every day: what you see tonight is gone by tomorrow morning.

It ranks venues by how many times they've been listened to, how many visits their page has had, or by review ratings, over the period you choose. It can't be bought: a subscription doesn't move a venue up the rankings.

No, Menu di Roma doesn't take bookings. From the page you can call the venue, message it on WhatsApp if it's listed, or send it a message through the site (you'll need an account).

Thanks, that's exactly what we need. Write to us choosing «Wrong information about a venue», with its name and what you saw: we'll check and correct the page, or mark it as closed.

Take it as a guide, not a guarantee. Texts and translations may contain errors and the kitchen can change from one day to the next: for allergies and intolerances always ask the venue before ordering.

On the venue's listing, tap «Tap to record» and tell us how it went, for up to one minute. Before publishing you can listen again, redo it, or cancel, choose a rating from one to five stars and, if you like, a background track. A Google account is required to publish.

No. Voice is the simplest way to tell about a dinner, and it's much harder to fake than a text copied and pasted a hundred times. Readers can still find the text, transcribed and translated.

Because it tells us there's a real person on the other end. The password stays with Google and we never see it.

Not your name: only your nickname appears next to the review. The voice, though, yes—that's the review: whoever listens hears you. If you'd rather not, don't record it, or delete it anytime from your account.

Yes: speak in whatever language feels most natural to you. We transcribe it in the language you spoke and translate it into the others, including Italian, so the restaurateur and readers here can understand it too. The voice stays yours.

Every review is read automatically before it goes live. If it seems not genuine or unclear, a member of our editorial team reads it too before deciding. Meanwhile, you'll find it among your reviews.

Yes, if it's expressed respectfully and recounts a real experience. A low rating is never a reason not to publish. Insults, threats, other people's personal data, and advertising are not allowed through.

Yes, of the venue or of what you ate. Photos in which a person's face is recognizable are not accepted, out of respect for whoever was with you.

Yes, but not every day: a few days must pass between two reviews of the same place. Every new visit is a new review.

From your account you can listen to it again, change the background track, and delete it whenever you want. The text can't be edited by hand: if you want to say something different, delete it and record a new one.

No. Reviews written at the restaurant's request, in exchange for something, or on behalf of a competitor are not allowed. If this happens to you, tell us.

No. They can reply, by voice or in writing, and their reply also goes through moderation. When they reply, we'll let you know.

Report it to us through the support form, even with a voice message, and we'll look into it. One thing should be clear: we verify that a real person is behind every review, not that they actually dined at that place.

Whoever reads a review can say it was helpful. Others give you that: you can't vote for your own.

Before publishing you can listen again and redo it as many times as you want. If you noticed afterwards, delete it from your account and record it again, maybe outside the venue.

Follow venues and get notified when they post something new, leave reviews with photos, write to restaurateurs, have your own page with the reviews you've made.

With Google or with email and password, from «Log in». You must be at least 14 years old.

It's the only name others see, in reviews and in messages to restaurants: your real name never appears. You can change it whenever you want from your profile, writing your own or choosing from the ones we suggest.

They turn off from your account page, one by one. Every email also has a link at the bottom to stop receiving them.

You do it from your account page, at any time. We delete your personal data, the places you follow and your notifications. With the account, your reviews go too, along with your voice and their photos: the voice lets people recognize who's speaking, and if you no longer want to be there, no one should be left listening to it.

Yes, and you don't need to download it from any store: from your phone's browser you add it to the Home screen, and from there it opens like an app. The site shows you how to do it on your phone.

A page where you tell the story of your place, in your own voice, to Romans and tourists alike: your presentation reaches, translated into five languages, people searching for you even before arriving in Rome. Plus the dish of the day, replies to reviews, and a spot in the pages by neighborhood, cuisine, price and occasion.

Signing up and using the Free plan costs nothing, forever. If you want more, you can upgrade to the Pro or Agency plan, with a monthly subscription you can cancel whenever you want. You'll find the updated prices in the panel, under the subscription section.

• The voice presentation of the venue, up to two minutes.
• The narrated menu, up to one minute.
• The dish of the day: one at a time, it disappears on its own at midnight, and if you offer it again on the following days, you extend it.
• Replies to reviews, by voice or in writing.
• The profile page with photos, hours, prices and contacts, translated into five languages.

• The full menu, dish by dish, each with its own voice and photo, even read from a photo of the menu card.
• The written menu visible on the profile page, with tips from Cipollina, our maître.
• Flash offers and special days (Students' Tuesday, New Year's Eve dinner…).
• Multiple dishes of the day together, background music, full statistics, the QR code to put on tables, and the print area with menus ready to print.

Everything in Pro, for those managing multiple venues: up to three profiles with a single account.

Yes, once per venue: from the dashboard request the free Pro trial, usually 30 days. It activates after you've published at least one voice note. At the end you go back to Free automatically, with no charge: we don't ask for your card to try it.

No, nothing gets deleted. What you recorded with Pro stays in your dashboard, 'in the cellar': it's not visible on the site, and everything goes back to its place the day you subscribe. If you had several dishes of the day, on Free the most recent one stays visible.

No. You just need a phone. The dashboard guides you step by step: you tap, speak, listen back, publish. For the description we ask you five questions and write it together.

Don't create another one: claim the listing that already exists. Search for it by name, enter your email, and if it matches the one we have for the place, we'll send you a confirmation code. Otherwise, we'll verify the request ourselves before giving you the keys.

Menu di Roma has been online since 1999, and many listings come from the old site, with data that was public. They can exist even without a registered restaurateur. By claiming it, it becomes yours: you can correct it, complete it, and speak through it.

It may be that a colleague of yours did it, a former manager, or there's an old email on file. Write to us choosing «My place's listing»: we'll verify who the owner is and sort out access.

From «Add your place»: search for the name (just to make sure it's not already there), enter address, cuisine, and phone number, then who you are, and confirm with a six-digit code we send you by email. Five minutes.

Check your spam and promotions folders. After one minute you can request another one, up to five times. The code is valid for 15 minutes. If still nothing, make sure you typed your email correctly, or write to us.

We found a listing with a similar name near your address. If it's your restaurant, claim it instead of creating a new one. If it's a different restaurant (it happens, there are many «Da Mario» in Rome), let us know and move on: we'll check it.

No. It starts out «under review», visible only to you. It goes online once it has everything it needs and our editorial team has looked it over: this way only real, complete listings make it onto the site.

• Address, phone number, type of cuisine, price range, and weekly opening hours.
• A description of the restaurant, which we write together starting from five questions.
• A cover photo.
• Three voice notes: the introduction, the menu told out loud, and a dish of the day.

The panel shows you what's missing and asks for it one step at a time. If you don't have something on hand, skip it and add it later.

Usually just a few working days from when the listing is complete. You'll get an email when it's online.

We write it in the email, with the reason. The most common cases: a place already listed under another profile, a business that isn't a restaurant, details that don't add up. If you think it's a mistake, reply to that email.

That's fine, if you're acting on behalf of the place and the owner agrees: by signing up you're declaring this. State your role, and in the voice notes you can have anyone speak.

Menu di Roma is a guide to places where you eat: osterie, trattorie, pizzerie, bistrot, wine bars with kitchens and similar. Feel free to sign up: if your business is outside the guide's scope, the editorial team will let you know.

You can sign up even if you're just outside Rome, in the towns and areas bordering the city. The only difference: your listing won't appear in the neighborhood pages, which are reserved for those in Rome. Otherwise it's a listing like any other, and people find it by name, cuisine, price, and occasion.

No, sorry: Menu di Roma is a guide to places where you sit down to eat, and a kitchen that works only with deliveries stays out. If one day you also open up a few tables, feel free to sign up.

Who you are, what kind of place it is, what people eat and why someone should come. The way you'd tell it to a friend at the bar. Two minutes at most, and a well-said minute is better.

No. Anyone who works at the place can speak: the chef, someone from the dining room, a partner. For each voice message you choose who speaks, and their name and photo appear alongside it.

Yes. In the panel, add the people from the place, with name, role and photo, and choose who speaks for each voice message.

You can, but it shows. It works much better to speak off the cuff, maybe after jotting down three things to say.

Before publishing you can listen again and redo it as many times as you want. Afterwards, you can record it again whenever you want: the new presentation replaces the old one.

The recording came out silent: the microphone is off, covered, or the browser doesn't have permission to use it. Check it, then tap «Try again». A silent voice message is not saved.

Before publishing, you correct it yourself: it's the text that goes on your page and on Google. Afterwards, you can correct it from the panel whenever you want.

That's perfectly fine, it's part of the story. The transcription sometimes stumbles on dialect words: check it before publishing.

Yes: speak in whichever language feels most natural to you. We transcribe the voice message in the language you spoke, and translate it into the others, Italian included. Your voice stays yours.

Yes, with the Pro plan, choosing from our track library. Don't upload your own music or famous songs: rights are needed.

Yes. At the last step, before publishing, choose «Publish later» and the day: the voice message will appear that day, even up to a month ahead, and disappear at midnight. If you already know you'll be cooking it on the following days too, give it a longer deadline yourself: it will stay on the page until that date. Handy in the evening, once the kitchen is closed, for tomorrow's dish.

Yes, you can remove it from the panel whenever you want, and record another one.

Presentation up to two minutes, menu told aloud up to one minute, dish of the day and offers up to 55 seconds, a dish from the menu up to a minute and a half. The limits are there so that listeners stay until the end.

You, with our help: answer five questions (the story, the people, the cuisine, the ingredients, the place) and choose whether to have it written by artificial intelligence, correct it, or write it yourself. You can change it whenever you want.

Yes, from the panel, at any time: changes go online immediately.

Update the hours, or with Pro register a special day that states it. If you close for good or move, write to us: we'll mark the profile as closed or move it to the new address.

Write to us: we'll change the name while keeping the same profile, with its reviews.

The new manager writes to us and, once we've verified the handover, we give them access to the listing. Reviews from the previous management stay, because they tell real experiences.

Each venue has its own listing. With the Agency plan you manage up to three with a single account.

Yes, they stay yours: you only give us permission to publish them on your listing for as long as they're there. You remove or replace them yourself from the panel, whenever you want. Only upload photos you have the rights to, and with the consent of the people who appear in them.

Yes, to all of them, by voice or in writing, with any plan. The reply also goes through moderation, and whoever left the review receives a notification.

We can't remove it just because it's negative. If it violates the rules (insults, obvious falsehoods, personal data, a competitor writing to harm you), report it to us and we'll review it again. In the meantime, the best response is a calm one, said in your own voice.

Yes, asking is fine; the QR code on the tables is also for this. It's not okay to offer something in return, or for you or your employees to post them yourselves.

By card, via Stripe: the subscription renews itself every month until you cancel it. By agreement, you can pay for a period in advance by bank transfer: in that case it doesn't renew automatically. Prices are VAT excluded.

Yes, from the panel, in a moment. The plan stays active until the end of the already paid month, then you go back to Free. The current month is not refunded, and until that date you can still change your mind.

No: you only pay the difference for the remaining days, calculated proportionally.

Update the card from the panel. Until the payment goes through, the plan's features may be suspended, and the page may revert to Free: you lose nothing, what you've recorded waits in the cellar.

We'll send it to you. That's why, before activating a paid plan, the panel asks you to complete the venue's billing details: company name, VAT number and tax code, address, SDI recipient code or PEC. For any questions write to us choosing “A payment, the subscription or an invoice.”

No. You go back to the Free plan and the page stays online, with the presentation, the voice-narrated menu and the dish of the day.