Trattoria Romana/Boca Raton

Boca Raton is young enough to have very few dining legacies, but the Gismondi family is working hard to create one.

Arturo’s Ristorante has been a fixture on the dining scene for more than a quarter-century and the late Arturo Gismondi’s grandson, also named Arturo, carries on the family tradition at Trattoria Romana a short distance away.

The restaurant maintains an aura of trendiness by understaffing the dining room so servers are always racing, nearly throwing food down on tables, speaking abruptly, making diners wait for the food, then hurrying them to consume it.

It’s annoying to have to fight with the service staff for time to ponder the menu, which is of modest size, and the list of daily specials, which is often lengthy and rattled off by servers.

For me, the atmosphere has more energy than the food, which is good but lacks the flavor punch one expects from the best Italian cooking. Italian food is often about simplicity — a few ingredients in perfect harmony. Many of the dishes I’ve tried at Trattoria Romana are fresh and well prepared, but many seem almost bland in their sensory tameness.

One evening, a trio of baby artichoke hearts ($10.95) were overcooked and swamped by a mild broth. Lobster ravioli ($27.95) were perfectly cooked but had very little lobster flavor.

By contrast, penne Arrabiata ($18.95) was also perfectly al dente, and had a refreshing flavor of fresh tomatoes, loads of basil and enough hot pepper to let one understand why the name translates as “angry wife.”

The meat sauce used on rigatoni but happily applied to other pastas on request ($19.95) has an appealing beefy flavor, but the putanesca sauce ($19.95) gets most of its flavor from olives and seems rather tame by comparison. My server kept insisting the anchovies just add “a little flavor,” but they, and the other ingredients, needed to add more to make the dish come alive.

There are always several fresh fish dishes available, with snapper ($28.95) consistently on the menu in a light preparation with clams and tomato. I tried a simply grilled swordfish ($29.95) one night that was slightly overcooked and disappointing, and a Chilean sea bass ($34.95) that was also overcooked and languished in a Livornese sauce of olives and tomato in which the flavors refused to marry.

Meat dishes also just miss the mark — they are cooked well but lack flavor. A scallopine of chicken somehow remains bland even with the addition of prosciutto and eggplant, possibly because the concoction is buried under a thick layer of melted mozzarella and drowned in brown sauce.

A much-touted house specialty is veal chop Romana ($34.95) with the chop pounded as thin as scallopini and treated much as the chicken with brown sauce, eggplant and cheese. The meat’s texture aside, they could have been the same dish based on the light flavors.

A better bet for meat lovers is the deeply flavored osso buco ($34.95) or a simply grilled veal chop ($36.95), the only one of several chop presentations in which the meat is left thick and juicy.

Desserts ($8.50) are light on flavor, including a dry almond cake, a heavy cheesecake and tiramisu that is overly sweet.

Trattoria Romana has a very good wine list, with a well-balanced selection of American and Italian wines, most of them very fairly priced.

Trattoria Romana is very popular and in its boisterousness provides what is clearly a good time for most in the packed house. It has an attitude problem, however, with non-regulars often ignored and left to stand by the front door for some time before being addressed, and an abruptness in service that is perplexing.

There are good dishes to be had, especially among the pastas, but an attitude adjustment is clearly necessary to justify the restaurant’s lofty reputation.

Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities. For review consideration, please fax a current menu that includes name and address of restaurant to 954-356-4386 or send to Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.

Contact dining correspondent Lyn Farmer at or write to him in care of the Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301-2293.

** 1/2 (out of four stars)

Cuisine: Italian

499 E. Palmetto Park Road

Boca Raton

561-393-6715

Cost: expensive

Credit cards: AE, MC, V

Hours: dinner daily

Reservations: recommended

Bar: full service

Sound level: very loud

Smoking: prohibited

Children’s facilities: yes

Wheelchair accessible: yes