Daruma Sushi Roma is a chain of 7 sushi restaurants in Rome, Italy. During a recent visit in Rome, I stopped by their Parioli restaurant on Via Guidubaldo Del Monte on my way to a TOTO concert at the Parco della Musica. It is a tiny restaurant that serves patrons with few seats and otherwise seems to focus on take away orders. Overall, the atmosphere was not particularly inviting and underlined the focus on take away food. I didn’t feel invited to dine inside, so I made some choice and decided for outdoor dining on this summer night. The indoor atmosphere was quite cool and busy due to to all the walk in bento box shoppers.
Some Basic Sushi Bites
My choices were out in a plastic box even though I dined at the restaurant which underlined the grab and go vibe I had while inside. Yet, as I was on the move anyhow it matched my individual situation. The options were somewhat limited to basic options, so I had some sake (salmon) tartare, suzuki (sea bass), maguro (tuna back) and sake (salmon) nigiri and then some kappa (cucumber) with cream cheese uramaki (inside out roll) with sake (salmon) topping, sake yaki (grilled salmon) uramaki (inside out roll) with sake yaki (grilled salmon) topping and lastly some sake (salmon) and avocado uramaki (inside our roll). All in all everything was kind of average and nothing stood out in particular. The salmon was perfectly fine but nothing special. Only the tuna back was a bit tasteless, something quite common in my experience in southern Italy.
Sushi Guide Verdict
I cannot say much about the Daruma restaurant chain in general, but from my visit to their Parioli restaurant, I was not impressed very much. Reminding me of the Giappo sushi chain, they cater the modern trend of casual sushi dining and take away food. The atmosphere at this restaurant was very cool and uninviting. This was underlined by the obvious emphasis on take away orders. The menu options are quite limited but among the usual standard sushi dishes they offer a good variety of bento boxes to choose from. The food quality is average. Even though I was hoping for more, the quality is ok for take out. The drink menu was very limited and basically only covered essentials. Service was focussed on quick sales and not particularly inviting. Based on this experience, I think I would explore other options next time I am around.
Atmosphere
Menu Options
Food Quality
Drink Variety
Service
Review date: July, 4, 2019