Vegan restaurant est. since 2013. Menu changes from time-to-time and is written on a chalk board. Sample dishes such as ravioli, orzotto, curry, and cake. Casual atmosphere. Open Mon 7:30pm-11:30pm, Wed-Fri 7:30pm-11:30pm, Sat-Sun 12:30pm-11:30pm.
Category: Vegan, Italian, European
Reviews (29)
First Review by Venusia
Contributions +75
lovely authentic Italian vegan - Edit
Really enjoyed this place. Simoné (Simon) was the only guy at the counter and he was very friendly and helpful suggesting and translating the menu for us. They have specials on the board as well so make sure to check it out. We went there on our first night and it was so good we went back on the second night also! We had an amazing starter (on specials first night) which was kinda like a fritter. My wife got the gnocchi both times and loved it. I had a tomato based pasta the first time and a creamy hazelnut with sun-dried tomato pasta the second. The dessert crepe and mousse were amazing. He has a good selection of wines and beers also. A must visit! Oh I tried the sides of greens (chicory) so simple and so tasty!
Pros: Vegan and authentically Italian, friendly small cute place, away from hustle and bustle of tourist areas
Cons: 25-30 min on public transport from centre but wort
Contributions +107
A truly satiating meal - Edit
We enjoyed an excellent meal here. I shared croquettes as a starter (special), had the gnocchetti pesto as a main, and a special dessert (chocolate sponge cake with coffee cream and chocolate). Even though the croquettes were deep fried, they felt very light - not oily at all - and I really liked the flavour which was similar to mustard greens.
The gnocchetti was fluffy and light with a sage and cashew pesto, which was actually a nice change from the basil.
The dessert was moreish, it tasted similar to tiramisu - possibly even better! The main was a slightly smaller portion but to be honest I preferred it as I could then have the dessert without overeating.
Interesting paraphernalia on the wall.
It was packed when we left so I suggest going close to opening time to secure a table if you don't manage to reserve one in time. Bon appetit!
Contributions +1259
Real vegan Italian food - Edit
Excellent Italian vegan food . Very nice atmosphere and friendly owner . Good price . Worth a visit
Contributions +47
Light and shadow - Edit
Based on the good reviews we visited this restaurant on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. Staff was very friendly and welcoming. The food was very tasty and we enjoyed all different dishes (9 in total). However, while the starters and side dishes are good value for money the main courses are not. For 9 Euro you get a tiny portion. I could have easily eaten double amounts if my wallet would have allowed it. Why this place is rated as inexpensive is beyond me. A surprise was the dish "veggies of the season" which was a plate of (very tasty) spinach. I still expected it to be a bit more.
Pros: Very friendly staff, Tasty food
Cons: Overpriced (the main courses)
Contributions +38
disappointing for a vegan specialist restaurant - Edit
This restaurant is a bit of a trek from the city centre. The menu was limited and fairly uninspiring for a vegan specialist restaurant. I was amused at the attempt to convey a 'punk' atmosphere/attitude - I thought it was a bit soulless.
Contributions +176
New Italian food - Edit
Very cool restaurant with an outstanding vegan menu. I had dinner in So What twice and both times I enjoyed every single dish that I had. From appetizers to desserts everything was incredibly tasty and well cooked. For me it is very hard to choose since they have a seasonal menu and a regular menu, and so many dishes were so tempting. The pasta with lentils and fried onion and the fruit with vegan chantilly cream were among the best dishes I tried in my trip to Rome.
Contributions +106
My favourite vegan restaurant in Rome - Edit
I love this restaurant and I go there often. The food is delicious and the prices are moderate. I went there with some omnivores too and they all enjoyed their food. I love the fact that their menu is made up of typical italian food made vegan. The desserts are delicious too. Try the Destroy or the Coppa Cobram if you have the chance to go there! Now there is even the new underground line C stopping near the restaurant.
Updated from previous review on 2015-07-28
Pros: Prices , Menu with traditional italian food, Venue
Contributions +66
great place - Edit
We enjoyed a delicious dinner here. The restaurant was busy so we had some drinks at the cool bar next door until there was a table available.
Contributions +28
Friendly staff - Edit
Friendly staff but the small portions is a big con. The food we ate were okey but not great.
Contributions +38
Didn't stay - Edit
We didn't dine here, so I can't comment on the food. We arrived to an empty restaurant, aside from two tables. They told us all the other tables were reserved, which is fair enough, then offered a table which we could have for an hour and a quarter. We thought the menu looked a little expensive, and were put off by our table having an expiry date.
We went down the road instead to the I borlotti pizzeria (Via Braccio da Montone, 79) and had a delicious Marinara pizza for a fraction of the price.
Pros: A rare vegan restaurant in Pigneto
Cons: We didn't enjoy the atmosphere here
Contributions +528
Nice punkish restaurant in Pigneto neighborhood - Edit
We had dinner at So What in a quite quiet evening.
Only a few tables were occupied, and we were seated straightaway.
The atmosphere is a peculiar mix of punk(ish) and nerd(ish). All in all, a pleasant place.
Many of the ingredients are said to be organic and some of them are directly grown by the staff.
Staff wasn't, honestly, that friendly, but neither rude.
We ordered potato Gnocchi with nuts cream, a quiche with vegetables and tempeh, and two desserts.
We ordered an alcohol free beer from the menu but unfortunately it was finished and had not yet been reorde red.
Prices are a bit high for the kind of philosophy that seems to have inspired the place: we would have expected more value for money.
In the end, I would come back if I were visiting Pigneto, but would not recommend going up there on purpose.
Updated from previous review on Saturday April 23, 2016
Contributions +78
Extremely Poor - Edit
I was recommended So What! and was quite excited about it. When we got there we had to wait an hour for a table, which was okay as they were clearly busy, so we went for a drink and came back. The staff were friendly enough and brought us bread and water for our table. The disappointment came with the food itself - very small portions, and my broccoli and shiitake pasta barely had any broccoli and shiitake. My friend's seitan bolognese tasted like something cheap from a can. For all the hype, the food seemed like a weird joke.
I liked the eco friendly touch in the bathroom of individual hand towels that can be reused, but then the place mats were disposable paper, which seemed a bit of a contradiction.
For dry, hard bread that was brought automatically, a bottle of water, and two small pasta dishes, we paid €40.
All in all, So What! is somewhere I would never recommend someone in Rome to go. I'm very confused that they were so busy as my friend and I were both very disappointed by the pasta. Such a shame. I really hope they improve.
Pros: Friendly staff
Cons: Small portions, Expensive, Poor quality food
Contributions +26
Top notch! - Edit
Enjoyed everything about this place, food, music, decor and the staff. Really high quality food and amazing flavours. Wine was good too and everything was very reasonably priced. Great way to end our trip to Rome!
Pros: Nice vibe, Good food , No expensive
Cons: Opens quite late
Contributions +41
Highly Recommended! - Edit
I had the pleasure to have a dinner there with two friends of mine and spent a lovely evening in this restaurant.
The are where it is located, "il Pigneto", is one of my favourite places in Rome, full of cafés, wine bars, restaurants and I am happy to say that So What is a little gem among all these places.
Very easy going but full of character, not too big but comfortable. Before booking a table there I had a look at their website that is very well conceived and done, with all the useful information one may need and an English version.
The food is absolutely amazing, simple and fresh, well cooked and very well presented in good sized portions. Me and my friends all had a dish of the day (a side dish + two main courses), a glass of white wine and a bottle of red wine, and a sublime dessert (chantilly creme with a biscuit in the form of a bat).
The staff is polite and the service is quick and well organised.
I will definitely return there and recommend it to all - especially to non vegans!!
Pros: Excellent fresh food, Friendly Staff, Inexpensive!!!
Contributions +2034
Lively, tasty, friendly - Edit
So What Ristorante Vegan is a lovably curious blend of unlikely elements: creative vegan Italian (and other) cuisine served in a hipster-diner setting with American R&B music on the stereo and vintage sci-fi posters on the wall.
There's a regular menu plus changing specials. I sampled three dishes and a dessert, and all were tasty and well-presented.
Service was warm, helpful, and friendly, and English is spoken.
Enjoy!
Contributions +5276
delicious! - Edit
We made reservations for So What? on the last night we were there and are so glad we did. Everything was just delicious! They serve Italian and some other European dishes. We started off with beers as they had a good selection of craft beers. For food, we ordered the navy beans, potatoes, pesto pasta, gnocchi, seitan goulash and pot pie like pastry before topping it all off with a peanut butter and chocolate crepe. The sage butter sauce on gnocchi was just the best. We left so full, but very pleased. The atmosphere is a little funky with great signs hung all around. The service was friendly and good. Definitely check them out when in Rome.
Pros: delicious vegan versions, good service, funky decor
Contributions +19
Vegan saturday with my family - Edit
I went here with my parents and my sister (we are from Rome) some week ago, on a saturday, for lunch. They aren't vegan, but I am, so they were "trying" my lifestyle. It was late (2:30 pm) and we were alone, but the place was very cozy and warm and friendly.
We were enthusiast! Especially my mother, which is pretty skeptical about what I say - not only about food. We ate so much that I had to find a place for the dessert - superb vegan crepe with chocolate and peanut butter.
The gazpacho was so special that my father had it twice.
I will surely come back :)
Thank you for everything.
Contributions +25
great find - Edit
Staying in a hotel away from the centre (to stay in the "real Rome") we were delighted to find So What 3 streets away via Happy Cow. Great food, nice atmosphere and very pleasant people who are Vegan for the animals :)
Pros: Good, tasty food, inexpensive, pleasant atmosphere
Cons: not easy to find without Google maps or Satna
Contributions +26
great place, great food - Edit
delicious food - once we found the place we fell in love. (hard to find, better use Google maps!)
in italy it's usual to have a "primo", the first plate and a "secondo", more like the main meal.
if you are a hungry vegan like me i recommend you to have both - one wouldn't have been enough for me.
oh, and try the dessert "destroy" - it's amazing!
Contributions +81
Singular and delicious - Edit
Well, I found out by the pain way that Rome is an expensive city, even more than Paris when I was in both in the summer. So I became almost without money there when I was having dinners in vegetarian restaurants. The most incredible -- still expensive, though -- place where I ate was this So What? Food is awesomely tasty, the ambient is an 80s cave of music and movies, they have principles to cook, which is a moral that I supremely admire (fresh and sometimes organic vegetables, homemade seitan, special AND natural flavors).
Unfortunately, I'm a big belly and the portions aren't as enormous as my hungry use to be -- I had to order more and more food to fill my emptiness. And then I became poor again. But it was for good causes: veganism and great food made with love.
I totally recommend pasta with tomato sauce and seitan. But if you are fat and poor, beware: you'll leave hungry or you'll have to wash some dishes :)
Pros: Delicious food and beers, Well arranged ambient, Friendly staff
Cons: Small portions
Contributions +156
tasty italian food - Edit
Cool place with a nice atmosphere and friendly staff. It has a bit nerdy feel with some punk elements :) The guests seem to be really mixed, not the standard hardcore alternative vegans you see somewhere else sometimes. Some of their food comes from their own garden, a nice detail which I would've liked to know a bit more about (which dishes, which veggies for example).
Being used more to Eastern European places I found the prices a bit high and the portions unfortunately small. I think that's also their intention though, smaller portions so you can try more dishes. We paid 6 euros for the pancake starter, 8 euros each for the pasta's and also 8 for the seitan goulash.
The food itself was really tasty, I always like when typical regional dishes are veganised. Dishes were simple without many ingredients, but on the other hand the taste was pretty sophisticated. Still I would've liked to see a little more ingredients like salad on the side.
So all in all a nice place to eat good food, but the small portions left us a bit unsatisfied and it feels they don't really have that 'extra' bit making them stand out. The chances are certainly there!
Updated from previous review on Sunday January 11, 2015
Pros: great tasting food, friendly people
Cons: small portions, not accentuating any unique points
Contributions +110
3rd restaurant is the charm - Edit
What a jewel this place is!
The absolute culinary highlight of my Rome experience. It was the third restaurant I picked and that is what vegan food should be. Innovative, great presented, very tasty and all dishes with a little twist (herbs or nuts) that made it very special and delicious and last but not least very good staff, attentive and friendly. The first time I left the table fully satisfied. I could have skipped the dessert, but could not resist temptation (and I knew it was the last decent meal I would get). And it was soooo creamy.
Thumps up also for the toilet - no paper but small cloth towels.
Pros: Great tasty food, Value for money, Innovative
Contributions +20
So what?! - Edit
Yeah, we're vegan so what?! kinda had me at the name. First things first, to be clear it is 7:30 PM not to be confused with AM. Very good food, casual but cool atmosphere, would definitely recommend it to anyone. Lots of options.
Contributions +445
Excellent! - Edit
My great expectations were confirmed: this is an amazing restaurant! a modern design furniture completed with funny 70/80's sci-fi B-movies plus a friendly staff make the place very pleasant. Food is tasty and well presented, portions are perfect and quality/price ratio is great. For tourists couldn't be the easiest place to reach, but it definitely worth a visit... or more than one!
Contributions +13
Super ! - Edit
Un repas de qualité dans un cadre original !!!
Le service est très agréable, bon choix de plats et le dessert.....une merveille : les meilleures crêpes que j'ai mangé !!!
Nous le recommandons vraiment, bien qu'il soit un peu excentré le déplacement vaut le coup !
Updated from previous review on Wednesday April 23, 2014
Pros: rapport qualité prix, bon accueil
Cons: excentré de la ville
Contributions +26
wonderful place! - Edit
I just have dinner there and I wanted to review ASAP. The place is very simple&nice(I love the posters on the wall) and the food was great! You have a good choice and everything was tasty and not expensive. And I had one of the best dessert ever. Really recommended!
Contributions +36
una garanzia - Edit
Ambiente informale ma curato, menu alla carta più piatti del giorno alla lavagna rendono l'offerta piuttosto varia,
da provare il tofu in carpione (buono anche se non siete amanti del tofu), il seitan, la coppa Destroy come dessert.
Buono il vino della casa, originali e sfiziosi i dolci, lasciate un po' di spazio perchè non sono leggeri!
Buoni i prezzi, servizio gentile.
***
Informal, cozy, menu à la carte plus daily specials on the blackboard make the offer quite large,
try Tofu in carpione (also good if you are not a tofu lover), seitan, "Destroy" cup for dessert.
Good house wine, original and delicious desserts, leave a little space because they are not light!
Good prices, friendly and vegan staff.
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