Went shopping in chinatown and decided we wanted something different to eat. This place was recommended by my wife and yelp had some decent reviews. Plus it was just down the road from the major grocery stores in chinatown. The front parking lot is small but we went just as they opened so it was not so busy. We also found that there is a back parking lot for customers.
As you walk in Roma it has a deli counter where you can make sandwiches or buy prepared items like mac salad, green olives, calamari salad. The restaurant portion has one long table for a big group and several small seating and the there are shelves with products for sale. We were seated quickly, and they brought the whole specials board down to us to show us the specials. I guess that is a normal practice since everyone that walked in for the restaurant got shown the board.
I like that as we waited for our meal we could see the deli counter. We will definetly be back to try the sandwiches. The bread looks nice and crisp, vegetables are cut fresh instead of prepackaged cut veggies and you can get sandwiches with roasted bell peppers. On the deli counter menu I also saw pizza dough on sale. You can buy the toppings there and make your own pizza at home. Awesome idea since the have such a variety of cheeses and meats. I am looking forward to going back to try it.
Back to what i actually ordered
Calamri salad-excellent. Fresh and not fishy tasting or rubbery. Got the garlic bread and it was crunchy but not tough or chewy.
Chicken parmigian-cant go wrong wirh breaded chicken with cheese and sauce. Three pieces was one portion. The pasta came on the side which was a good touch but it was too al dente for me. The flavor was good though and i ate it up.
We ate the dishes family style.
We were actually full but had to taste the dessert so we had tiramisu and the "grandmother cake". Tiramisu had the consistency of tres leches, overly soaked bottom layer and then the creamy top with coffee flavor. Taste was there just different from what i expected. The grandmother cake was a pastry pie with a lemony, nutty, custard type filling. That i found very delicious.
Anyway...this review is long because it was just an overload of things to see and eat. The menu is relatively simple but it just has great quality products.