Restaurant Review: Fa Bio

Sandwich aficionados, eat your heart out!  I'm here to plug a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop in the heart of Prati, so close to the Vatican City that one of its tall walls is only a one minute walk away.  It's not because I was asked to do it or get any kind of kickback from it.  It's because the place deserves it.

Say hello to Fa Bio!  Tucked into one of the side streets just north of the Vatican, this store will be, if it isn't already, a cult eatery known for using the freshest of ingredients, all while charging very fair prices for its sandwiches, wraps, salads, other dishes and smoothies.

It's located at Via Germanico, 43, Roma, Italia.  Or here:


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The location is small and it has a single door to get in.  You might overlook it if you aren't paying close attention.  Then again, at lunch, it was easy to spot because of the line to order extending outside.

Once inside, there is enough space for 2 people to stand side-by-side between the serving counter and the wall allowing for a dozen or so standing clients to fit the length of the room.  The close proximity means you have excellent views to watch your neighbor's smoothie being made as the whole apple and pear, as well as the piece of ginger, are all pushed through the juicer.  I was one of the lucky ones near the front who received a sample of someone's leftover fresh juice order.

Fresh juice is the best juice.

It also means you can see them make your sandwich.  To order that, you need to look up.  On the wall boards, you can see what options there are to order in terms of meats, cheeses, vegetables, spreads, condiments, etc.  In the display case in front of you sits 4 loaves, among other things, of that day's freshly baked bread from their supplier.  Focaccia, a nut bread, a wheat bread, a white bread was what I had to choose from that day.

I asked one of the owners, Claudio, what his bread of choice was and that day, his supplier said the best loaf was the nut bread.  Sold.  I'll take that to start.

So he grabs the loaf, cuts two fresh slices and sets it back in the display case.

"What would you like on it?" he asked.
"I think I'll have the prosciutto crudo, fresh mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, black olive spread and some oil and vinegar."

So he grabs the hunk of prosciutto and walks it to the slicer.  When he's done with that I watch him take the fresh ball of mozzarella and slice that.  Then he grabs a whole tomato out of a bowl in the display case and slices that right in front of me.  The lettuce leaves were the only things currently ready for use and they looked as fresh as could be.  No brownish red spots from commercial cutting machines or from sitting out too long.  We are talking super green.

Then he grabbed the jar of black olive spread, slathered some on the bread, a little olive oil and balsamic and my sandwich was ready to go.

Whoops!  Too early.  It needs to be pressed and toasted first.  Good move.

This made-to-order sandwich only cost me 4 EURO!

YUM!  It was delicious.

The owners, Fabio and Claudio, are extremely nice, are multilingual from what I can tell and know how to serve up a mean sandwich and drink.  Stop by if you are near there!

P.S.  This place is so good, a fellow blogger wrote about it yesterday!  See her experience here as well as excellent photos of the place, at The Pines of Rome.