Bad Roman Is The Most Over-The-Top New Italian Restaurant In Town

Fashionable foodies officially have a new reason to hit Columbus Circle.

Quality Branded, the restaurant group behind Don Angie, Zou Zou’s, Quality Bistro, and more, certainly know a thing or two about creating buzzy culinary destinations, and their latest venture is perhaps the most over-the-top and Insta-worthy yet.

Welcome to Bad Roman, a playful ode to maximalism and decadent Italian cuisine. 

An exalted wild boar, quite literally up on a pedestal, welcomes you to the expansive space inside the Columbus Circle shopping center (the former site of Landmarc), which is now vibrantly appointed with wavy orange banquettes, blown glass accents, trompe l’oeil mosaics, and lush greenery galore.

The bold design by GRT Architects sets the scene for even bolder dishes that interweave global influences with Italian classics. There's a roasted garlic babka for the table, Tuscan fried chicken, and a selection of steak filettos topped with cacio e pepe raviolo or spicy crab cannelloni. And if you're really looking to indulge, don't skimp on the Osetra caviar gnocchi or the whole roasted lobster filled with Calabrian campanelle - this one might even give Don Angie's pinwheel lasagna a run for its Intagrammable money.

Of course, the plates are paired with a fun lineup of cocktails spotlighting Italian spirits and ingredients, including the Tequila Granita, Martini Pepperoncini, and the refreshing Strawberry Sbagliato with strawberry-infused Aperol, Carpano Antica, and prosecco. Salute to that.

Click through for a look inside!

[Photos by Christian Harder courtesy Bad Roman]