Sit back and enjoy the bossiness (managers), the business (servers) and the bolshiness (waiting clients)...this is as Roman an experience as you can ever hope to have in the US. Servers race, crack pepper, sprinkle parmesan cheese. Chatter volume is on boom-box blasting levels. Pizzas are churned out of the 900-degree oven every 90 seconds.
And the crowds – who look rather smug that they've snagged a table – love it. Excellent pasta and other Italian dishes (though, mamma mia, perhaps not quite as good as the fuss warrants). That said, there's a lovely garden area out the back, a friendly bar area and professional service, so you're paying for the overall experience.