From “il Gambero Rosso”
The Hungaria Bar. The story and the “Completo Burger”.
Tracing the history of Bar Hungaria, a long-lived Capitoline sign in the Parioli district, the happiest chapter narrates the exploits of a café frequented at all hours of the day in the heart of the bene district of Rome, famous for having introduced a “restaurant service” “In unsuspecting times.
Already in 1945, according to the mythology of the place, in the aftermath of the Liberation, the bar in Piazza Hungary began serving hamburgers to American soldiers who could afford the shopping. But beyond the legends, between the seventies and eighties the so-called “complete” – the hamburger complete with everything, with onions, egg, gherkins, stringy cheese, accompanying sauces, prepared expressed on a plate in the room, at any time of the day – it will become a draw for the whole neighborhood.
Open until midnight, very popular for Sunday breakfast or an aperitif sitting outside, with a view of the hustle and bustle of the square, the Hungaria has been a bar for decades (with diner service that has ended up becoming all-encompassing , not always favoring quality) well known in the city. Then the neglect of a management little interested in honoring its fame and a certain flattening of the medium-low quality standards common to many Roman bars led to the decline of the restaurant, which finally lowered the shutters in 2017.
A careful renovation work (by the Junio Cellini and Paola Niolu architecture studio) has rethought the space that overlooks the street with 9 entrances in view of a grand style relaunch of Bar Hungaria. The brand does not change, the ownership is different: Antonio and Massimo Cola – former restaurant entrepreneurs in Rome – and Federico Scardamaglia – film producer – are the three partners who took over the business with the idea of reviving the good name of Hungaria.
