INEO

Heros De Agostinis spoons an Eritrean ragu of veal and game over maccheroncini cooked in Madeira with 24-month Parmigiano, and Andy Hayler scored that plate 19 out of 20.

Why go

De Agostinis has an Eritrean mother and a father from Abruzzo. He grew up in Esquilino, the quarter behind Termini, where his grandmother bought the Sunday chicken at the Piazza Vittorio market (Gambero Rosso). He still lives there and the restaurant is there. The market feels like a souk, he told Laura Rysman. You could be in North Africa or Southeast Asia. There are fruits, vegetables, spices and ingredients from nearly every continent. My idea for INEO emerged from that market, from those aromas, flavors and encounters. (MICHELIN Guide)

Dinner opens on that chicken, in five bites: a stracciatella broth with fried gnocchetti, a Caesar salad set in a tartlet under lettuce gel, a bon-bon of chicken alla cacciatora, a tostada with pico de gallo, and a chip of chicken skin under spiced mayonnaise. The maccheroncini are drawn on the ferretto, the iron rod, and the Eritrean ragu over them is cut with green chili. Carlo Passera calls that plate a masterpiece on the palate.

The bread arrives on a trolley, which De Agostinis brought back from working with Marc Veyrat in France, where the cart was a tradition and in Italy it was not. Hayler counted a country loaf, a sourdough, a Roman white shaped like a baguette, a rye with cumin and wild fennel, a blend of wholemeal, chickpea and buckwheat flours and a pizza bianca, all baked in the kitchen, served with Normandy butter or an olive oil pressed north of Rome. Luciano Pignataro rates the work here highly: il lavoro sul pane e sui lievitati in generali e uno dei piu interessanti d'Italia per risultato e complessita. Our translation: the work on bread and leavening here is among the most interesting in Italy for both result and complexity. (Luciano Pignataro Wine&Food)

The lamb tikka masala would read light on flavor to an Indian guest, and De Agostinis tells Identita Golose he knows it. He is not chasing the original recipe; he puts the idea into a kitchen that speaks Italian. Passera reports the room full and the bookings heavy.

Order this / avoid

Order: the maccheroncini, then the berlingot ravioli of muhammara and shellfish under the chef's own baharat, a spice mix of cumin, coriander, sweet paprika and chili.3
Avoid: the mentuccia granita before dessert. Hayler scored it 12 out of 20, the only false note of the meal, as the peppermint flavour was overwhelming, against 17s and 18s either side of it.5
Avoid: Sunday and Monday, when the room is dark. It opens Tuesday through Saturday, evenings only.1

What locals & experts say

MICHELIN Guide Italy (One Star, 2026): His dishes are refined yet intense in flavour, with an intelligent use of spices and, in particular, of heat that is always calibrated with consummate skill.1
Carlo Passera, Identita Golose, the reservation: se dovessimo muovergli un'osservazione e che a volte possa cadere in una certa ripetitivita nell'utilizzo di specifici aromi (come sono quelli speziati, ad esempio), forti, caratterizzanti, quando invece la vera forza sta nel dosarli, alternarli e regalare cosi a ogni assaggio suggestioni diverse. Our translation: if we were to make one observation, it is that he can sometimes fall into a certain repetitiveness in his use of specific aromas, the spiced ones for instance, strong and characterful, when the real strength lies in dosing them, alternating them, and so giving every mouthful a different suggestion.3
Paolo Marchi, on what the room is up against: Quella dell'Ineo per De Agostinis e una grande sfida perche tanto e facile vendere un tavolo vista Roma tanto e impegnativo far si che i clienti scelgano una stanza chiusa, molto elegante e bella ma pur sempre senza sbocchi visivi esterni. Il successo lo si gioca tutto su quanto arriva in tavola. Our translation: INEO is a big challenge for De Agostinis, because selling a table with a view over Rome is easy and getting guests to choose a closed room, very elegant and beautiful but with nothing to look out at, is hard. Success here is played entirely on what arrives at the table.4
Heros De Agostinis, in his own words: Un mescolare le mie radici italiane ed eritree con le suggestioni rubate dai miei viaggi intorno al mondo. La cucina e il frutto di scambio e conoscenza, di intrecci talvolta casuali, di andata e ritorno, di apertura e dialogo, di passaggi e trasformazioni. Our translation: a mixing of my Italian and Eritrean roots with what I stole from travelling the world. Cooking is the product of exchange and knowledge, of sometimes accidental crossings, of going out and coming back, of openness and dialogue, of passages and transformations.11

Good to know

Price: Andrea Cuomo paid 175 euros for the long menu in April 2026, with six glasses alongside it at 90; the shorter five-plate menu was 155 with four glasses at 65.
The wine list: Hayler counted 225 labels in May 2024, from 40 to 3,000 euros, median 130, and an average markup of 2.8 times retail, which he rates reasonable against other luxury hotels in big cities. Federico Spagnolo, who spent years alongside Heinz Beck, chose them. When Pignataro first ate here in 2023 he called the list the weak point and said it had to be rebuilt; by his return it had been.
The room: twenty-eight seats by Andrea Cuomo's count in April 2026, low light, widely spaced tables. Six chefs were cooking for twenty-two covers the night Hayler ate in October 2025; he was treated to that meal and saw no bill. Damiano Verdone runs the floor after eight years in the room at All'Oro.
Booking: essential, and direct. MICHELIN's page says the restaurant manages its own bookings.
Where: Piazza della Repubblica 46, under the travertine portico, through its own door beside the Anantara Palazzo Naiadi. Gambero Rosso and Puntarella Rossa both print the number as 48.

Verdict

should-visit — One MICHELIN Star and a kitchen with an argument: De Agostinis cooks the Esquilino market rather than the four Roman sauces, and the Madeira macaroni with the Eritrean ragu is the plate that proves it works. Andy Hayler scored it 19 out of 20, Carlo Passera calls it a masterpiece, and the hotel lists it first. The bread trolley is a real piece of craft and Pignataro rates the leavening among the most interesting in Italy. It stops short of must-visit because the reservations come from the critics who like it most: Passera says the spice aromatics repeat, Hayler's palate cleanser and coffee both fell away at the end of a strong meal, and no Roman cook has been found sending anyone here. Price is high and honestly so, and the wine list is the rare hotel cellar that does not punish you.