Manioka

Mine is a four star review for the food which slips to three at the final count for a few service oddities. The latest food fashion in Rome has seen Brazilian Sushi become a «thing», largely thanks to the success of the growing Temakinho empire (with five restaurants now nationwide).
Temakinho is a useful point of reference here for its extremely stylish restaurant interiors and its high quality, varied menu. Manioka has a slightly scaled down menu but the portion sizes are slightly larger and the quality is, on the whole, good.
The cocktails on offer here include caipirnha and caipiroska variants, mixed with tropical fruits. I had a passion fruit caipirinha (€ 9), which was excellent with sharp, natural accents — and low on the brown sugar. I then started with a mixed ceviche (€ 12) which was fresh and moreish, uniting marinated prawns, squid and sea-​fish in a zingy lime marinade, attractively presented in a ceramic dish.
I then moved on to sea-​bass rolls dressed with a spicy sauce (€ 11), and technically containing avocado. I was very disappointed to see that the avocado was just a green smear of paste in the heart of each roll, rather than including an actual sliver of avocado. As these were the only two ingredients apart from the rice, it was an important oversight.
I was dining in an usually large party — there were 11 of us — but the roll portions were all served together on huge platters, which made it very difficult to identify and take your food. It was really impractical and didn’t suit the quality of the restaurant. Serving each portion of eight rolls on individual dishes would have been a very easy fix by the kitchens. As it was, the plates had to go up and down the tables, while everyone tried to take their food.
Another oddity: sushi often ends up being finger food, and can get messy. Why, then, were we supplied with one tiny cocktail napkin each? Also, not to be a stickler for etiquette, but cocktail napkins should only be used to serve drinks at the bar — their minute dimensions are designed to soak up the drips of water from an iced glass, not wipe ones hands, as they disintegrate immediately.
The starter and first set of rolls hadn’t abated my hunger, so I ordered a second set of rolls, this time the «copacabana», (€ 12) which was mixed fish dressed with slivers of lime — and very tasty it was too. The food was highly seasoned so we ordered multiple bottles of water.
Imagine our horror when one member of our party noted that we were paying € 2.50 for each 50 cl bottle of water (the tiny half litre sizes that you usually stash in your bag). Every restaurant has to make on a mark-​up somewhere, but when you’re eating great fish you don’t mind adding a euro or two on the food prices. To try and make your money on the water as a restaurant seems a little bit squalid. I hope that Manioka reads reviews — with a few easy fixes they could totally earn the four stars they deserve.