The Romulan haven’t been portrayed as very intelligent…

[Laughing Dragon]

They are usually portrayed as the illogical version of Vulcans, They are cousins and they sometimes act closer to Klingons. This is not an attack on Klingons but lets face it they aren't known for their smarts but their fighting prowess. Except for Worf who was trained by SF to think more foreword. Vulcans chose to leave all that stuff behind that Romulans revel in. But they may see themselves as smarter than a Klingon and a human and a lot of that is partly arrogance because they usually see themselves as better than all races, once, outside of Vulcans before they became bitter towards them.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Funny fact: "Data's Day" is one of the few times any villain has ever beaten Picard and company and it's the Romulans.

Sadly, it seemed like Picard and Riker gave up too easily so it didn't feel like a huge triumph.

 

[Farscape One]

There were 3 warbirds... one is a pretty close match to a Galaxy class ship. 3 is way outside its weight class.

 

[Timo]

It's also one of the more clever Romulan plots: they get to kill a Vulcan bigwig AND make the UFP falsely believe that their secrets have been compromised by a mole... Just by swapping the dead Vulcan's remains with some fake blood.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[FederationHistorian]

Funny fact: "Data's Day" is one of the few times any villain has ever beaten Picard and company and it's the Romulans.

Sadly, it seemed like Picard and Riker gave up too easily so it didn't feel like a huge triumph.

They were staring down 2 Warbirds, with another 3 on the way. And lacking backup from either the Federation or the Klingons. They had to retreat.