Barba — Restaurant in Dubrovnik

It's 7.30 p.m., the three of us were walking under the dark, starless night sky of Dubrovnik. One of our friends who was the driver, was all worn out after he took a picture with the Iron Throne in one of those Game of Thrones merchandise shops. He decided to call it a night and parted ways with the two of us to head back to our Airbnb. My friend and I, still hungry for more food after an early dinner, stumbled upon Barba along the hilly alley.

We wanted to enjoy our final night with a supper in Croatia. Our orders were Sitna Riba (Small fish), Svježa Kamenica (Fresh Oysters) and Pohana Kamenica (Fried Oysters). I preferred the fresh oysters, and the "small fish" was a decent choice for finger-food. The highlights of Barba however, were the environment and the friendliness of the staff. It was a bit congested, but what excites me the most were those wooden forks hanging around the restaurant. Each of those wooden forks has customers' writings on it, and they even have different colour pens for you to write whatever you want. I really love the idea, and I went on to write on three separate forks and placed them in three separate places.

Aside that, we were casually chatting (a good hour) with a couple from California (we met plenty of Americans on our Croatia trip). Contrary to our itinerary, Dubrovnik was their first stop in Croatia and they were planning to head north till Zagreb. We clicked quite well, shared each other's holiday experiences and talked about life. We then bid farewell with a great photo together, as my friend and I headed off for more late night walks and souvenir shopping around the beautiful city.

Back at our Airbnb, we found our designated driver to be scrolling on his iPad (Geez my friend, what a waste of time). Anyway, fun times indeed in Dubrovnik. Will really miss this near to end-of-summer vacation as we have to recharge for the start of academic term. If I do revisit Dubrovnik someday, I would be overjoyed to see any one of my forks, still planted in Barba.

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Food: Fresh, Delicious and Quality seafood. This is by far best Octopus 🐙 burger in Dubrovnik. Their crispy small fish where delicious and served in good portions at a reasonable price 💰

Staff: Super friendly, excellent hospitality and came up with good suggestions amongst the different sections in the menu based on ppl's rating. Staff speaks good English. They are helpful in explaining the menu and honestly give a good estimation of waiting times.

Location: Fast (sea) food place at heart of the old town is Ideal for lunch or dinner after an Activity in Dubrovnik. It's easy to reach from both the gates on West and East. Close to the main street connecting East & West gate. It's a small place, so could accommodate not more than 20 ppl. Interior is cutely decorated with coloured forks by waiting customer. ,

Waiting time: Easily 20 mins, peak hours approx 40 mins. This is the best Fast (Sea) food in town so you should definitely expect some crowd during lunch & dinner times.

Overall: Must visit Fast (sea)food place in old town and if you want to genuinely exp seafood at a reasonable price. Would definitely visit again while visiting Dubrovnik and try their fried Squid and other options...

I had an extremely disappointing experience at . Despite being very excited to try this place, as it was recommended by the World Cook Program, our visit was far from pleasant.

Upon arrival, we were made to wait for 45 minutes in the peak heat, which was particularly challenging as we had our 11-month-old baby with us. When I called the staff’s attention to our situation, hoping they could provide us with some option to make the wait more bearable, I was met with an incredibly unprofessional response.

Once we were finally given a table in the middle of the restaurant, the waiter started screaming at us. I had already started feeding my baby at that point, and the situation became so uncomfortable that we left the restaurant immediately. We had to finish feeding our baby in the street.

I have never encountered such treatment before. This behavior was not only unacceptable but also made it clear that this is not a baby-friendly place. It’s a shame that such an anticipated experience turned out to be so negative. I hope the management takes steps to address these issues to prevent others from facing the...