Dal Barese — Restaurant in Bari

Our waiter used totally shady upsell tactics, and told us that one of the dishes was not available, then recommended a much higher priced dish…however, when I stuck to my basic primi pasta plate order, miraculously the dish came out as was on the menu…they somehow “found” the ingredients. Food was below average and when the bill was more than double what we were expecting, our waiter explained that the items he suggested that we “substitute” were obviously more expensive. Just an all around terrible experience and really soured our first night in this super cool town. Avoid this place!!

Reply to reply: That’s what we were told at the table as well, but there was clearly plenty of confusion and a simple subtraction of the upsell would have gone a long way…but the waiter simply argued that exact thing and made it clear it was us, the customers, who were mistaken. If you look at my other reviews, I have never left a negative one…this is a first. And it took me a couple of days to leave it because I really didn’t want to do so, but...

I stumbled on this place after visiting Bari Castle and heading back to the Piazza. It’s a traditional Pugliese restaurant nestled near the harbor and hidden between a selection of other plaza eateries. I started with an eggplant carpaccio that blew my mind - balsamic, mint, tomatoes — divine! The portion sizes are incredibly generous - I ordered a suggested first plate of red fish (snapper) with orichiette. By the time my second plate arrived — another seafood dish with traditional potatoes - the only thing keeping me going was the excellent flavors in the food. It’s a good thing I have a 20 min walk back to my hotel! Staff was attentive and pleasant and music and people watching took this spot over the top. As a solo traveler I felt welcome and appreciated and never rushed. ...

Server ‘misheard’ my order for octopus and brought grilled lobster for double the cost. Server’s English was good, So how do you mistake octopus for Lobster? When the food came out, I was obviously dismayed, told server more than once that I ordered octopus, not lobster, but server insisted I ordered lobster, and was wringing her hands in apparent despair—so I folded, in a gesture of annoyed acceptance—to save the server a ding in her nights’s take.

The lobster and the zucchini carpaccio were delicious. But honestly, I think the server either wanted me to spend more money or just wasn’t listening. Either way I was ticked off, but don’t like making scenes so I accepted the wrong entrée. If this happens again, I will try to remember to fib and tell them that I have a...