Giampaolo Ristorante — Restaurant in Bari

I was happy that I could book a table for the same evening… friendly over the phone … booked for 10 pm we arrived at 9.30 and we said we will wait outside… the unfriendly woman at the Desk at said of course you will have to wait …. We waited for more than one hour while other people passed by after 10Pm and were welcomed and given a table somewhere inside the restaurant… you can’t see from outside… finally at 10.40 the MOMENT… we have a table for you !!!! We enter a second room …. With 25 empty tables and one was for us … were are the guests ??? Why they couldn’t seat us immediately will remain an open question…. During our waiting time we asked for water which I course we paid and we could see the spectacular show of the boss yelling on the crew for different things …. We ordered… half of what we order was not available… it might be nice as it seems everything is fresh …. I decided to say … ok let me see the fishes and I’ll choose …. We ordered…. And then it all started … main dishes arrived before the starters… and we were served frozen calamari’s and shrimps… and boxed fish carpaccio… the fish were ok but certainly not the best dishes of bari… and the salad in our plate was not washed, dirty and black … they guy even didn’t cut the spoiled leaves … the bill was correct as they didn’t charge the veggie’s they forgot to bring us … but all experience was not good and way too expensive for sitting in a second class room with spoiled food … one star for the lady who served us … all the rest...

A wonderful find just outside of the historical centre of Bari. This restaurant ticked all of our boxes whilst on a short trip to Puglia with friends. We had a lovely welcome from Mimo who took us into the main part of the restaurant which was elegant and very nicely designed - with large artworks and white linen tablecloths. The service was friendly and helpful and the waiter was happy to make recommendations from a very appealing menu predominantly of pasta and seafood. We all had a delicious meal and excellent wine - and we were amazed how reasonable it cost. The lovely local wine was just 15 euros a bottle. We had a truly special meal and special meal and we thank Giampaolo for making it a memorable one. We shall be back when we're next in Bari! If there was one little thing that could have made it EVEN better, it was the lighting. It would have been nice to have it dimmed a little, and maybe even a candle or two for a more intimate feel during the evening - but in the scheme of things, a tiny detail in an otherwise...

Seafood focused restaurant near old town Bari with fresh fish and friendly servers.

Pros: The food is… awesome. I love fish, so anytime the server asks if I want to select the fish they’ll cook for me, I know it’s going to be great. I should have picked a smaller fish because 1 kilo is a lot for one person, especially with the potatoes, tomatoes, olives on top. Carpaccio to start was sliced thinly to perfection and Burrata/Cacio e Pepe also very good. All servers were super nice to my infant daughter even when she started to briefly cry.

Cons: Certainly not the cheapest restaurant in Puglia (my whole fish was 80 euros) but fair priced for the quality of...