La Cecchina Bari Vecchia — Restaurant in Bari

I was immensely disappointed by this place, especially that it was my last dinner in Italy too makes it even worse. honestly I don’t understand the good reviews, . It was not busy at all for a Friday night and a lot of other places were packed out in the old town so that should have been my first sign. First of all I saw two older ladies who were walk ins be immediately seated but then when I asked I was told it’s bookings only outside and I would have to sit in an empty inside restaurant with not even any music , it’s only when I pushed it and said well can you check if you’ve got a booking on that two outside and then he reluctantly said no you can have it. Then after I was given water and some free bread by a friendly waitress so I thought ok good start, I then got totally ignored by all 4 waiters for 15 minutes straight, even though there was only about 5 tables in the whole place. even when I closed my menu to show I was ready, I then had to ask to have someone take my order. But that’s not the worst part, the worst part was the food - I ordered two starters which sounded delicious, octopus on fave bean purée and cod mousse with gaspacho - the cod mouse had NO flavour at all and was super dry and was accompanied by a tiny smear of gaspacho - for 11 euros & then the octopus again, was super chewy and actually made me feel a little sick and the purée had zero flavour. The wine was nice and only 5 euros lol. I ate it all because I was hungry and I didn’t want to complain because I was super tired & I know that it gets you nowhere with Italians anyway - I’ve seen it with my own eyes! But yeh don’t recommend. (Also it’s next to the beer bars with loud pumping club music - which isn’t their fault but...

As we walked to the restaurant, a couple in front of us asked for a table outside. The waiter showed them a free seat. When it was our turn to ask for a table, he walked past us without paying any attention. At some point he came back and very rudely told us that there were no more free tables outside and that we would have to sit inside if we wanted to eat here (although there were some free tables outside). My companion and I didn't understand why he was so rude. Then a female waitress joined us and told us there were plenty of free tables and we could sit outside. When he took our order and we asked for a type of pasta, he said there was none. Even ruder than before. Oh well. We order something else, but were no longer in the mood for this rude waiter. When we left the restaurant after dinner, we walked past the table of the aforementioned couple and lo and behold, the lady had exactly the type of pasta on her plate that we had asked for.

Food was okay, that is why I give 2 stars. Male waiter not customer-friendly. Go somewhere else and you will enjoy a lovely...

The worst food experience I had in Bari. Im usually not the type of bad review writer, but this place really deserves it. We followed the good ratings and got a table. The service is very slow and it took us quite a while to make our order. Finally the wine came. Which was the best from the whole stay. The starter was lacking of salt and seasoning in general. Very plain in flavor. But the worst was the risotto. It was advertised as caccio e pepe with shrimps. Well what shall I write - it tasted like water from some unfrozen shrimps with no clues of either cheese nor the promised pepper. When we addressed the issue towards the waitress it seemed like she expected us to not like it and she seemed to not care at all. When we complained to another waiter it turned out that she is the boss there. So she is not caring at all, which is just sad. That actually says everything about the place.

They made us pay everything. No apology. There are plenty of better options around.

~ a...