La Tana del Polpo — Restaurant in Bari

I wanted to love everything but I will give an honest review…

we made reservations by phone and were told we could reserve only for 7:30pm and after that it was queue only. We agreed to 7:30. When we arrived, it was a bit confusing since we were were told to wait in a queue outside in front of what we see is a second location (la tana di ninella). Ok no problem for us except that we have to order from a menu on the wall in the street with a man explaining quickly the dishes (line of people waiting behind us) We felt pressured and a bit uncomfortable ordering this way.

I had seen the tris di polpo appetizer in photos online and they looked pretty large, which I asked the man to verify. He told us the portions of octopus 3 ways were small (even demonstrating with his hands how small) Because of this we decided to order the tris of octopus plus 3 other dishes (pastas and fresh fish) for the three of us.

We were told to ‘go inside’, but to which restaurant? There are 2 restaurants and the street is busy. So we needed to ask for further clarification before we were shown which table.

It was in a tiny brightly lit room containing 3 tables all in front of a kitchen. I was sitting in the server’s aisleway with my chair getting bumped constantly by servers, the kitchen was interesting to watch but hardly relaxing as we could hear and see the chaos and tension and sometimes almost yelling. We overheard people at the table next to us comparing the situation to Hell’s Kitchen. So entertaining it was, but not relaxing like we hoped.

The food was very good. Nothing to say on that front. Fresh and delicious.

I will however say that we felt misled by the man who described the tris of octopus as small portions. When it arrived our mouths dropped because it was huge. We could hardly finish it and then we each had another dish arrive after that. Needless to say we could not finish and it was sad to waste such good food.

I think I would return but I would order less and request a...

In short, tasty food with rude staff and poor service in a noisy loud environment. We joined the queue to be seated, we were sent to the open-air area in front of take away on street. The pushy waiter was rushing here and there like a headless chicken! She brought water and although said bread is coming she forgot it until we were ordering I asked for it, we wanted same pasta for 2 people but she was trying to force us select another dish and not 2 of the same. Although we didn't want a 2nd dish she was pushing so we decided to share a fried seafood plate. She then realised she didn't give us olive oil, and brought us. After a long while she brought a plate and put on our table and left. It was an octopus dish which we didn't realise it wasn't what we ordered although we were trying to figure out where are the shrimps! In a minute later she came back and said she made a mistake and it was the other table food and was arguing that we need to take it as we squeezed lemon on it!!! She was putting her mistake on us! The plate was 48€ and she was pushing that we eat the wrong dish and she cancels our pastas and fried seafood plate. We refused politely and then negotiation continued that she bring one of the pastas to us to share. Which again we refused, she tried to force us take the wrong dish which we didn't order and at the end she consulted with her colleague and took the wrong dish to kitchen. No apology was given! We got our food and then the 2nd course, and only then she said sorry. When asked for bill, she brought the bill and dropped on our table, she came back with card reader I tip the card payment went through and she left. No thank you, no smile, nothing! If you make a mistake, own it and don't push it on guests! Rude behaviour is unacceptable. Although food was tasty but the service and the constant barking dogs beside restaurant caused an...

I purely come across here by searching “best restaurants in Bari” I see how good the star rating was and how many reviews it had. When me and my gf arrived (we hadn’t booked) we had like a small wait outside before we was seated. It was very busy and vibrant with a good buzz about the place. The main waiter I forget his name but he was full of info and very welcoming and really did look after us. We already knew what we wanted from looking at the menu. The waiter come round with a platter full of fresh seas bass lobster prawns etc and to us the specials etc what I really liked. The waiter suggested swapping the beef out the salad for lobster. From memory I don’t remember the beef salad being more the €20, however I never asked what the difference would be having the lobster instead. We had a lovely evening a few litres of delicious White House wine. Lovely bread, olives olive oil, sea food pasta, lobster salad, also amazing ricotta dessert and coffees to finish up. The food which got brought out around us all looked amazing too. There was serval buskas let in which I found unusual as they’re essentially looking for money and everyone in the restaurant is seated and sort of puts them in and uncomfortable position. However 1 sang with his guitar which was enjoyable. The other was trying to sell roses. We had a lovely evening and was in their a good few hours as it was very busy. If there was one negative it would be when the bill come and we was charged €67 just for the lobster salad. Served me right for not asking I guess. I didn’t want to be that guest either after having a lovely night...