Mastro Ciccio — Restaurant in Bari

After checking on Google for restaurants with 1. a rating above at least 4, 2. that looked relatively local, 3. Was open until midnight since we arrived at the airport only at 22:30. Most local traditional restaurants would be closed by this time, we found out. So we found this! At the airport, on our way to Bari we were almost excited to try this squid burger out… was exciting for us!

We turn up and get service right away. Empty shack with lots of seats available - understanding it’s about to close any second.

Yet, we are allowed to order 1. Squid burger and 2. Orecchiette with squid ink and anchovies.

At first taste of the Orechiette pasta we were both really intrigued. But we ended up leaving much of it due to the heavy amounts of oil - maybe it’s how it’s supposed to be!

The burger had an interesting mix of flavours. Have never bit into a tentacle in a burger before, so I must say that it was an experience in itself, but for the sake of taste, I wouldn’t give it more than 3,5.

It reminded me of a lobster roll, but my partner didn’t agree.

Total price: 2 mains, 2 small bottles of cold still water: 27 eur.

Service 5/5 Food 3/5 Uniqueness 5/5 Price: 4/5

chocolate cake reminded me a lot about Russian / other Eastern European thick chocolate cakes. The pulled pork burger barely had any meat on it, despite that it said 150g. Was completely edible tho but I’ll probably never have it again. Felt like a local thing.

Was also quite busy when we came. 5-10 min waiting time in a almost invisible queue.

Price: 2x small coffee, 1x 500ml beer, 1x chocolate cake slice, 1x pulled pork burger: 146 zloty. 2/5

Staff friendlyness: 5/5

Taste: 4/5

Queueing:...

After trying several panini from the Puglia region of Italy I can say that the ones that are sold here are very very far from being good. This fast-food restaurant managed to turn something simple, fresh and pleasant into a bad quality fast food experience. What are the reasons for my review? *Sandwiches are pre-made, which ends with one of the main reasons why Panini can be good, they have them in exhibition (not sure for how long) and they just heat them before giving it to you. *the ingredients are not fresh, not high quality, like you can expect from a +10 euro sandwich in Italy (check the photos of this review),personally I saw the store manager cooking using already used oil from a dirty glass jar. The capocollo used is one of the worst I ever tried in Italy, just saltiness and no flavour. *the bread of course is not mushy/crunchy since was there already cutted for a long time, many other local shops offer better bread.

Besides the sandwich the installations are not good, there are more seats than space for people, there is no soap of any kind in the bathroom and it is not clean at all.

My advice is to go away from Bari hypes and to explore the small towns where you will find much better quality food.

The owner can reply but there is nothing here to say, you can see the photos and the almost-puke sensation after 9 days of excellent Pugliese food is one of the worst. Why having that much employees you cannot train them for making the sandwiches...

Initially It’s all about serving volume at this place and not about customer service at all. We are vegetarian and since nothing was available except for the pasties, we got the ricotta one. The pasty crust wasn’t baked and it smelled so weird that we had to talk to the manager about it. Guess what? The manager told us to deal with it as they don’t care about if individual customers like it or not. Oh I certainly never expected this from the top rated restaurant. Usually back in other places, we get an apology and ask if we like something else along with some more details about what was wrong.

Then finally Mr Filmon came to us and spoke about it and replaced it with an alternative vegetarian option for our satisfaction. He brought in another colleague of his who was really apologetic about what happened to us. This is now turning to be more customer centric. I really only appreciate his and her services m. He ensured almost everyone around there was happy with whatever they have got in and shared loads of suggestions. Such a jovial personality and I am sure he deserves a huge appreciation and promotions may be. Hopefully I would like the food next...