Ristorante Biancofiore — Restaurant in Bari

Two things that I love : good food and good music. This restaurant had neither.

Perhaps Biancofiore is trying to be a fine dining restaurant but completely misses the mark.

The service: We arrived a few minutes late, granted. We were given a perfectly nice table by a friendly waitress. From here things went downhill. A waiter, who I believe is the owner hurried us to order. He suggested dishes like a “mixed cold starter” for us to have which was not even on the menu before we had a chance to read it. He then suggested what we would have for starters and mains and expected us to decide immediately. I asked for a few more moments to actually read the menu. He returned a minute later and started to push dishes on us again. Under pressure, I hurriedly ordered the beef tartare and veal for main. My partner ordered the crispy egg to start and the tuna for main.

Waiting staff asked us twice while we were still eating if we were finished. It was clear they wanted to turn over the table. It made us feel very uncomfortable.

The food:

Be aware cover charge is €4. More than anywhere else we ate while in Bari. €4 each will get you 3 pieces of almost stale bread and little else. After being pushed into ordering before having a chance to properly read the menu we were served our starters very quickly. The food was not good. My partner and I are not especially picky and are used to eating out in restaurants across London and abroad. Out of the 4 fishes we chose, none were good. The flavours were odd. The crispy egg was served with an overpowering smoked cheese. The beef tartare was okay but I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed it. There was very little flavour. The veal was okay but served with nothing other than purple mash (picture featured was the best of the food for the evening). The sauce was nice but hardly any of it. The tuna was served just with onion. I couldn’t bring myself to try it but my partner commented that it was basically tuna sashimi and a sauce that didn’t taste of anything.

The wine was great. The only thing not made by the restaurant.

The music:

Perhaps not a common thing to comment on in a restaurant but I have to warn future diners about the awful music. What to expect: Dreadful cover versions of English songs that weren’t that good to begin with. We heard a cover of “stand by you” and “don’t speak” twice before the starters even arrived. “Hit me baby” also featured. Need I say more?

Even in the UK I’d be loathe to listen to this music. Coming to Italy I would not expect to be listening to insipid English lounge music while eating dinner.

The bathroom is lovely (except for the music at twice the volume). This would be the highlight of the evening if you were wearing headphones.

To add to the poor food, the bench I was sat on was very uncomfortable. I’ve left feeling dissatisfied and with a bad back!

Sadly, I had booked this restaurant to celebrate my 33rd birthday. After a lovely day in Bari, the day was ruined by this very disappointing restaurant.

As I finish writing notes for this review on my phone…. A repeat of “Dance Monkey” has started playing. Excellent…

Is this a tourist trap masquerading as a fine dining restaurant? I’m not sure. But there seemed to be equally displeased Italian people sitting around us.

This disappointment cost us €115. We wish we had chosen to eat anywhere else or had a pizza for €5. We would have...

Overall This seafood place should be on your must try places while visiting Bari. Notable is the pistachio pasta for its uniqueness and the octopus for its taste and texture. The only negative point is the ambience in the dining room. My partner and I agreed that the owners should work more on the lighting as the light temperature was too high/blue - basically we would have preferred a darker setting with perhaps candles or more orange light. Expect to pay around €40-€50 per person (we ordered 1 bottle of wine, one soda, seafood platter for two, two mains and one dessert to share and the bill ended at €92). I also have to mention that the service/staff is a high reason for visiting this gem as well.

Starters and bread We ordered the a seafood platter for two. You can choose between raw and cooked - we chose cooked. The mackerel, cod and seasnail and octopus combination complimented each other however the octopus was indisputably the king of those three dishes, as the meat was not overly chewy/bouncy but rather had thr right amount of char and meat texture. The included bread is dry and I recommend leaving it untouched.

Mains I read other reviews which had mentioned a pistachio pasta however I was unable to find it. When I asked the staff they immediately knew what I was talking about. The dish itself is quite unique and worth a try. The prawns were good (and peeled for you) and the addition of pistachio added a nutty flavour to the sauce which I personally like. My partner chose the swordfish pasta dish and she told me it was the best dish she had had in Puglia so far. The portions have a good size as well.

Desserts and wine As this region is famous for its cultivation and processing of lemons I decided we should try out their lemon and berries with crunch dessert. The sweetness of the berries nicely contrasted that of the lemon puré however I would have wished the sourness to be more distinct. The restaurant has a big catalogue of wines however note that you have to buy one bottle of the selected wine. The price is quite affordable though. I went with one of the local white wines however my knowledge of wines is limited but to my simple palate the white wine had a good balance between initially sour and then a secondary fruity aroma.

Service The staff were friendly and was able to speak English to an acceptable level. Unlike other places in the region the waiters were quick to respond to you and the waiting time for food was...

In one sentence, this was a series of mishaps and disappointment. My friend has allergies to all seafood, so we emailed ahead of time to make sure he could get the 6 course land while I could get the fish 6 course. This is something we do with every restaurant we go to, to make sure he has things to eat and i can also have what i like. They confirmed this was okay. So we went ahead and booked it. And so the following occurs when we arrive; we are told that in fact we cannot get our respective 6 course meals. He could get his land version, and I need to do a la carte. instead of giving me time and space to then choose what I want, the waiter pressures me repeatedly to choose what he recommends. I eventually cave since he was clearly not listening to my request for a moment to look over the menu. the next mishap I tried to assume was just a language barrier. When ordering wine we asked for a specific bottle, which was local. They were out of it so Brought two example bottles of Chardonnay. I asked for something more similar to Sauvignon blanc. The waiter informs me it is from France and not local, which I am obviously aware of, and was asking for something similar. After a confusing back and forth just settled for Sauvignon to just move on. his first recommendation, was a plate with several kinds of raw fish. Basically no transformation of the food, as you'd expect from a Michelan restaurant. Unexciting and some cuts were bland and seemed poor. The waiter then told me to put olive oil and pepper on it. next dish was actually a delicious ravioli topped with red prawn then the main course, fish with veggies. The fish was very dry and bland. The veggie overly watery. the dessert was alright, not good, but not terrible then we asked for cappuccinos, were informed they don't have any but were offered coffee. We were instead served espresso which I do not drink. my friend was not impressed with his food either I will say the bread was great though and I enjoyed that they served it with olive oil. the decor was nice

Anyway, not at all what I would expect from a 1...