Antica Osteria Il Baretto — Restaurant in Vernazza

You know what is the perfect complement to the beauty and charm of Cinque Terre? The food! Cinque Terre is known for a few staples: seafood (especially anchovies), pesto, focaccia, and farinata. My friend and I decided that we must sample some of the local specialities while we were in Cinque Terre. At Vernazza, we saw Il Baretto and decided to try it. Only later did I find out it was featured in my Rick Steves' Italy guidebook. Even better!

We ordered a plate of salted anchovies, or accuighe as it is called here, and trofie al pesto to share. If you've had anchovies in the States and hate it, try them fresh here! It makes all the difference. The anchovies were very, very good. I could instantly tell they were fresh and caught that day instead of the cured-in salted ones I've had in the U.S.

Cinque Terre is also the birthplace of pesto. Pesto on trofie is delicious! Trofie is a Ligurian pasta made with flour and water but no eggs and rolled into little squiggly shapes. It's best served with pesto. Definitely try trofie because it's nearly impossible to get outside of the Cinque Terre/Liguria region. And it is absolutely fantastic!

We met someone who was born in nearby La Spezia here and he loves this restaurant, so we knew we hit jackpot. Great little spot in Vernazza. We sat outside and people watched. Service...

We stopped here for lunch. My review should probably be higher but let me explain. This restaurant was one of only three places that charged my credit card in USD vs € out of all the restaurants/shops/etc while we were in Italy for 19 days! Yes I should have looked at the bill when I was there, but the server hands you the terminal and you add an optional gratuity and then he changes it. With only 3 occurrences out of many dozens it's difficult to remember to check every time. It's so cheesy that they do this, it only inflates their profit a couple of percent. Just be aware!

Except for the bill issue, our waiter was very good and recommended a beer I had never had before.

First time trying anchovies and everyone did like them. Certainly not anything like the taste that we knew from USA. The calamari was some of the best I've ever had. The seafood spaghetti was wonderful, the gnocchi with shrimps was ok (very few shrimp).

Overall food was very good, just a little slow to arrive. But hey, patio table right in the middle of...

I was harassed by a bunch of staff today. And the only reason was that I told one of the ladies she wasn't even Italian. And so? Whichever nationality, she had to be polite. They told us to get out because we "only" wanted coffee, we asked please for the bathroom and that we would pay for it but were rudely told no. Then, when I stated that, as Italians living abroad, we thought that foreigners would really think poorly of Italians, we were scolded. That's when I told the lady she did not even seem to be Italian. The husband, a weird looking fellow, tried to attack my son and I in the street and was held back by two other people. The worst experience in Liguria in a long time and frankly ,my worst experience in Italy. The restaurant should be closed down, the person in question fired and I am thinking of pressing charges if the person...