Bar Picar — Restaurant in Rotterdam

New review (4,0 stars) ⬇️

Vegitalian has recently rebranded to Bar Picar. Stopped by during their Opening Week to try their new menu. Was a little disappointed to see that some of the dishes from their pre-opening menu, like the tuna tataki w/ smashed burrata and fritto misto, were no longer available. Instead, they had been replaced by the tuna tartar w/ stracciatella and calamari.

Ordered the following: steak chimichurri pulpo (grilled octopus) roasted artichoke cerviche calamari (fried squid rings)

The steak was very tasty. Thinly sliced. Reddish-pink inside. Served with a generous amount of chimichurri. It could have used more salt and pepper, but there are shakers on the table.

The artichoke was tasty. But, drenched in chili oil. Delicious, but a bit too oily for my taste.

The pulpo was very tasty. But, my dinner date found it slightly overcooked.

The cerviche was not very tasty. Cerviche is usually sour because it is prepared with lemon/lime/other citrusfruit juice. But, their cerviche was made with prickly pear and watermelon, which gave it a sweet taste that did not pair so well with the seabass.

The calamari was decent, but it arrived lukeawarm (after a long wait) which affected the taste and texture.

Service was fine. Some of the servers were very friendly and attentive.

New review (4,0 stars) ⬇️

Stopped by for the panuozzo caprese. It was very tasty and unlike last time (when we were struggling with the blunt knives) it was served with a pizza cutter! It made eating the sandwich so much easier and less messy. The food was very tasty. We also ordered two latte macchiatos and they were not great.

Old review (4,0 stars) ⬇️

An aesthetically pleasing restaurant.

Possibly understaffed. Staff worked hard, but ordering drinks / being served drinks took a very long time. We first ordered drinks and then food and our drinks were served when we had already eaten most of our food.

Not sure if they serve regular soft drinks (like Coca Cola). They do have juice and kombucha. The kombucha was very tasty. The juice tasted strongly of beetroot / it had an earthy flavour.

We ordered the burrata served on top of grilled asparagus. It was served with grilled sourdough bread. The ingredients were good, but I thought it missed some flavour. We also ordered the Neapolitan sandwich with mozzarella and pistachio. The sandwich was not filled very well. There was not enough mozzarella / only mozzarella in the middle of the sandwich. (Side note - it was quite difficult to cut the sandwich because the knives were so blunt.)

Our favourite dish was the pistachio tiramisu. We thought it was delicious and we would definitely come back for another serving. The iced latte with coconut milk was also a big hit.

The bathroom was clean. They have gender neutral toilets. They also have urinals, which are positioned awkwardly. They are the first thing you see when you walk into...

(Message below is edited) The vegan/vegetarian menu was very underwhelming. We felt that the value proposition was unfavorable, especially for the meat-free dishes. On our first visit, service was impatient and stressed, snatching the menu out of my hands before I finished ordering. It was shortly after Bar Picar first opened so naturally the new menu might have been challenging for our server.

While I cant speak for the non-vegetarian menu, I would as it stands absolutely not recommend Bar Picar to those looking for a meat-free restaurant option.

EDIT* As offered by the restaurant, we returned to give the vegetarian menu another shot. We have to say we were very pleasantly surprised with all the improvements in quality and service since our last visit, 3 weeks ago. The place was packed and the atmosphere was lively - the dimmed lights made for an intimate dinner setting. Our servers were friendly and attentive; clearly they had gotten more comfortable with the menu and service flow. We chose other dishes than our first visit; what particularly stood out was the delicious asparagus and mushroom dish and also the (seemingly handmade) gnocchi - they were really phenomenal. We really appreciate the restaurant listening to our concerns and clearly taking our feedback to heart. Our main points of critique were addressed and make us as customers feel heard. We do recommend this lovely place for some nice drink options and some small bites to share - even the...

I was excited to have a Vegitalian in Rotterdam, after seeing all their photos on their socials I could not wait. However, I came to realize that the Vegitalian is not for me.

My colleagues and I went over to try multiple dishes. We wanted to give everything a try so we had the Caesar Salad, their pasta with yellow bell pepper sauce and three different pizzettes (all vegan). We had a little bit of an awkward start with our drinks, first they brought out the wrong beer and afterwards they forget one of us, I was glad that they were quick to fix this.

After waiting a little our table was filled with food and it was time for us to dig in. Looks did however deceive me. The Caesar was drenched in a “cheesy” sauce that made it hard to enjoy the different ingredients which was a shame. Regarding the pizzettes I felt let down on the vegan cheese they had on their pizza. If you call yourself the Vegitalian at least have a quality cheese alternative instead of the same sticky substance they have at Dominos or New Yorker. Especially if you’re paying approx. 10,- for half a pizza. Their pepperoni pizza was visually appeasing but lacked any real flavor and the puttanesca felt like an margeritha with some veggies thrown atop.

The highlight in my opinion was their shareable Eggplant Ravioli with vegan nduja. Although the ravioli could’ve used more eggplant filling.

All with all, a bit...