La Baracca — Restaurant in Zurich

Executive summary: Delicious Italian food in a cosy environment. At times very busy and perhaps a little overpriced, yet the hospitality and food remain great!

Long review: I'm Italian, and when in Zurich someone invites me for "a great italian restaurant, you should try it" I'm obviously always skeptikal. Not to sound extra picky, but Italians out there you know what I mean, don't you? However, this time around the reccommendation came from an italian friend, whom when it comes to food, I trust quite a lot. So I decided to give it a try.

First impression: "ARE YOU CRAZY? This place is too small, to packed, too hot and too loud, get me out of here!!!". As the restaurant is seriously small, a lot of people keep coming and the waiters have a hard time walking through tables.

But I was there already, wasn't I? And the fact that people kept coming in and were happy to wait standing for over 40 minutes for a table made me think maybe there was something more to it I could not know (oh yes, have I mentioned you will never get seated unless you have a booking? make sure you do!).

We sat down and given a hand written menu with all specials, mains and another one for an infinite list of wines by glass or bottle. The food that kept coming to other tables looked amazing, so we decided to order!

Starter: mixed ham, salame, olives, cheese and veggies. Best burrata I had in Zurich since arriving 5 months ago. Very happy with that shared platter. We also ordered spritz and it was really well made.

Main: I ordered tagliatelle with Mushrooms, cheese and truffle. DIVINE. The pasta was freshly made, was cooked just nice (I do not like "al dente" so I was even happier when I noticed the pasta was just over al dente) and the sauce was really creamy and tasty. The portion was quite big, I did not manage to finish it all but I did have quite some bread with the starters.

My friends ordered all pasta, we have 5 different types at the table: one with seafood, another with meat based sauce. I cannot recall the names, but I tasted them all and it was very good.

We were offered Limoncello, as my friend is a "regular" and the waiters kept switching in Italian with us which was very nice. Also, the cook came out to say hi and ask how the food was - nice touch!

We were too full for dessert, but the tiramisu looked great!

Overall conclusion: Absilutely good italian food, if you can deal with a little caos, a quite "slow" service and a some heat, this place is with no shadow of a...

The best and easiest way to sum up this place: An authentic Italian kitchen on your doorstep! The moment you walk into the restaurant, it feels like arriving at a family home. The welcome is casual yet very warm and sincere. The decor is rustic with big bottles of wine showcased along the entire window and the walls covered with quirky Italian jokes. The restaurant is pretty small, with the tables organised closely together, but again this is just a reflection of the family feeling. At first it can be strange, but you get past that pretty fast and enjoy the unique and very Italian like atmosphere. The restaurant can get pretty warm with the crowd and the kitchen, so wear something light and comfortable and reserve your table in advance.

The menu is hand written and you won’t be lost for choice. I’m still working my way through the menu having visited more than 5 times. Every dish seems to just taste better than the last, so like me you’ll find yourself addicted very quickly and soon it will become yours and your friend’s go to spot! The portion sizes are great, but the taste is even better and yet incredible value for money. The wine selection is just ideal and the deserts are just to die for!...

Our gathering with friends was at this randomly chosen restaurant. It was our first time hence we wanted to try it. The restaurant is nicely decorated and has quite many seats. It also offers outside seating. We only chose to sit outside for a drink but had our meal inside. The staff is friendly and quite fast in serving the orders. But I could literally feel how stressed they were due to the full house which is not very pleasant of course when you wanted to have a calm after work dinner with friends. The food was okay. I could not tell what dressing the salad had but it was not a classic Italian dressing. Unfortunately I did not like it that much. The cheese and salami platter was nicely decorated and the items tasted good. Also the pizza that I had was tasty but unfortunately the knives were not cutting well. Maybe they need to be renewed. Later that evening there was a live music singer who sang the classic famous Italian songs from the 80 and 90 which was fun but that was also the moment when we decided to move on to a more quiet location. All in all it was an...