Baaria - Italian Café, Wine and Cocktail Bar — Restaurant in London

UPDATE: How profoundly telling that you’ve chosen to abandon any defence of your own practices altogether, and have instead resorted to scrutinising the profile of a dissatisfied customer. This shift from the substance of the complaint to an “ad hominem” diversion is, while transparent, rather unimpressive for a business claiming thirty years of experience.

The number of reviews I have left, or their subject matter, is entirely irrelevant to the simple fact that [on this visit, at your establishment, your policy was applied inconsistently.] That is the beginning and the end of the matter. A reputable business would reflect on that specific point, not attempt to deflect by investigating its critics.

Your invitation for the public to “make their own judgement” is one I wholeheartedly endorse. Let them judge a restaurant that, when faced with a critique of its service, responds not with professionalism but with a petulant deep-dive into a customer’s Google history. Let them judge which carries more weight: a detailed account of a specific experience, or a weak attempt to discredit the person relating it.

You conclude with “Peace and Love”. A charming sentiment, though it rings rather hollow when preceded by a passive-aggressive personal dig. True peace comes from practising consistency and respect. Until you learn that, no amount of emojis will compensate.

Yours, with diminishing interest in your continued evasions, Ling Cai （Hope you can at least type the name right:) )

UPDATE: It is with a measure of amusement and no small degree of astonishment that I read your… “creative”, if somewhat circuitous, reply to my feedback. While I appreciate the theatrical flourish of your response—and the deployment of algorithmic assistance in its drafting—I feel compelled to address several points with rather more clarity and rather less condescension.

You assert, with some vigour, that your policy of requesting prepayment for outdoor seating is applied uniformly—a claim I find curiously at odds with my own observation. For whilst my companion and I were instructed to settle the bill prior to processing our order, other patrons seated alfresco were evidently permitted to dine first and pay thereafter. Perhaps your “transparent” policy is applied with a certain… flexibility. Or perhaps, as remains my firm belief, its enforcement is regrettably selective.

To be clear: the issue is not the policy itself, but its inconsistent application. To imply that our objection stems from a misunderstanding—or, as you so archly suggest, a desire for “sensationalism”—is to wilfully evade the substance of the critique. Discrimination is rarely proclaimed with a fanfare; it is often felt in the quiet exception to the rule.

Your further attempts to deflect by extolling the virtues of your pistachio croissant and the warmth of your staff—however charming your staff may be—strike a note of profound irrelevance. That you chose to answer a claim of differential treatment with a soliloquy on other customer's review and coffee quality suggests either a startling lack of discernment or a deliberate strategy of obfuscation.

Lastly, the tone of jocular sarcasm and theatrical grievance adopted in your reply does little to enhance the reputation of an establishment that professes to value “Italian warmth” and professional courtesy. One might have expected a more measured response—rather than a performance so ripe with mock surprise and performative exasperation.

Good taste extends beyond the palate—to manners, to equity, and to the graceful acceptance of critique.

—————— Previous review —————— Bad experience as we were the only guests to check the bill right after ordering. We are sitting in. Racial discrimination....

UPDATE: Honestly it is quite shocking the reply. I have not offended anyone. I am Italian and still able to recognise Italian proper food from something that of Italian has got just the name, I mean Italian people, and particular from Sicily, can judge themselves if the ones in the video looks like a real arancini.

Apart from food, if I have received an awful service the staff should realise themselves what’s gone wrong instead of getting “offended”. If I am a customer and I visit a place where the food hasn’t great quality and the service offered to me was awful, it is more than fair I share this, that’s way this platform exists.

I use the platform to share my experience, I do this for free, and I do share genuinely what has been my experience.

I would suggest that instead of getting “offended”, when I should be the one offended as I paid for not great food and a bad service, to understand what you can improve or what has gone wrong in this occasion. Hence I find such a reply quite shocking, but in somehow, not surprised as I do find that your reply aligned with the bad service received in the restaurant.

Was expecting a proper italian place, instead is just a touristy restaurant pretending to be a proper italian restaurant/cafe.

The restaurant itself is nice, but it is pretty much the only positive thing.

The food and drinks were quite disappointing, really bland and not a proper italian/sicilian food.

The service was ever worse, we did order 3 aperol spritz and few nibbles and the arancine, they brought the first plate and said that the drinks were coming, the brought the second plate and again no drinks and they said they were coming. We started to eat and no drinks, when the food was nearly finished on the table I had to remind them the drinks. Then I was ready to eat my arancina and once I had the first bite I have realised they brought the wrong one.

The staff did change it and removed from the bill, however after a whole disappointing experience I did request the bill as I only wanted to leave.

When they come up with the bill they said that the bill had the service charge but if I wanted they could remove it.

If you are offering a awful service to a table would be common sense/good customer service remove the service charge without even asking.

I won’t come back and definitely won’t...

Updated reply: Yes, really. I'm sorry to disappoint but since I bought something from you, I believe I'm more than entitled to leave a review. If you're not happy with that, it's not my fault or my problem. I'm sharing my experience for other people to know. If you give me something for free, then feel free to complain. Until then, learn to listen to feedback.

Too good to go is not meant to be food from the previous day, it's meant to be as fresh as it can be. Ask around and see that most shops are offering leftover food from the same day, NOT the day before. Furthermore, as I said you're charging 7 pounds for bakery kind of food that most shops normally charge 3-4 pounds for. And it tastes terrible, most likely due to it not being fresh. Sorry but I really have no interest in coming back, especially seeing that you're fairly reluctant to take my criticism seriously.

Original review: This is one of the worst Too Good To Go experiences I've had, and I'm writing this here since the app doesn't allow for more specific and detailed feedback. 7 pounds is an exorbitant price for too good to go in general, but it's also way too high for both the amount and the quality of the food you're offering. First of all, the cold pizza was unacceptably horrible. At least reheat it or something before you give it away. Then it was two arancines, clearly not fresh, whose crust outside was almost impossible to eat because of how dry and and hard it had become, and two bland pains of chocolat, which you can literally get in any supermarket for less than a pound, and they'll most likely be fresher. At the very least if you're going to be charging this much, at least mention in the description the kind of food you're giving away. If I knew it include pizza I would not have booked it in the first place. I know leftover food may vary by day, but at least include the potentials. Never going back there again. So many way better options on the TGTG app, for literally half the price...