Barano — Restaurant in New York

Wanted to try this place since it opened a few months ago in the South Williamsburg neighbourhood where I live. The atmosphere is nice and it's a really nice setting - that gets it the extra star. Unfortunately, everything else is pretty dire: the food - our party of four ordered a pesto pasta dish, an octupus pasta and assorted starters. In all three cases the food was seriously average and certainly not worth $20 a dish. The octopus in particularly tasted like a tinned tomato and frozen calamari that you could get for about $5. As other people have said, with some of the other food they were trying adventurous stuff and using lots of abstruse Italian words on the menu to justify charging more for the dishes. (incidentally, truffle pasta for $70 anyone? It costs half to a quarter of that all over town). The service was even worse. We got as waitor some guy who looks like Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics. He looked surly all night until we were about to leave when he of course suddenly became fawning. When he brought that bill, we thought we had been overcharged. To be precise - the menu was poorly written: it says "Antipasto tasting - Mozzarella + Salume + Verdure 25, with Mangalica +5". This apparently means that you can SUBSTITUTE the salume for the mangalica by paying $5 more. This was very unclear and we explained this but Kelly Jones insisted that he had explained this and that we were too dim to understand. His manner was very rude and abrasive. Service - bad; food - bad. Why...

Barano was on my must-try list for literally years! Went for dinner on a Saturday night. Staff was super accommodating with reservations and seating. Unpretentious and genuinely polite.

The atmosphere was perfect for a winter night: cozy, warm, romantic, beautiful lighting. The restaurant was busy and happenin', but the design makes it so each party has their own space and privacy. The interiors are beautiful.

The food was very good. We ordered: Appetizers: bone marrow gnocchi - this was divine! So rich and flavorful and the portion was perfect for sharing for 2 people. Meaballs: Also delicious, comes with sauce and a pizza dough bread stick. this is a very hearty appetizer, very good value

Main courses: Saffron Gigli: This was delicious and unique. Surprising at first because you don't expect the honey, but as the dish sits for a couple of minutes, the cheese, honey and saffron blend together to make a rich, unique and satisfying flavor. Denver Steak: Cooked perfectly! Amazing flavor, great sides & sauce.

Drinks: We ordered two glasses of Orange wine (the sommelier was so great about familiarizing us with all the details and sampling two for us). It was a very nice complement to our meal. I also ordered a cocktail called "30 seconds flat". It was a little bit strong for me, but that is less a judgement on the drink and more about me being a lightweight! :)

All in all we were 100% satisfied with our food, the service and the whole experience in general. Will...

We went to eat at 4:27 pm on March 5th 2021. The place was empty and just us 2 people were there (us) A lady attended us and she was friendly and respectful. When we sat down another waiter (male) came and gave us the menus, however while he was taking our order he was organizing the wines, he did even not look at us and he was about 7 feet away from us, he was turning his back on us. We were the only ones in the restaurant but, that waiter did not have a second to look at us and give a good communication to the customer? They gave us drinks and fast food, it was very delicious, we love pizza and pasta there, but while we ate the waiter did not come to ask us what else we need or if everything is okay? None of them came to check if our glass of wine and water was empty. Even when paying the bill, I had to stop eating, stand up and go to the waiter to tell him that we are done and we want the receipt to pay. Barano is a good place to eat however the workers at that place seem to not care when there are 2 people in the restaurant I imagine when the place is busy, so careless. The owner or manager should keep checking and observing how the staff are doing their work. I decided to pack our pizza instead of wasting one more minute...