Barbaro — Restaurant in Town of Washington

It pains me to write a bad review bc I love the sister restaurant Market St, but my family had such an unpleasant dining experience at Barbaro I was shocked at the difference between the two places. Immediately walking in (5:45) hostess/manager gave us an attitude and instead of a pleasant greeting was clearly irritated we didn’t have a reservation and stated “I need the table back at 7:30.” Ok fine, no problem- our waitress who was very pleasant took our order of 2 meatball appetizers, 3 pizzas and buttered noodles. Very straightforward, and when she asked, I told her to bring the kids food as soon as it was ready. We waited quite a while for the meatballs (6 for 5 people) but they came and were eaten quickly as we were starving. We would be waiting for an hour and 15 minutes for our pizzas and buttered noodles! As we waited we got the waitresses attention multiple times as she was clearly avoiding our table since she would make eye contact and then duck into the kitchen, never checked on us or refilled our drinks. We heard other tables complaining too as the wrong items were brought to them and they complained about wait times as other tables who arrived after us, receive their food and eat and leave!! We overheard different excuses such as the pizza oven was broken (but then why not tell us that and at least bring the buttered noodles to appease the hungry kid??) but we were told the delay was due to a new hire in the kitchen. I’ve worked in the service industry and am very understanding but this was ridiculous, no communication at all, no empathy. We didn’t get our food until 7:15 and then were stressed that they wanted us gone by 7:30. There was no bringing us some bread as we waited, telling us to stay and take our time, taking off an appetizer or an offer of a dessert on the house, nothing! The pizzas were lackluster and the one with sausage had not one spice or herb on it. Tasted like a frozen Newman's pizza. Extremely disappointing overall experience,...

My friend and I have been coming to Barbaro every time we’re nearby visiting the historic homes in Hyde Park. Service is excellent and they were able to accommodate all of my friend’s dietary preferences. It is one of the only restaurants that we feel comfortable eating inside since there is a table in the back that is quite distanced from all of the other diners.

I was fortunate enough to visit on Chicken Parmigian night. Chicken was cooked perfectly and was tender and juicy. Portion was generous and I was able to make two meals out of it. On the other occasions that I visited here I got a fish special and the burrata ravioli. The skin of the ravioli was super fresh. The filling was smooth and flavorful. The oil carried the basil flavors well.

The cocktails here were above average. The coffee blvd was the most unique one. It is a twist on a traditional Negroni cocktail. The addition of some coffee infused Campari combined with the herbal notes of the vermouth made a unique bitter flavor that I found to be more appetizing than that of a traditional Negroni. Mr. Brightside was an excellent choice for a summer night. The elderflower and citrus combination was quite refreshing and went well with the fish special. Witchmaker was a light version of a whiskey sour with some ginger. It’s good for someone who wants to start on whiskey cocktails since the whiskey was lighter compared to others I’ve had.

The dessert I gravitate towards is the coconut sorbet. It was packed with coconut flavor and had a smooth texture with a few bits of shaved coconut folded in.

Looking forward to my next meal here when I’m...

We arrived about 75 minutes before closing. There were about half the tables full. We were asked if we had a reservation, which we did not. The hosted then did not say anything and proceeded to take menus to a table, which she tossed the menus onto and then walked away. It was an unpleasant start, but we were not deterred; however, we should've left there.

The menu is hard to read. Each item is 1-2 lines of ingredients and price. It is not extensive, which was not a problem for us; but, the layout of the menu was unpleasant.

The music in the restaurant was very loud, and it was hard to hear the person seated next to us, nonetheless across the table.

The servers avoided eye contact when we were looking for someone to order from. The bread and butter was $6 for 4 small pieces of bread and very yellow-colored (not fresh) olive pil. Our meals were fine. Nothing special nor poor to report on. Dessert, however, terrible. The $7 sorbet was one (small) scoop. The server appeared irritated when we asked about the serving size compared to the price. The tiramisu was a soggy mess. It was as if someone plated the tiramisu and then added water to the bowl/plate/blate it was served on. The servers were not phased by our disappointment.

We had about 4 or 5 different servers throughout our 60-ish minute meal. They were all below average in quality of service, friendliness, attention to detail.

Additionally, there were not doors marked as restrooms or signage anywhere. The staff again was not approachable to ask.

I trust Millbrook has many other dining options to explore and experience...