Il Baretto

It always has a really buzzy atmosphere. The food is good but like the wine list above normally pricey!!

One of my favourite local restaurants and my go-to Italian. I believe Il Baretto to be underrated.The food is very well-presented and consistently delicious while not being pretentious and overpriced. Perfect for a quick weekday lunch or a long evening meal.

My favourite things on the menu are:

Starters:
Burrata with Parma Ham (£15.50)
Yellowfin Tuna Tartare (£10.50)

Mains:
Linguine with lobster (£19.50) in a tomato, sweet chili, garlic & white wine sauce
Chicken Paillard (£14.50)
Burrata Pizza (£17 – which sounds like a lot for a pizza but it is out of this world) with fresh burrata, tomato & fresh cherry tomatoes

One downfall of Il Baretto is the staff. Getting an attentive and knowledgeable waiter is quite rare however I don't believe this to be a huge problem and the quality of the food makes one forget about the poor service. At least the kitchen staff know what they're doing!

A great disappointment. Overproced for mediocre standard of food which arrived on cold plates. Bill arrived and table cleared without being asked for. ''''We have people waiting'' was the poorly delivered explanation.. Obe to avoid

We were recommended Il Baretto by a friend, but unfortunately after reading some of the reviews online I was a little apprehensive. Anyway we decided to go along anyway. We ended up having a great evening. The food was uncomplicated yet fantastic. I will definitely be going back.

I have now tried the resturant 3 times. Each time the service was awful. The manager and assistant manager are the most rude individuals that i have ever met. How do they think they can get away with such poor service. Its too bad. I hope the owner reads the other reviews as well and sees a common theme. Thats the last time i will go.

Food is not bad. Unfortunately the place is too popular —- even on a week night —- and the staff have a terrible attitude. So expect to wait 45 minutes after the time of your reservation before you can sit down, and don't expect the staff to be sympathetic.

wine list is short and a bit overpriced,but no complaints qualitywise
menu has quite a lot to offer and food quality is good,nice presentation as well
nb:ask for bread if you really need it
no complaints about service,actually maybe even too many waiters around
worth trying,only if you are short enough,as tables are very low

Nowhere near as good as its sister restaurants, SG london

First things first – if you not only appreciate good food for your money but also good service – do not eat at this restaurant. I have never received such offensive, rude patronising service from a manager as I did last night. I pride myself on enjoying good food and good service. So when an offer came to have dinner at Il Baretto on Blandford Street last night – I jumped at the chance. I checked the menu online beforehand and couldn’t wait to sample what they had on offer. Things started off fantastically – the atmosphere was wonderful and the menu looked so appealing that we all struggled to choose just one starter and main course. But the first couple of slip ups started occurring with the service. The waitress – as shy and sweet as she seemed kept forgetting drinks orders, dropping cutlery on members of our party and completely forgot to bring our white wine over from the ice bucket. But the starters came and redeemed the slight lapse in service as they were all delicious.

But the deciding point in the evening came with the main course. I had ordered the sirloin steak with rocket and parmesan and asked for it medium. It turned up and looked delicious – but one bite proved that not only was this dish not medium, it wasn’t even well done, a more apt description would be ‘leather on a plate’. But still, these things happen in a busy kitchen so no grudges held, I merely showed the waitress, pointed out that I had ordered my meat medium and awaited my new, correctly cooked main course as the first attempt was simple inedible (and as it cost £22 – one would expect a lot more). Whilst waiting for the new attempt, the manager came over – one would assume to apologise – but no, to patronise. He came and said to me “you want the next dish medium rare then” implying that I had ordered incorrectly and sent back a medium steak because I wanted something different to what I had ordered. I responded that I was quite happy with it medium but the previous dish was so overcooked it was inedible. He then said it was my fault for taking too long to eat the dish as, as it is served in a hot pan, it carries on cooking until eaten. But surely if you order a medium steak, it should be presented to you medium and the fact that it carries on cooking on the plate should be factored into the cooking time. At a time when most staff would be apologetic he resorted to an accusatory, patronising manner that was both rude and offensive . One very big mark against them.

Twenty five minutes after I sent the first dish back, when all the rest of my party had finished their dishes and started to fall asleep, my dish still hadn’t arrived – bear in mind I was waiting on a medium steak – not a slow cooked meal. It got to the point that I said to my waiter that they should just cancel my dish as I had lost my appetite. But he then turned up with the dish apologising for the delay, I then said to the apologetic waiter that this had got ridiculous how long I had had to wait – he whimpered off. Then 30 seconds later – the same manager from before marched up to our table, saying “she said what” out loud as he stomped towards me. I responded saying this was ridiculous how long I had waited. He said they were busy and it is standard to wait twenty minutes for a main course – that may be the case on the first attempt but not when they crucified their first attempt at your dish. I pointed out that it wasn’t my fault the dish had to be redone, it was theirs and cooking it should have been a priority and that the waiter said there had been problems in the kitchen– a point which he refuted. So not only had he been patronising, then the service had been painfully slow, but then he refused to even apologise for the delay. But to add insult to injury and just to bolster his ego he throws in, in once again, an extremely patronising tone –“You had better start eating this one quickly before it ends up too well cooked for you”. I cannot even begin to explain how offensively he was acting towards me when he should have been apologetic.

So as soon as the dish came we asked for the bill – which of course, had service included. So in summary what can I say about this place? The food – very nice Italian food, the atmosphere – lively and fun, the staff and service – abysmal. And for that reason I could not recommend this restaurant to anyone and would firmly encourage you to take your custom elsewhere. Had the manager been graceful and apologetic for what was obviously his restaurant’s fault – I would be the first to recommend the food here (aside from the steak!) but service that poor, accusatory and offensive cannot be ignored – the service at Pizza Express is more gracious and polite and a Pizza Express bill doesn’t come to over £200!

There are a lot articles on Il Baretto – sister of Zuma, Roka and La Petite Maison. This place just is not the same as the others. This does not mean that it is not good, it just ain't the same.

The basement is downstairs – that is usually where you find these things. It has been improved after the recent revamp and is a little more airy than before. The bar upstairs is small but you can quite happily have a drink and a bowl of pasta.

I have eaten here quite a few times and have even hired the whole restaurant for a party. Whether this means I have had different service to other reviewers, I don't know. Agreed the service can be awkward and sometimes stilted and they need to work on it. However previous reviews of Mineral water being filled with tap water are just a little overblown.

As far as I can see they are trying to bring a little bit of London charm to a traditional Italian Trattoria. They may have fallen a little below the mark with the service but so far they have always produced on the food.

The sharing starters are always good – carpaccio, vitello tonnata, thinly slice porchetta all as they should be. The calamari and zuccthini fritti were crispy, salty and hot and are my fave.

Pizzas are big and good, the pizza oven from the previous incarnation has been painted and always turns out a crispy base. They may possibly be a little pricey.

The mains are again a tad expansive, but they are big. The paillards are big enough for two people, which when reconciled at the end of the meal does make the mains cheaper that pizza express!

Puddings are outstanding, the new pastry chef really knows her stuff.

The wines are mainly good italian, some are a bit on the high side again but they cost that at most places.

I will keep going back.