As other reviews have mentioned, this menu is set up for traditional Italian dining, with antipasto, primo (usually pasta) and secundi (usually meat) courses. We elected to do just an appetizer, pasta as our entree, and a side to share. Our server was knowledgeable and attentive, providing helpful suggestions and recommendations without being overbesting. The food was absolutely delicious with generous but reasonable portion sizes. Looking forward to coming back! read more

Exceptional food and the only really good cheese selection in Memphis! Brilliant and personal service. Cost is high but very worth it!

Delicious. They typically have menu items like Chilean sea bass. Menu changes frequently but there's always something new of quality and excellence. Wine list is fantastic and our last server was exceedingly helpful in pairing a wine with the meal. We typically only go on special occasions as it is pricey yet totally worth the expense. read more

It's rather expensive mediocrity. If you wanna pay nearly $30 for a slab of pork chop that's...been *salted* this is your place. It's fine. Just not something I'll come to that often. read more

My wife and I ate here Friday night for our wedding anniv. I had read the yelp reviews and was a little concerned about the ordering process and reports of over priced meals. I agreed with one review that said if you order salad, pasta, des., etc. that it doesn't have to be ridiculous. You could go in and have a beer and the orzo pasta with crab meat and get out of there for $15-$20 if you wanted to. Anyway, we ordered the Olives as an app. I would have tried some of the extensive cheese menu but I'm not a huge eater and you could easily stuff yourself here. The olives were OK but I wouldn't get again. The salads were delicious. When we ordered, I was surprised that the waitress actually recommended that we split an order of the Orzo w/ Crab Meat and one of the specials - A Rib-eye that was awesome! I would not have thought to split it but she said it was a lot of food. I'm sure some nice places would scoff at someone splitting a meal. Heck, I'm a little bit of a snob and I wouldn't have done it but she really thought we would have too much food otherwise. It was perfect. We had a delicious desert to finish the meal. I would definitely go back. If (when) we go back, I'm definitely getting the orzo/crab again and I just pray that they have the rib-eye. read more

I have always enjoyed Bari, but walked in tonight with 5 people. There were 2 tables taken in the entire restaurant and we asked to be seated. They said since we didn't have a reservation that they couldn't seat us until 8:30 because they had a 6 top due any minute. Lesson learned. Make a reservation no matter what. Sorry that Bari couldn't handle 4 tables. We're down the street at a packed restaurant and sat and were served right away. read more

I was taken here on a date. We had wine, cheese, olives and a pasta dish each. I don't know that I would chose this place on my own based on the cost, but the food was definitely delicious and flavorful. My date was vegetarian, and they did have plenty of things to suit his eating habits as well. Scoping out the other diners portions, they did look rather tiny, but I seemed to feel full enough. The ambiance is very nice. read more

This restaurant is new and part of the newly resurrected Overton Square area. It is comfortable, and a nice place for dinner. You walk into the bar and there are dining areas in the other two rooms. You must order everything at once. It's a rule on the menu. Therefore, you cannot order appetizers while you make up your mind. The portions are intentionally small, and so you can experiment with more than one dish. There are two restrooms, although the one in the restaurant side was hard to find in such a small place. read more

So disappointing. Went there for birthday dinner. Waitperson rude and curt, food mediocre and over priced. Never again.

So far, Bari is my favorite restuarant in Memphis. The wife took me here on my birthday. I had heard it was expensive and wanted to wait until it was a special occasion before I went. To be honest, I didn't feel like the prices were too high. The food was fantastic. The service was great. I highly reccomend this place. read more

Good stuff stick.with the pastas you can't go wrong. Nice place to take someone special

Bari Friday night was fabulous. Three of us, reservations and seated immediately by interesting waterfall tower. Intimate seating, smallish but ample room. Had halibut that was perfectly crusted. Ribeye w goat cheese - delish. Sea bass w oranges was special and perfect. Oysters were wonderful appetizer. Nice wine selection. Waiter - Mark - personable and patient. Visiting from VA and will return to Bari and will make time for cocktail at cozy bar and definitely partake of cheese selections! read more

Just the best "traditional" Italian place in town. If you want spaghetti and meatballs, don't come here as you won't appreciate the menu! Great food and the service is spot on! read more

I think this restaurant is a gem in midtown, but I made the mistake of ordering the wrong type of food... I went with a group of guys (business dinner), and we went the red-wine-and-red-meat route. The ribeye was kind of fatty & overcooked, though the Sangiovese was outstanding. I SHOULD have gone with a cheese appetizer and a fish entree, as I realize now that this is their real forte. I will be back (with my wife) to test out this theory very soon! read more

So I heard wonderful things about Bari, but I've been around enough to take things with a grain of salt. A friend and I went and split a cheese course, the mussels, and the whole cornmeal fried snapper. Let's start from the beginning. We sat right away, though it took about 10 minutes to bring water glasses over. I'm sorry but as a former restaurant worker that's not acceptable.. especially for these prices. I digress... So we picked an arrangement of cheeses. 4 or 5 as I recall. There was nothing particularly wrong with them but we had run out of bread midway through and couldn't get more... I'm now beginning to really doubt the service... The portions of cheese were also a bit meager for the cost.. People seem to forget that we are in Memphis and typically 5-type cheese plates in new york city barely cost 40 dollars... I'm not a stickler for price, but it just seemed like they could have tried a bit harder or I could just go to Whole Foods. The mussels came out. A nice size portion. Tasty with a kick. Definite redeemer. Then came the snapper. It looked Gorgeous... but as soon as I tore into it, you could tell that it wasn't done. Like not that bordering on underdone... it was about 1/4 raw.. Now I'm fine with raw snapper and I had been waiting long enough so my friend ate most of the cooked parts while I devoured the rest. When i mentioned it to the waitress, she didn't even acknowledge it or feign a "oh! I'll be certain to let the kitchen know." Nearly 3 hours later and not really satisfied, we left... I guess for the hype, I expected better. For the cost I expected better. I'll be choosing somewhere else in the future. Sorry guys. read more

Yum and yum! The food was great, the atmosphere was nice and intimate and the service was great too. A few small negatives. There's only one unisex bathroom that smells like a litter box and the table they sat us at was in the walkway where we were constantly distracted by foot traffic and kitchen noise. We managed to keep the bill relatively low because we just got apps and pasta, dessert and wine were delicious. It's a great place for a couple or just a small group. I love how the bar and restaurant are split and have a different ambiance, as well. read more

Overall a very nice place with a quaint atmosphere. The most enjoyable parts of the meal were the starter (fried zucchini and goat cheese) and the pasta dishes (orzo and rigatoni). While both the entrees were good, the portion on the halibut was rather small for the a la carte price. I would also say the shrimp entree is not for the faint of stomach as the prawns, while huge & delicious, are served in the shell (complete with heads). The next time we go, I think the plan of attack will be 2 starters, salads, and then a sampling of 3-4 pastas. read more

I love this restaurant! Authentic, beautifully done food in a small intimate atmosphere. My personal favorites include the carbonara and the latuga salad. The cheese and wine list is fantastic as is the service! I recommend this restaurant for sophisticated palates as this is southeast Italian/mediteranian cuisine. Not for those who want some spaghetti and meatballs- this ain't olive garden! read more

This is my favorite restaurant in Memphis. The food is always reliable and perfect. They make small pasta disches so that you can also eat a main dish or appetizer and dessert. The fish is incredible!!!! Like actually eating in Italy. The wine list contains some quirky Italian varietals so you may get challenged a bit, but the waitstaff are always knowledgable, friendly and cute! read more

We loved our time at Bari. The atmosphere was terrific the food was good and the waiter was fantastic. Ask for Mark!

One of our favorite restaurants to go to, never have had a bad experience. We always order a cheese plate first, and let the server pick the three cheeses. I've read some reviews that say you have to order all at once, but this confuses me, as we've never had this happen to us. The pastas are filling enough for a meal, and that's what I usually go with. read more

This place is very deceiving from the outside we almost kept on driving past but took an opportunity to go inside. when you step into the bar you again might wonder if you should turn around but as you move to the back where the restaurant tables are you find a different setting. The food was fabulous let me say again the food was fabulous the wine was outstanding the service was extraordinary this is a place I will be back to many times. If you're visiting Memphis don't miss an opportunity to go to this great place read more

I've eaten here several times now and the food and service here has been excellent everytime. The restaurant is small and cozy, so I'd recommend getting a reservation. The dining experience is slightly different here because you have to order all of your food at once, although they come out at different times (appetizers first). I consider this restaurant a hidden gem in Memphis. read more

Bari was great. I ordered the red snapper and the portion was a little small. I loved the cheese selection and wine list! The best was the gingerbread gelato dessert. read more

What a breath of fresh air from your typical Italian restaurant. Definitely one of (if not) my favorite restaurant in Memphis. The cuisine is impeccable, drinks never cease to impress and the staff makes you feel like family. read more

I love Bari, probably some of the most authentic Italian food in Memphis (and I have traveled extensively in Italy). However, a few suggestions for the management. a) train the staff: our server was friendly, but issues like leaning over the table to pick up glasses (by the rim) were distracting b) the bread basket: our waiter doled out tiny pieces of bread as if they were slivers of truffles. I ordered the prosciutto, which was delicious and plentiful, but I like eating it with bread, for which I had to repeatedly ask. If it's a cost issue, then, for goodness sakes, charge me a few bucks for a bread basket, I don't care, I just don't want to have to beg for it c) If you want to actually sell your $14 glasses of Vin Santo, you need to offer biscotti to go with it. Standard in any good restaurant in Italy. read more

This is our favorite restaurant for special occasions. Last Monday we celebrated my wife's birthday. It was our 40th consecutive year together as a couple (combined dating/married life). We celebrate our wedding anniversary there every year. We have never had a bad meal or course there. The meal Monday was the best we ever had. The restaurant is small so reservations are highly recommended. We have to drive 30 minutes to get there but is is worth it and driving should not be the reason not to go unless there is snow or ice on the road. Jason and Rebecca have created a hidden jewel and it is word of mouth that gets people there. Fantastic does not do sufficient justice to to the meals you get at Bari. read more

I'm not sure if this is covid related or so something else but last night my girlfriend and I went in and the food was awful. The service was great and the drinks were good but the food was just bad. We ordered 5 dishes, the burratta, the app special which was fried squash blossoms, the spaghetti carbonara, the sardines and the rapini. Of those 5 the only dish that was passable was the carbonara, and it wasn't great. The squash blossoms were over battered and not trimmed properly. They were served on a plate with nothing else, just tempura and squash blossom. The batter was too thick which resulted in uncooked batter on the inside. The only flavor was tempura and salt. The burratta tasted like it was made with sour milk, had a very off-putting flavor. The carbonara tasted ok but was dry. It looked as if it had very little egg in it. The sardines were burnt. The sardines were left on the grill/in the pan too long and they burnt badly. The fish tasted like charcoal. The rapini has sliced garlic in it that was also badly burnt. The only thing that made this not a completely terrible experience was the service and the drinks. Unless they get their stuff together I would recommend going somewhere else. read more

i don't know why this is marked $$. it is way expensive. a few years ago it was excellent . now the service is bad and the food is either overcooked or reheated don't bother to go. read more

we had never been to bari because we heard it was expensive. everything is a la carte. but we found out that you can get full and not have to pay too much. i would recommend the cheese plate. they have a deal where you can pick 3 cheeses for $12 bucks. that is well worth it. the portions were decently sized for 3 people to share. they bring you some bread to pair with that. now if you pick an item from each course, then you will have a extremely high bill at the end of the night. we just stuck to a salad (7 to 8 bucks) and a pasta dish (8 to 9 bucks). if you do that, you can keep it to under $20 a person. the salad i had was the lattuga--grapefruit sections, honey, goat cheese,boston lettuce, hazelnuts- was delicious and fresh. the portion is generous enough but not too large. the pasta offering i had was the orecchiette pasta with rapini. the pasta was a little more al dente that i like but it had a good flavor to the sauce. again, the bowl was adequate in size. (if you are wanting pasta in the size of the macaroni grill, then this size is going to be what you want). my husband had the orzo with crab meat. it was very good. i would have that again. he also tried the special soup they had on the menu with a poached egg in it. it was also pretty good. basically, you can pay the high dollar amount and order everything or you can order a few small plates. but the cheese menu is definitely worth going for. p.s. dear chefs at bari, please put some gelato or panna cotta on your menu. your dessert menu needs more choices. if you need a good panna cotta recipe, i have got one. email.me. read more

We want to like it because it's convenient and we love Italian food. This was visit number five so we've given them every opportunity for success. Granted, we've been to Italy twice in the past three years so our horizons are broad. However, we wanted to visit with a friend before they move away. He is vegetarian and we thought pasta would be good. We immediately ordered a bottle of wine, he ordered olives and I ordered two first courses. We were told we had to order everything all at once because the kitchen was small. WHAT??? So, we sent her away to get the wine. Then we didn't see the server again for quiet some time. There were only two other parties when we arrived at 7PM. We did as she insisted and then when she started bringing the dishes she didn't notice empty glasses of wine or water. We had the oysters and there were only five...who's ever heard of anything other than a half dozen or dozen unless they are priced individually...NO!!! The special braised dandelion greens were so strong we wanted to send them back but the server didn't show up until we were finished. The pasta dishes were good but I can do better at home. We paid and went next door to YoLo for desert. Unfortunately, the owners (also of Three Angel fame, which we hate) just have different ideas of food and service than we. We'll just make pasta, open wine we brought from Italy and stay at home. read more

Not impressed. Having read reviews, I happily reserved at Bari. I found it just a bit pretentious and self-conscious in that way that restaurants become when they get complacent. This business of not being able to bring you anything until you have a full order is absurd. That would keep me from going back even if the food was better. If a chef/owner isn't focused on customer service, they need to be in another business. The result is a meal timed by the staff and not the customer. My martini wasn't even half finished when I was served the first course. Our waiter couldn't tell us where the oysters came from...a fairly important bit of info for oyster lovers. The Bronzino was cooked well but under seasoned, the bistecca simply a poor piece of meat, so full of gristle that much was left on the plate. Our vegetable order was forgotten, and the single half slice of bread seemed to be the extent of bread service. So, pretty mediocre. If this serves for high end in Memphis, the food scene is pretty sad. read more

Beautiful restaurant and fine food. But I stopped going because of the way the owners treated longtime patrons. They couldn't care less.

Having returned to Bari, this place is fabulous. The dishes were delicious and the service was impeccable.

Bari is a place that is supposed to be know for their fine dining experience. Fine dining in my book also means table clots, and then table cloths which are not covered with paper. It confused me, made me looking for the crayons... The waiter was nice, but a little slow. We could not start ordering cheese and the decide per round what we wanted to order, we had to order everything at once. Which is probably fine when you know the place and the seize of their dishes but it was our first time. The cheese were good, and the waiters help here was good too. The oysters were small and buried in pepper, and the carbonara was not the best i ever had. My company had the grilled radicchio salad which tasted liked way too much vinegar, and the jumbo prawns, which were l not properly cleaned, you could taste the intestinal tract was still in there. Not good. The wine was good, the bread tasty although they were not very happy to serve us some more bread, he literally picked the loaf scraps for us from the basked when we asked for some more bread. Buts you need the bread with the cheese, since it doesn't come with "a carrier", confiture, nuts or whatsoever. I expected way more from this place. read more

I've been to this place twice and I've been disappointed twice. Not a masochist, but I figured I would give this place a second chance given their nice selection of cheeses (oh! cheese! that's the only reason I am a vegetarian and couldn't never be a vegan). Anyway, beyond the cheese, this place has nothing great to offer. I ordered their pasta (pasta and fagioli) and the fagioli (a small bean) was not only bland, but under-cooked. Nasty as it can be! Unfortunately I was taking people out for work-related business so I didn't want to complain; otherwise, I would have sent it right back to the kitchen (I have never before felt compelled to send food back, ever!). I just think that when you are spending over $50 a person for a meal that you would walk out satisfied with the food and service, I don't think any of the 5 people that where with me that day really though much of the food. I would say if you must go here. go for the wine and cheese and nothing else. I know the quality of the Italian restaurants in Memphis is mediocre, but this place is far below par to maybe even the Olive Garden (and I just puked a little by writing that down). read more

Amazing dinner. Perfect Italian dinner for adventurous friends. The waitress could not have provided better recommendations.

This was the second time we dined at Bari. The first time, we all really liked it especially the pasta. This time around, not so much.. We order a plate of raw oyster and it was not fresh.. fishy taste. We had two other appetizers and they were okay. The pasta I ordered, Orecchiette Pugliese which is salted by cured anchovies was bland. Couldn't taste the garlic nor the anchovies. The only good thing was the rapini came in the pasta; it was very fresh and done nicely. I got really sick couple hours after the dinner. I vomited twice and I couldn't stop shivering for over an hour. I couldn't move around without feeling nauseous the whole night and the next day. I had food poisoning and my guess was the oyster. The other person who had oyster at the party had a stomach ache while we were still at the restaurant. She was fine after few hours though, she didn't get sic like I did. I gave it 2 stars is because the atmosphere at the restaurant was nice. The hostess was friendly. The server was so-so though.. She never did extra trip to check on us. We had 6 people so there was a 20% gratuity charge which was fine but the waitress didn't care about the service. She was not rude but she was not trying to be nice neither. Will I go back to Bari? probably not. read more

Ate here for the first time this week. Went on a Wednesday night. Not crowded at all. At this point in my life, I enjoy a quiet restaurant so I can hear everyone's contribution to the conversation. Service started off slow and a bit inept. However, I got much better as the evening proceeded. Overall, I give the service a C+. This is an expensive restaurant, and at these prices, the service should be very good, at the very least. Server at times was late, or missing, and confused about the menu. Dinner for 3 was $180 (three courses, but one person only had a salad and side.) The food was excellent, however. The fried seafood appetizer was excellent. The raw oysters were the best I have had outside of New Orleans!!! Other reviewers noted the lattuga salad -- just as reported it is excellent. I ordered the the scallops for my entree, and they were perfectly cooked. It is easy to overcook scallops and they become rubbery. These had a perfect texture. My friend had the steak and he raved about tender it was and perfectly cooked as well. Overall, a very nice experience. If service could be improved, it might make it to a 5 star. At some point I will return, and perhaps I was simply unlucky about the service. read more

So - husband was working late and I didn't feel like cooking for one, so I walked the few blocks to Bari for dinner at the bar. 8:15 on a Friday night, the bar was full of neighborhood regulars, with only one spot left. The bartender was fairly prompt with my wine, but at 8:35 finally took my order. He did not offer the menu to me, did not ask if I was dining at the bar or had reservations - I reached across for the menu myself. OFFER THE GUEST A MENU - ASK IF THEY ARE DINING AT YOUR BAR. After a difficult decision based on their very very strict rules of ordering - no modifications, no substitutions( I really wanted orecchiette but without the anchovy) - I finally decided on the scallops and fava bean/ radicchio puree for dinner. Which came out of the kitchen in less than 10 minutes. Which is really a bit too fast, as I was anticipating a cook time of about 15 or so minutes for an entree. Weird. Nicely done, but product was inconsistent in size - basically, I got a small, medium, and large scallop - not a good impression. In the meantime, an older man ( maybe late 50's, early 60's?) proceeded to make his way from one end of the bar to the other, to converse - loudly, obnoxiously, rudely - to the couple who were seated to my left, directly behind me while I'm trying to enjoy my meal - I quite literally had to move a few spots over because of his continual shouting crass remarks to the bartender and surrounding patrons over my shoulder. Ok, the food itself - scallops were ok although presentation was inconsistent - please give me scallops of equal size, especially for scallops at $20 - menu is ala carte, so my favas were $7 - a chunky puree with radicchio which was under seasoned and just didn't work - the bitterness of the greens simply didn't play off the earthy favas the way I am sure the chef thought they would. Salt would've helped the dish greatly. $27 for a dish that was meh . . . I was underwhelmed with the dessert offerings, and they were out of the Brachetto d'Acqui, so I opted for a cheese plate and asked the bartender to make a selection for me since I am not very familiar with Italian cheeses. I had a 10 year tawny to accompany the plate, although there didn't seem to be a drastic difference in flavor profiles as I had hoped there would be. I expressed that barnyardy stinky cheeses were no problem - and received one runny cheese, and two which were relatively mild and pedestrian. As I was finishing the cheeses, I overheard the bartender tell a couple who had just arrived at the bar the specials of the night - one of which was fried squash blossoms, which I LOVE, and something that is very seasonal and would have ordered, if I had known they were available. When I asked about this his reply was "I guess I didn't get to that." ??? I spent over $60 (for one person) on a meal that was somewhat average AT BEST. As a woman dining alone it is quite possible that I was treated as though I may not be informed on food and wine, or perhaps wouldn't spend alot. I did ( the cheeses were $15, scallops $20, wine, port, blahblah - you get the math) and tipped appropriately on the amount spent - although, quite frankly, if I had been given as much consideration as his regulars, he would have received more. Quite a misstep on his part, as I am also a server, from a larger city, and new to Memphis - I left with a very bad taste of what Bari had to offer, or rather, lacked. I believe I'll try Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen next time - so much for the convenience of dining in the neighborhood. read more