This is tough. The food was excellent. The service not so good. We ordered the fresh fish, which…read moretotaled half our bill, and they did not know how to properly debone it.

Very good pasta, lovely restaurant. The bread was excellent, lovely local wine. Would definitely go…read moreback.

Ai 2 Ghiottoni is a well known Italian restaurant in the Bari City Center. It's known for fresh…read morehigh quality seafood and classic Italian food. Before we even ordered a big bowl of fresh olives, a basket of bread, and a plate of focaccia was brought to the table. Bavetta ai frutti di mare- fresh homemade pasta with clams, shrimp, and calamari. Excellent! Carpaccio - thin slices of beef topped with Parmigiana Reggiano. The restaurant has a nice warm, welcoming atmosphere and the service was friendly and attentive.

We ate at this restaurant a few nights ago. It was fabulous . Highly recommend it. From the…read moreappetizers to the main course it was all delicious.

I visited this restaurant for dinner on a Saturday night around 22:00, as it was recommended by a…read morelocal person to try some nice octopus pasta. The place was fully packed, but luckily I had to wait for a free table only for 5 minutes. The restaurant is definitely outdated and generally felt "not fresh." Its design is very simple, including very basic tables and uncomfortable chairs. Even the dishware they use to serve food is just basic-looking and boring. So aesthetically, this place did not catch my sympathy, except for a giant octopus figure hanging in the middle of the restaurant. Also, because the restaurant is small, it was very noisy inside. My waiter was fast and brought me a menu right away; luckily, there is a menu in English available. Unfortunately, the waiter spoke very poor English, so it was hard to communicate with him. Plus, I have to be honest, I did not like his attitude - he was not very friendly and seemed like he really hated doing his job. At the end, it was very hard to catch his attention and ask him to bring the bill; he literally passed by many times and never even looked at me or checked on me once. I spent almost 10 minutes just trying to catch his attention and ask for the bill. The restaurant's menu is big enough and has a good selection of classic Italian dishes - most of them are seafood. As I mentioned earlier, I was recommended to order octopus pasta, and Spaghetti all'assassina di polpo (Spaghetti all'Assassina with octopus) seemed like a perfect choice for me. Plus, for an extra €2 it was possible to add stracciatella cheese, which of course I did. For a drink, I ordered my favorite Italian iced tea brand - Estathé. Also, right away the waiter brought me a basket of bread (included as coperto - table service), and this bread tasted fresh and nice. I got my spaghetti within 15 minutes. Besides the unattractive white plate the food was served on, the dish itself looked quite messy. The cook definitely did not take care of its presentation. But the smell from the dish was very nice, which convinced me to try it immediately. Luckily, I was not disappointed in the flavors, but I also did not love them. Spaghetti all'Assassina (spicy, partly dry and partly soft, slightly charred Bari-style pasta) was cooked very well; I maybe wish it were a little less spicy and less charred, because I could taste some burnt flavor. The octopus seemed slightly overcooked too - some of its parts were burned and very dark. This burnt taste definitely lowered my overall impression of the dish, but I still liked it and moderately enjoyed eating it. By the way, stracciatella cheese on this dish is definitely a plus - it brings a nice fresh flavor, so I recommend adding this cheese to Spaghetti all'Assassina, as suggested on the menu. The size of the portion was big and filling, and I appreciated that they were not cheap with the amount of octopus. Price-wise, this restaurant seemed somewhat reasonable - half of the appetizers, for example, were around €20, which is quite a high price for an appetizer; and many main dishes started from €20 and higher. My Spaghetti all'Assassina with stracciatella cheese was €20, €3 for the iced tea, and €2.50 for table service (bread). In total, I ended up paying €25.50, and I find it slightly overpriced for my overall just satisfactory experience at this place. The business accepts all major credit cards and Apple Pay, by the way. Can I recommend this restaurant? Honestly, I do not. Nothing about this place left a great or exciting impression on me. But the Spaghetti all'Assassina with octopus is still worth trying at least once, so if you specifically want to try this dish, you can give the restaurant a try. Maybe you will have better luck with the food quality and taste than I did.

Fresh tasty seafood. Good size portions. There is a minimum number of dishes they expect customers…read moreto order, but nothing crazy if you have 3 people at your table. The place is not very big, coming when they just opened makes it easier to get a table without waiting.

we stepped into a long line for this local food in blind, Everything was wonderful, we enjoyed…read moreevery bite of the foods we ordered here.

We only had a quick stop here on a food tour to try a local Puglia panzerotti and am sad to say we…read moredidn't find this place much earlier. It's a chain but grew from local love around the area and is considered a fast food spot but holds all the local and unique Puglian dishes! Everything looked enticing as we walked in the door and the panzerotti was absolutley mouth watering. I could've easily ordered everything on the menu here and plan to on my next visit to Puglia! Service was fast and friendly (good for those who aren't used to the lengthy Italian dinners and need a bite quick!)

In one sentence, this was a series of mishaps and disappointment…read more My friend has allergies to all seafood, so we emailed ahead of time to make sure he could get the 6 course land while I could get the fish 6 course. This is something we do with every restaurant we go to, to make sure he has things to eat and i can also have what i like. They confirmed this was okay. So we went ahead and booked it. And so the following occurs when we arrive; - we are told that in fact we cannot get our respective 6 course meals. He could get his land version, and I need to do a la carte. - instead of giving me time and space to then choose what I want, the waiter pressures me repeatedly to choose what he recommends. I eventually cave since he was clearly not listening to my request for a moment to look over the menu. - the next mishap I tried to assume was just a language barrier. When ordering wine we asked for a specific bottle, which was local. They were out of it so Brought two example bottles of Chardonnay. I asked for something more similar to Sauvignon blanc. The waiter informs me it is from France and not local, which I am obviously aware of, and was asking for something similar. After a confusing back and forth just settled for Sauvignon to just move on. - his first recommendation, was a plate with several kinds of raw fish. Basically no transformation of the food, as you'd expect from a Michelan restaurant. Unexciting and some cuts were bland and seemed poor. The waiter then told me to put olive oil and pepper on it. - next dish was actually a delicious ravioli topped with red prawn - then the main course, fish with veggies. The fish was very dry and bland. The veggie overly watery. - the dessert was alright, not good, but not terrible - then we asked for cappuccinos, were informed they don't have any but were offered coffee. We were instead served espresso which I do not drink. - my friend was not impressed with his food either - I will say the bread was great though and I enjoyed that they served it with olive oil. - the decor was nice Anyway, not at all what I would expect from a 1 Michelan star place.

Best Food and Absolutely the best service there is in Bari. A beautiful small restaurant with a…read morevery pleasant staff and even greater food! Seafood was phenomenal. I wish I was in Bari for more than just one more night so I can dine here again!

One of my favorite meals in Italy! Excellent service, delicious food (octopus appetizer, seafood…read morepasta, and tiramisu) finished with a selection of chocolates. Loved seeing the fresh fish options, and they have several olive oils to choose from to go with the amazing bread basket (they also sell the olive oils) . I felt so welcomed there, like they were really glad to have me as a patron that evening. I chatted with the manager and the server, and was delighted to be gifted bottle of oil at the end of the meal. Thank you for a wonderful evening!

What an absolute gem of a place! Phenomenal service, amazing food, fantastic wine! Truly, this…read moreplace is impeccable!

Wonderful food, service and people. Traveled from Trani to Bari just to try one of their dishes…read more They did not disappoint. We were treated like family and we ate way more than we should have and at a very reasonable price. Great food. Nice people. Thanks Jerry!

Such an incredible value without sacrificing a nice atmosphere and good service. You have to be…read morethere right when it opens or there's a line out the door!! We tried to go back a second time but we're too late and too hungry to wait. The atmosphere is a classic pizzeria with low lighting, painted walls, and an open pizza oven. As budget travelers, we were feeling very fancy! The servers all spoke English and were very helpful! We got the house red, which is a nice regional Negroamaro, and the small antipasti platter. It was HUGE!! The cheese was some of the freshest I've ever had, and it was a nice variety of mozzarella and had a big burrata ball. Definitely a must-order. If you choose to order pasta, everyone has to get the same type because they just make one big batch for the table. The server suggested their special with clams and tomatoes and it was delicious! Big portions and with a good amount of seafood. Overall, my favorite thing was the cheese but everything was delicious. Five stars because you can't get a better deal in such a nice atmosphere.

Beautiful restaurant with stone arches and ceilings…read more We did the tasting menu. Which was excellent. The tuna tartare was so fresh. The rice and mussels were tasty, however the mussels were tiny. We shared 3 pasta dishes, I really liked the pasta and prawns. We all had the fish special which is cooked with olive oil, zucchini and potatoes and olives. Yumm We were so full that we took dessert home. The service is very good. I highly recommend this restaurant.

We are staying at the Grotta Palazzese, which is the highest end hotel of the region with two…read morereputedly fabulous restaurants. However, other than our breakfasts at the hotel, which we paid to have included with our rooms, we are not likely having dinners here. While their menus will astound many, as well as the views of the caves, which is why many come to dine and visit, we have been seeking less extravagant dinners while here, given our suite is over $1,500 a night at the present Euro conversion. So we consulted YELP for the best rated restaurants in town and that led us here. It was all 4 and 5 ratings, save for a single rating of 1, which was based on a disgruntled patron who never even ate here. They just were declined at the door - due to no reservations, which are recommended - in a manner they deemed obnoxious. It's easy to see why so many though rated this a 5. However, we felt it fell just short in some respects that brought it down to a 4. That said, we are sure many will enjoy a 5 experience. We had a few glasses of local primovito by the glass, which like most places we've dined in Puglia was absurdly reasonable by our local NYC metro area standards. These were poured after complimentary glasses of Prosecco and a lovely small potato soup. We ordered the house special antipasto, which were 5 different small seafood dishes (baked scallops, fried cod, mussels with rice, potatoes, and tomatoes, octopus salad, and yellowfin tuna tartare). This is a must have introduction to any meal. My wife then had one of the catches of the day offerings and I the half lobster with tagliatelle. It's an all seafood restaurant, so if you are looking for something other than that, you'll need to look elsewhere. However, if seafood is your thing, of which there is quite a lot in this town, this restaurant deserves your patronage.