16 Best Restaurants in Bari, Italy
Where to eat in Bari, Italy? Let’s guide you to the top restaurants in this enchanting Apulian City.
Puglia is more than beaches. It has charming towns, historic landmarks, and incredible food. Bari mixes land and sea flavors with traditional taverns and trendy restaurants. Apulian cuisine uses simple ingredients creatively, influenced by various cultures over the centuries.
Here is a list of the best restaurants in Bari.
Il Sale
A much-appreciated restaurant and equally frequented by a local clientele, who come here as much for the seafood as for the land dishes. The philosophy is total transparency: the customer chooses what he wants to eat from a display case, and the dishes are prepared in an open kitchen separated from the dining room by a glass window.
Everything varies according to the season, with the obvious cornerstones being seafood, mollusks and crustaceans, and various carpaccios.
And then, as far as meat is concerned, there is a wide range of beef, lamb or pork to be combined with dairy products, cheeses and vegetables, all from the area. A journey through flavor to be created at will, indulging the whims and inspiration of the moment.
L’incanto
On the seafront of Santo Spirito, north of Bari, the L’incanto restaurant lives up to its name thanks to a privileged position a stone’s throw from the sea and a well-kept and welcoming place, where it is a must to try the seafood specialties, a real strong point of the restaurant, such as the exquisite Paccheri with yellow datterino tomatoes, tuna tartare and chopped pistachios. To these tasty dishes are then added the delicious local wines.
La Muraya
If you love fish, you must take advantage of this rustic but refined restaurant, which promises to delight you with the authentic taste of the sea.
The location, very central, has the charm of old houses, with vaulted ceilings and exposed bricks. Still, the outside is also good, thanks to the pleasant environment and the kindness and sympathy of the owners, who will make you feel at home.
Le Terrazze del Santa Lucia
From the terrace of this restaurant, you can enjoy one of the most enchanting views of the city, which embraces the whole promontory and gets lost in the blue sea.
Romantic and elegant at the right point, even better in the evening, this is the perfect place for a special dinner, enhanced by a menu that is faithful to the flavors of the area but creative, both from the sea and from the land, which can be combined with excellent local wines.
Giampaolo
With its tuff arches and red walls, this restaurant combines the seduction of the past with the chic touch of design, and the same does in its dishes, skilfully balanced combinations of tradition and creativity.
In summer, the delightful internal courtyard, bordered by greenery, is ready to welcome its customers, to accompany them on a surprising and tasty journey into the food and wine soul of the area.
Baia bistrot
In an elegant holiday atmosphere, with the sea lapping on its large terrace, this restaurant aims to pamper its customers by combining the beauty of the landscape with impeccable service and an interesting menu, which reinterprets the dishes of the tradition. For example, spaghettoni with cuttlefish ink and cacio e pepe pasta with red prawns.
Biancofiore
The people of Bari love seafood, so a good fish restaurant would be the first choice, and in this case, you must definitely try Biancofiore. It is also located in a highly convenient position, at the entrance to old Bari, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The owner of the restaurant is hugely meticulous and kind. And you will be able to see the chef cooking because the kitchen is open to view: a glass wall separates it from the room where you eat.
Lo scoglio
With the numerous fish-based dishes in this restaurant, the customer can satisfy his desire to savor the most genuine Puglia, thanks to a menu that focuses on the quality of the raw materials and enhances them with state-of-the-art recipes, faithful to tradition, but not without inspiration. Try the tubettini pasta with mussels and linguine pasta with seafood.
La Bul
This is the realm of chef Antonio Scalera, who, after many consolidated experiences outside Puglia, decided that Bari was the right place to tell and practice his idea of cooking.
Locally sourced, with highly fresh products and splendid dishes to be seen even before being tasted. Evidence of haute cuisine with simple, local ingredients. Just three examples:
- Octopus cooked twice, mousse and grilled primo sale cheese to start.
- Risotto, purple cabbage, scallops, and Andria cheese, to continue.
- Cod in oil, polenta crumble, and black olive mousse lead the way to desserts.
Excellent advice from the sommelier for the perfect wine to pair with the dishes. The atmosphere you breathe here is that of other times.
Osteria Sopravento
With its young and welcoming air, this Osteria is the right place for those who want to stop for a bite after a nice walk in the center.
The location is, in fact, along one of the city’s main streets. However, the dehors still ensures the necessary tranquility to fully enjoy the traditional dishes of Bari: from the typical orecchiette with butter to rice braciole with potatoes and mussels.
Origini
In the Apulian capital stands one of the best restaurants in the region. A small but well-decorated place. The location fits perfectly with the style of the menu. The staff is ready to welcome its customers and make them sit down to taste their excellence.
A restaurant that marries the most authentic Apulian tradition, proposing a series of courses that range from broad beans to cured meats, from dairy products to all the tastiest and most local things this land has to offer.
The menu opens with a series of samples of the typical focaccia from Bari. The service is excellent.
La Locanda di Federico
In the central Piazza Mercantile, La Locanda di Federico is the right place for those looking for a restaurant in which to rediscover the Bari tradition revisited in a more modern guise. The dishes on the menu, in fact, recall the recipes handed down in the houses of the city, but add creative elements and ideas that make everything extremely curious and interesting.
Among the delicacies to be tasted are the horse tartare, the tortello stuffed with burrata, and the capocollo ham with asparagus and spinach cream.
La Battigia
On the Araldo di Crollalanza seafront, the Battigia is a restaurant where you can eat local fish, with dishes linked to the flavors of the Bari tradition.
Try raw seafood and fried fish or fried anchovies, classic and inevitable dishes. With a view of the sea in a beautiful corner of the city from La Battigia, it is possible to rediscover the region’s flavors in an elegant environment suitable for conviviality.
Osteria Villari
This restaurant is located in the street of the same name, in an area of the center sheltered from the chaos and perfect for walking. With a wide proposal in which the flagship is the meat, this is an inn where you can feel at home and try typical dishes.
With hors d’oeuvres served in terrines and the meat counter on view, it’s a place where details matter. Among the dishes to try there is certainly a good steak, for lovers of quality meat, and also the beef carpaccio or beef tartar. Do not miss the dumplings with scampi and gorgonzola or the fish and shellfish soup.
Al Pescatore
The name (The Fisherman) suggests the absolute protagonist in this restaurant with freshly caught fish in sight: the certainty of always tasting fresh fish. There is everything you can expect, between raw and cooked, obviously orecchiette, even sea urchins when the season allows it. And then the delicious homemade desserts.
The restaurant is located in the surroundings of the Norman Swabian castle, almost in the heart of the historical center.
A perfect outpost to eat before exploring the city. It could accompany everything with a bottle of Apulian wine from small local producers.
Le Arpie
This restaurant is located in Old Bari, near the Arco del Carmine, a place capable of keeping its authenticity alive with quality service. The dishes are elaborated in the wake of what the market offers daily.
In fact, the cuisine is homemade: homemade orecchiette with turnip tops or clams or porcini mushrooms, rice with potatoes and mussels.
And again, the inevitable “sporcamuss” (pastry squares filled with custard and dusted with real sugar) served hot in all seasons.
Read also: Bari Travel Guide.
