Bar Idda

We dined at Bar Idda, a Sicilian restaurant located at the corner store along Brunswick Road, with good vibes. We ordered a few of dishes from appetisers to pasta, lamb shoulder, and desserts and drinks. The food was reasonably priced and the cosy ambience was pleasant. However, the cold cuts were a bit too salty.

Unauthentic, small portions, and overpriced. Pasta was beyond overcooked and flavourless and the set menu finished with our entire table still hungry. Chef also clearly has no idea to maybe remove the custom placard celebrating a birthday before slicing the cake and completely destroying it, especially since the slices weren’t even cut thoroughly through. Service was nice but nothing about this dinner deserves the price point it’s at. At 90$/pp please take your money and eat at any of the many better options in the area, or order a la carte.

Great food, cocktails and overall vibe!! Food was all really good, highlights were the Mulinciani, maccaruni ragu, ricotta gnocchi & cauliflower caponata. Great cannoli and affogato to finish off a great dinner too! Can’t wait to go back and try more. Highly recommend!

sooooo yummy and ALSO the service was so good ! our server was i think katherine (?) i’m so bad with names BUT she was so freaking lovely and made it such a wonderful experience and just had such a beautiful kind aura :3

We ordered 4 course meal and really enjoyed it. Food is amazing.

Wow-ed by the food. Each dishes was made beautifully. It can get really busy tho, they really tried to keep the ambience nice, but it can get loud.

In a word disappointing. I enjoyed the hello lemon cocktail and the phenomenal focaccia but that’s about where I’d leave it. The dishes for me were unbalanced. I was glad we opted to share two pastas and the lamb with a side of potatoes as the one dimensional flavours were dampened by the variety. In contrast to the heaviness of the mains the entree arancini was bland. The dessert menu was uninspired and we sought it elsewhere. Unfortunately having spent a bit of time recently throughout many areas of Sicily my experience here in comparison was quite lacking

Been here a few times a while back and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately this experience was quite disappointing. The flatbread was so dry it almost felt stale, 3/4 of our dishes were sitting in a puddle of oil, and the lamb shoulder came on cold beans. Quite sad because I used to really like Bar Idda.

So do you want the good news first or the bad news? Ok, the bad news is that there are a couple of weeks each year when Bar Idda stays closed. The good news is that during this period of closure, the owners go to Sicily to visit family and come back to Bar Idda with new, delicious recipes. Hooray! Not that Bar Idda's home-style Sicilian fare isn't delicious enough as it is. I would recommend every single dish on the menu but that's not terribly helpful. Instead, I'll pick one dish from each course - primi, secondi, contorni and dolce - that I simply cannot not order when I eat here. First things first, pan-fried ricotta gnocchi with mushrooms and greens...I'm starting to salivate. Then, the mulinciani - layered eggplant with tomato, basil and pecorino. Drool-worthy indeed. On the side, so simple yet so refined, the house salad of chicory, celery and sultanas. And the sweet surrender - soaked and spiced figs with vanilla bean gelato. Oh. My. Word. I also recommend doing it Italian-stylee with the drinks by starting off with a refreshing Campari and soda, a vino rosso to accompany the food, and finally, a herbal Averna to wash it all down. It's la dolce vita in a meal. Really.

Yes yes yes yes yes. OMFG this place is the best. Some great memories here over the years. Sicilian food so not so reliant on pasta AND their chefs are careful with contamination so Coeliacs can eat here. Lot's of Veg options that satisfy and the veg is treated with so much care. Classic down to earth cuisine and great service and wonderful simple table wines + staff that know how to explain the wines to those unfamiliar. Brunswick highlight.

Hadn't been here for few years and gave it ago again a couple of weeks ago and the food was absolutely de-licous! We had: Baked layered eggpalnt, BBQ'd swordfish with Kipfers; soooo much flavour! Twirled pasta with Beef ragu and a side of anchovy and garlic braised greens - which very sooo tasty! Took me right back to Sicily.

Melbounites, u lucky dogs. I want to take this chef back to Los Angeles to open a restaurant so I can go there every day. Nothing was fancy, mind you, but everything was simple and delicious (except for the greens and meatballs). I had about 5 appetizers, 4 main, 3 sides, and a dessert plus ample alcohol, and all were excellent. Linguini with dried tuna was specially amazing - I had ones with dried/salted sardine in Sicilly which was better, but his version is probably as good as u can expect outside of the homeland. It's also one of the two pasta items on the menu, btw - Sicilians less reliant on pasta and tomato sauce, and more on herbs, fish, eggplant, lemon, cinnamon, etc. The main fish was also fantastic. Simply grilled with lemon, caper and olive oil. All the dishes were 8- 15 dollars each, and expect to share on table. Very family type restaurant where u drink inexpensive table wine and enjoy simple but delicious food with friends. Make sure to call in to reserve as tables are filled quickly by local patrons. There are two bar chairs where u can dine quickly. Olive oil- non spicy kind- is amazing. I'm jealous. If I lived here, I'd buy a couple bottles a week to use it at home. Not a place to impress, but a place to cherish. Definitely worth a visit or two or more. U lucky dawgs.

My flatmate recently moved in so, with no other plans, we decided to grab some dinner at Bar Idda tonight. With an 82% rating on Urban Spoon, you can only expect good things from the place even before walking through the door. Well, after experiencing it, I am kicking myself while wondering why I've waited so long. After all, I've only moved 2 blocks away about 6 months ago! Bar Idda offers plenty of seating both inside and outside (perfect on warm summer nights). As it was a bit chilly, we chose to sit inside however had to make do with the bar as it was packed. There are no many restaurants of this genre that offer bar seating and I have to admit that I quite like it, especially when I am dining alone. True to its Sicilian heritage, the menu is written in both Italian and English. I go for the Maccaruni con sugo Siciliano which is pretty much Twirled Pasta with Beef and Pork Ragu and the Salad of warm chicory, new season tomatoes, cracked wheat and olive oil. The food is beautiful - lots of flavours and fresh and totally warrants its 82% rating. I love it - delicious dishes at reasonable prices, does it get any better? Overall, a great experience although it was quite loud to the point where we had to come close to yelling to hear ourselves at times!

So beautiful! Loved it. Fast, unpretentious & fun. Great energy & on point staff. Good was spot on & house red was amazing!

I love Bar Idda. Great food, perfect with a bottle Nero D'Avola. Great with friends so you can order more off the menu to share. Fresh pasta, anchovy donuts, veggies - the flavours are just delicious.

Finally got the chance to eat here after passing by many times on my way home and seeing it packed...that's when you know it's a hot spot. Knowing this, I made a booking through Bar Idda's easy-to-use online booking system. Not your typical Italian restaurant with a menu full of pizza and pasta (there's no pizza on the menu), but rather one that specializes in Sicilian cuisine with second dishes or 'secondi' that are typically meat or fish based. The place isn't very big and has a homey feel to it. Some of the wait staff are Italians from the accents I heard. We started off with a limoncello cocktail special and house white wine which were both good. For primi, we ordered arancino, which was very good but my favorite of the firsts was the zeppole, which was deliciously flavorful (warning: has anchovies for you picky eaters). For seconds, we had agnello - three tender lamb cutlets of tastiness - and ordered their Thursday bbq special - pork neck (a part that is commonly used to make pulled pork but in this case was served as succulent steak cuts). We waited a bit for the pork neck to come out and when it came out we thought we had accidentally ordered two servings but awesomely enough, it was just one generous serving, score! We finished the dinner with rich hot chocolate and affogato that lived up to strong Italian espresso expectations. Extra points for the cute waiter who served us dessert. Holler.