Keith C.
Yelp
Meh. From all of the hype about Barolo, I was not impressed. In my personal experience, if you are at a restaurant for more than 2.5 hrs, then there is something wrong. Arrived early as well. Around 7:30. There were about 2 groups of people when we showed up and somehow, we didn't leave until after 10:00. By then, the restaurant was packed. We ordered a salad appetizer for the table. By salad, this was tomatoes, palmitos, some olives and pickles. Not your North American salad but still doable for people who want to eat healthy. No salad dressing. Just olive oil. We also ordered some bruschetta for the table. If you want good Italian Bruschetta, then don't order it here. You need to use either french or italian bread when making bruschetta. They use regular sandwich bread, topped with the bruschetta ingredients which is then topped with an overload of cheese. You're pretty much eating an open faced grilled cheese sandwich with bruschetta mix underneath. The cheese completely overwhelms the dish.
Most of the dishes are for 2 people. You can get them individually as well but just be warned that individually, this can serve 2-3 people. So a regular serving for 2 people would probably be good for 4 people.
I ordered the Seafood Risotto (Risotto Al Frutti Di Mare). It says that it takes 40 minutes to arrive so ok, no problem. The others ordered pastas and risottos as well. The problem then arose that some of the pastas arrived first. About 30 minutes after we had ordered. Why can't restaurants in Brazil time the food so that everything comes out at the same time? This is so infuriating. For a restaurant that is supposed to be one of the better ones in Brazil, at least get the timing done properly. My risotto came out 50 minutes after I had ordered so there was 20 minutes in between the first plate arriving and my plate arriving. They really need to change the timing in their menu to 50 minutes. Also, the restaurant was not full when we ordered so there is no excuse why my dish came out afterwards.
Well, my co-worker's pasta dish had still not come out and his didn't have a 40 minute time on it. His should have been one of the first to come out. He got his dish 10 minutes after mine. So just to re-cap:
-1st pasta dishes arrived 30 minutes after we had ordered.
-My risotto dish (which said it would take 40 min to cook) came out 50 minutes after we ordered
-last pasta dish came out 60 minutes after we had ordered.
Is there no clock in the kitchen? How can you mess up the timing this bad? Absolutely ridiculous. In my books, this is unacceptable. 30 minutes from the first to the last plate to come out!!!
On to the food. I will not lie, my risotto was pretty good. Not the best, but still good. I wasn't able to try the dessert because the main course (I got it ordered for 1 person) was so big that it completely filled me up. Food wise, Barolo should have gotten 3 stars. The risotto was good but the appetizers could have been a lot better. There was just nothing special about the food here. I wasn't expecting food like at Babbo or Del Posto in NYC. But at least something better than Olive Garden. Sadly, I was disappointed. I think I would have preferred Olive Garden to here. I took one star away because of the service which I had already ranted about.
Yes. There is a vast wine selection but you're supposed to have a vast wine selection so there isn't too much to brag about. The decor is homely and very Italian fitting. I think a better room placement of the tables would have been nice with more space for people to walk around. For example, they have a table for 10 people placed at a corner. So the guy who is right at the corner has to have 4 other people get out of their chairs if he has to go to the bathroom.
Would I come back? Probably. But I wouldn't go out of my way to come back.
