Il Baretto

BYO pasta house in surry hills. Vongole was good, but wouldve been better if it was a bit suacier. Carbonara, the eggs were a bit over cooked, but okay. Duck ragu? It was alright... pretty decent place for a quick pasta, but certainly not the most amazing place. BYO is would be the key reason why i would revisit, of i do... also keep in mind you can only keep the table for 1.5 hours

One of my favourite restaurants in Sydney! The food never dissapoints. Thier must try dishes are the Mushroom Risotto, Parpedelle Duck Ragu, and Saltimbocca with pan fried potatoes (special only available sometimes!) Also thier Bruschetta is a must to start. The staff are fantastic - Brendan always provides a great chat when he's in! It's always a pleasure to dine at il baretto, thank you to such a great institutaion. This place is my partner and I's "local' italian restraunt and we live an hour away!!!

Little Italian place in surry hills serving freshly made pastas and other italian dishes. They have a menu which changes regularly and a specials board. We ordered from the specials and got a couple of dishes to share. Starting with the thinly sliced cappachio that was topped with rocket and parmesan. We got the risotto with porchini mushrooms. which was quite a strong taste and rice cooked al dente. We also got the duck ragu, deliciously slow cooked meat on a fettuccine as well as the gnocchi gorgonzola. This was very cheesy and always a standout. Accompanied with a salad of lettuce, tomato and olives. The pastas are reasonably priced and good sized servings. It came out so fast, I don't even know how it was cooked! If your heart desires it they have desserts and the ever famous tiramisu. Staff were all super nice and even the chefs said hello.

Premium price not matched by premium service. This restaurant is INCREDIBLY popular and considering it’s not cheap (mains $25-$30), you’d think the service would be pretty good. Wrong. On arriving I had a waiter (who I presumed was out the front welcoming people) literally shut the door in my face - “we open at 6” he huffed. It was 5.58pm. What the?! So sure enough by 6.05pm the door opened and we all had to give our names and number of people to be seated....even though the restaurant was empty?! Such a terrible first impression. Anyway tried to forget because I knew the food would be good as I had been before. Bruschetta as fresh as I remembered. House wines ok. (It’s BYO too which adds to its popularity). Main of duck was underwhelming and within seconds of me putting my fork down the staff were on us “do you want dessert?” No. Which resulted in the bill being unceremoniously dunked on our table - the message was clear - get out we’ve got people waiting. Oh yeah - cash only. They’ve either got to bring down the price to justify the burn and churn style, or start making customers feel more welcome. But hey - they won’t care - there’s a line every night (and the pub across the road is full of people waiting for a table).