Baraonda

Reviews 5

JE

Jennifer Merris

It was probably one of the worst dinning experiences I have ever had. We will never go back. Thursday was my birthday, so Friday was going to be a night at the Fox to see Jersey Boys and dinner before the show. It was a beautiful evening, so we asked to sit on the patio (super small, and the servers do not yield to the guests walking through). It took about 10 minutes for someone to finally come by to get our drink order. Once we got our drinks, we ordered our apps and dinner all at once since we wanted to make sure to get to the show on time (we gave ourselves 1.5 hours). Our server brought us bread, but no oil or cheese like the other tables around us got until we asked. And we still only got oil. Our dinner was served, but our server was nowhere to be found. The pizza had no sauce, our beverages need to be filled, no cheese was offered for pasta. Once our server finally came around, everyone at the table had forcibly ate what they could and he asked how everything was. By that point it would be to late to send anything back and make the show. So we ate what we could and waited for the check. In the beginning we told him that we were going to the Fox and wanted to be out of there by 730. We sat there for 20 minutes waiting to see him again to ask for the check. My boyfriend even got up to find him, and he ignored him twice. He finally flagged him down and he came to the table with the check. As he was about to walk off, we told him to go ahead and take the card since we needed to go. He gave us a nasty look like it was an inconvenience to him and walked off. Our server, Oscar, did not seem like he wanted to be there. When he greeted us he said, "sorry, its been a long week". 1. I didnt ask how your week was. It should not affect my dinning experience 2. You are there to make money, so why are you complaining. I have worked in restaurants for many years and still work in the service industry. My boyfriend is a general manager of a restaurant, so we know how long of a week it can be; you just never express that or let it show to your customers.

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MA

Matt Ezell

My wife and I are in town to see Wicked @ the Fox Theatre and since we are staying at Hotel Indigo, we decided to hit up the Baraonda for lunch since it is half a block up. Arriving at about 11:45, there was plenty of seating and service was very prompt. Although the place filling up as we finished our meals, we had more than enough room to enjoy ourselves both at the start and the end of the meal. We both selected a Sweetwater 420 (Brewed here in the ATL) for our beverage and a order of the fried calamari for a starter. The calamari was very good; served hot with herbs sprinkled over top and a cup of warm marinara sauce on the side. The portion ration was very generous and despite being quite hungry, we barely cleared half of the calamari that was served. Our beverages arrived in about 2 minutes after ordering and our appetiser took no more than 6-8mins to arrive. For our main course, we opted to split the Romana pizza - definitely not a mistake. These light, flour pizzas appear to be stone over baked and are very tasty. The pizza was large enough for both of us to stuff ourselves on; especially in light of the mound of calamari consumed only minutes earlier. The melding of pancetta, sundried tomatoes, onions and mozzarella on top of the light flower crust was, well, just perfect - definitely recommended. By the time our pizza arrived, we were about 1/2 into both our brews and starter - I would say about 12-15 mins after ordering (when our app was brought), though I must admit that the atmosphere combined with the spirits detracted my attention away from the clock, so this is an approximation. All in all, I rate our experience at the Baraonda Cafe to be excellent. In all, before tip, our ticket was about $30 (2 beers, calamari and pizza) - not a bad deal for a nice lunch in downtown Atlanta IMHO. If I ever find myself staying back in this area, the Baraonda will definitely be on the list.

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KE

Kerstin Johnson

I dined here last night with my son and his friend. We received a friendly greeting and were seated immediately. The atmosphere was nice and cozy. Once at the table, the waitress handed us the menu and said: I be right back. Never knew her name as she did not care to mention. Then another girl came and put 3 glasses of water on table. No hello, nothing. This one also served bread cheese and oil to other tables but not to us. Our nameless waitress surfaced again. She took our drink and entree order. 10 minutes after that, I waived her down and asked if we are allowed to have some bread too? Of course, we received cold bread and olive oil... Now, if you have been to Bonefish Grill before, you now know whats wrong here. By the way, in Italy they wouldnt dare serving you like this. Then our entrees arrived. They looked good and tasted very good. We had Pizza and Lasagna which we enjoyed. Last but not least we always like to try a dessert, the Tiramisu was delicious. Overall, they need to work on customer service skills. And you if you serve your guests bread, make sure its fresh baked and add some herbs to the olive oil. Would I come here again? Not sure.

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CH

Christy M

The husband and I went here for the first time on 6/2/17. We had passed the place often and finally decided to give it a try. We arrived around 7:30 PM for dinner and were immediately seated...no waiting on a Friday night. We sat outside on the little patio. This was nice, no complaints at all. Our server was knowledgeable about the menu and wine and made several recommendations. He was very good so it makes me feel a little bad to write this review. We ordered the lasagna and the seafood linguine as a main to share and had the calamari as an appetizer. All food tasted delicious. The lasagna was some of the best Ive eaten. However, as good as the food was going down, none of it tasted great coming back up! Both the husband and myself were poisoned by the food. Hard to say what did it because we both ate exactly the same thing. After much vomiting and diarrhea, I am feeling better. The husband...hes still fighting the symptoms including chills and diarrhea and remains in bed as I write this review. Unfortunately, as nice as the waiter was and as good as the food tasted, we wont be going back.

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A

A Private User

First I will say the pizza my son got was excellent. We started with a calamari appetizer. It was pale in color, and rather rubbery; we get this almost everywhere and this was a very unsuccessful preparation. I ordered a cocktail that the waiter suggested and hated it; he outright refused to take it back. I decided to stick it out based on the good reviews. I ordered their Friday night special Porchetta, which sounds amazing, but was just okay. The flavor was great but the pork was not juicy and tender the way it should have been... A few pieces of roast potatoes and some rather bland spinach did not impress me. In viewing the dessert menu I saw something tempting; jamaican coffee. He immediately tells me they are out of Jamaican coffee! Its just coffee with liquer in it?? Dessert was very tasty. . There are a lot of great pizza places cropping up all over Atlanta, so no need going here.. Service was as bad as it gets, food was some great some no great.. We go to fine restaurants often in different cities and this is one we will not re-visit. I think it is highly overrated.

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