This place has a lot of what I like about Boulder. The atmosphere is comfortable and attractive. Service is great. Its really nice when the weather is nice because they have an upstairs patio! Perfect for happy hour. So for all these reasons I frequent the facility - but I must admit there isn't anything that I absolutely CRAVE about the experience. One thing I appreciate is that the entire restaurant has a more mature feeling. That is important in Boulder because if the place is attractive to a young crowd you can end up feeling like you are at a fraternity very quickly. Overall, I am a fan.
Review Source:The food was great but the service was less than average. Once we finished our meals the waiter asked if we wanted any dessert. We politely declined but he still shoved the menus in our faces. He then walked away and stared at us for a few minutes before finally coming back. Again we politely declined and after waiting a few more minutes he finally brought us our bill (which we had requested 20 minutes earlier). We likely won't be back which is a shame as our meals were delicious.
Review Source:I placed a delivery order with a receptionist who had us on hold for the first three minutes, then had me repeat my order, card number, and address  multiple times. I was so glad to have finally gotten off the phone with her. One hour and fifteen minutes later, no food. I didn't want to call, but where was my food?
So I called. Katie answered.
She didn't have the card number correct or my phone number to contact me to let us know our order hadn't even been placed. Then preceded to tell me what we ordered is no longer on the menu.
Beware the portions are really small. Â The $15 Carbonara was a tiny lump of cold noodles by the time I got it. Â No sides included. Â I ordered a pasta dish because I was hungry. Â Pasta is an inexpensive ingredient and it is normally a safe bet a restaurant will serve enough of it. Â Plus, we didn't even get bread. Â I left this place starving and so did others in our group. Â Some others in our group ordered a Sea Bass special. Â Some fish were cooked, some were not. Â They were raw on the inside. Â Love the rooftop bar and not much wait for a drink up there. Â The little pizzas looked good.
Review Source:Not the place to visit if you have an appetite. Â
I ordered the Carbonara and although it was very delicious, I got about a cup of pasta and it didn't fill me up. Â I believe I paid about $15 for the pasta and it came in a overly large dish (probably to show you how little food you are getting).
Coming here with a group of three guys after working all day caused us to work up an appetite. Â Unfortunately, we all left hungry. Â Service was ok, but nothing exceptional.
Although the food tastes delicious, I won't be coming back again. Â If the portion size improves I might give it another try but I would avoid this place and go get a real meal somewhere else.
Overview: We give them 5 stars for the food, but we give them only 1 star for the service.
Recommended: NO
We went this past Thursday night. We didn't have reservations, but it wasn't very busy. (There were perhaps 8 tables seated both inside and outside, and most of them were outside.) So, we were seated right away. Too bad the waitress didn't realize it or didn't care, because she didn't come by right off. We had finished reviewing the menu and made our selections and waited several minutes before she arrived to take our drink orders. Even then, she took our drink orders and turned to leave when I stopped her and told her we were ready to order our food, too.
We ordered the Vongole (steamed clams with white wine, garlic and tarragon) for our appetizer. Then my fiancé ordered the Cioppino, and I ordered one of the specials, which was handmade, hand-rolled penne with lobster and caviar.
The waitress really sucked, though. It took forever for our drink orders (a Sauvignon La Cappuccina and a Coke), which she explained was due to the bar upstairs being really busy. Maybe it was, but I didn't see any evidence of that. It was 7:30 PM and the restaurant was almost empty. Then, the waitress should have explained the menu since Bacaro is one of those Italian restaurants that serves food in a very traditional way for some high-end American restaurants: small portions of multiple a la carte items representing the different, traditional courses (appetizer, salad/soup, pasta, entrée, dessert). The appetizer was very tasty, but we only got two slivers of toasted bread to go with it, which isn't nearly enough to sop up the yummy broth at the bottom of the bowl. The entrees were delicious, but the waitress didn't even bother to ask if my fiancé would like pasta or bread with the Cioppino, so it was just a handful of seafood with the tomato broth.
In other words, we left hungry. And given that the tab was almost $80 for an appetizer and two entrees, we shouldn't have. (I never do anywhere else, even other high-end restaurants in the Denver area.)
However, the biggest problem I had was that after we finished our appetizer, no one ever came to take the plates away. Then the entrees arrived, and we had to bus our own table just so the waiter delivering the food could put it down in front of us! Pathetic! Lousy, lousy, lousy service.
I will not dine at Bacaro again.
Popped in for a drink and app. The server was attentive. It's a good spot if you like a quieter setting as it's a bit farther away from the center of Pearl St. Â I got the Benevolent Hound (Spirit Hound Gin, CO), tonic and St. Germain. Pretty good. Appetizer was Crudo (salmon with grilled ciabatta). Very tasty.
Review Source:I would give it a 3.5 star rating if I could. Â The place is nice and a nice location. Â I went with colleagues for work. Â I did not like that we could not transfer our beer tab to our food tab. Â We had to wait for our table, which isn't a big deal, not a long time, so we had drinks at the bar. Â Anyway, not a big deal but just annoying. Â We ordered the calamari (good) and arugula chips (not arugula but drawing a blank on the green-great). Â I ordered the caesar...don't get it. Â The leaves are placed in a glass and the dressing is smeared across the plate. Â Did not appreciate that display or the utility of having to eat it with my hands and swiping across the plate. Â The bolognese pasta was excellent, however, the portion was very small. Â My colleague's portions were very small as well. Â All the dishes were excellent. Â I ordered the creme brulee and my colleague ordered tiramisu. Â Both were excellent, but again, very small portions. Â I could go back again because most of the food was excellent, but not when I am really hungry.
Review Source:Last night I was looking for a pasta place that delivered, as Bacaro came up on Yelp. I had never been there before but looked at their menu online, then ordered the caprese salad, gnocchi, and tiramisu. The delivery was very fast; I think that's the only compliment I can give. I paid about ten dollars more than I expected - te online menu was priced differently than what I was charged. The caprese was yummy but tiny - about three slices each of tomato and mozzarella. The gnocchi was incredibly bland. The tiramisu was a messy, pudding-like plop. Very disappointing, especially for $50. I will not return.
Review Source:I went there with a friend for French Night last Tuesday; it had moved to another location, so were pretty much alone at the bar.
We were helped by a server and a manager who were friendly, courteous, funny and very knowledgeable. The wine was good, and so were the apps we ordered.
I'll probably go back soon for a full meal.
My boyfriend and I have been here three times since the beginning of the year, 2013.
Out of those three times, our first experience was the best by far. We got their lamb meat balls, salami platter, and calamari for our appetizers. (We were on a splurge night). Our waiter, Mike, was extremely friendly and was always enthusiastic. He always had a smile on his face and was always wanting to chat! It seemed to be a pretty busy week night, and the overall atmosphere was loud but it wasn't so loud that it wasn't enjoyable. Mike was on top of it with us, even though the entire restaurant was packed. We ended up ordering the lamb sirloin and one of their seafood extravaganza entrees. The lamb was absolutely mouth watering, to the point I was eating it so slow to salvage it that the last couple bites were cold. My boyfriends platter was just as good as the sauce that was with the seafood was super tasty. I was really wanting dessert that night but they were out. That wasn't a problem as I probably shouldn't have had any with the amount of the amazing wine and food we had. Mike was probably one of my favorite waiters I had ever had, so much so we looked forwarded to having him again.
The second time we went, we made reservations on Valentines Day. We choose Bacaro because out of many restaurants we looked at for dinner, they weren't going to have a set Valentines Day menu. Although, we were very wrong. We got to Bacaro with expectations that we were going to have the lamb again, but were sorely mistaken when handed a "Valentines Day" menu. I'm not sure if this was on their website or not, but I know I was disappointed when we weren't able to order what was on their usual menu. All of their items seemed like items that they knew were easy to make for a busy night. Our waitress was pretty nice, but didn't smile much nor was she very friendly. It was really irritating as well to have to hear the boss/owner/some sort of significance yelling and throwing his hands up in the air at his entire waitering and chef staff. I am not exaggerating either by saying he was throwing his hands up in the air and yelling all night. This did not happen to us, but we were also constantly seeing waiters/waitresses bringing back food from tables all night. Also, the food wasn't as good as before and that was pretty disappointing. Not only was it not as good, but it was in much smaller portions than before as well which made me annoyed. At one point my boyfriend mentioned, "Do you think we could ask to get the regular menu?" We weren't sure, and I was afraid that it was up on the website that V-Day reservations had a specific menu before (or something), so I didn't ask. But later in the night after we had order everything, I most definitely saw a table of four order off of the regular menu. This made me really irritated as if just because we came in as a couple we were immediately given the set Valentines Day menu like what they had on their V-Day menu was a rare occurrence or they were just handing it out to make the night more smooth for themselves. The least they could have done is asked if we would prefer one menu over the other.
The third time was the worst. We decided to bring my mother who was visiting us for the weekend to Bacaro. We raved about how awesome the first time was for us and explained the 2nd, stating that maybe they were just having and off night. We came in at 8:30 on a Friday night, and was immediately sat down. Overall, the business seemed pretty slow. I'm sure this was because it had been snowing that night. Our waitress ended up to be the same woman as Valentines Day night. Again, she was not very friendly, hardly smiled, and seemed to want to just be done with the night. She started out a bit slow with us, but then finally came back for our appetizers. We waited a ridiculously amount of time for our appetizers, about 50 minutes to be exact. We had to ask 3 other staff members for either more bread, more water, and to question where the hell our food was. As we were getting more and more irritated, we watched our waitress talk to the hostess for at least 10 minutes. Actually, it wasn't just here. It was almost the entire waitering staff that congregated to chat for about 10 minutes over by the receptionist table. When we finally get our food, we could tell it had been sitting for a bit because it wasn't hot. Then within 5 MINUTES we get our entree. We hadn't even finished our appetizers yet! It was absolutely ridiculous! We hardly got an apology from the waitress and when we would further ask for something, she would give us an attitude. There was nothing offered to compensate for our wait. Although I will say that the food was very very good. It was definitely not as great at the first time we went, but it was pretty damn good. My mother ordered the sweet potato gnocchi which was absolutely fantastic. Maybe it wasn't as good because the atmosphere was frustrating. This again, was on a SLOW night.
Went for Valentine's Day dinner. It was our first time here. We had viewed their menu online, and really liked it. When we made a reservation, they didn't mention that they were only doing a prix fixe menu for that evening. That was a bit of a let down, but that said... the selections were still very good - just wish they would have mentioned that.
The first course was great - a salad with apples, walnuts and goat cheese and a great dressing. The entrees were really great too. We weren't crazy about the desserts that we had, but all-in-all we were happy. Â We will definitely be back for a non-Valentine's dinner.
The server, although very friendly, was not very attentive. We literally went for a 20 + minute period without being able to find him. That is really the main reason for the 3 stars vs. a higher rating.
We look forward to trying it again.
Arg. I really wanted to like this place. My girlfriend and I came here for my birthday.
Let me just get this off my chest:
We were seated. No one helped us for 15 minutes. Eventually the waiter/manager came up and apologized for the wait but he was 'understaffed' and was trying to coordinate. I understand that, except he only had 10 tables occupied and another waiter was running around in the background.
Then I ordered a 'local spirit'. He gave me 2 choices and I made my selection. A minute later he comes back, informs me my selection wasn't available, and had brought me the other choice, which was NOT what I wanted, and was MORE expensive than what I asked for.
Then we ordered our appetizer, a salad to share. This was the only good part about this dinner, it was actually good. Then we waited another 20 minutes after finishing the salad until we found someone to get out waiter.
We ordered the lamb to share for dinner and were excited because it sounded delicious......
Not only did our dinner not get entered into the system,but it took them another 20 minutes to realize we didn't have any food. Then when it came, 75% of the meat was pure fat.
Ah, i'm frustrated just writing this. Sorry Bacaro, but I'm not coming back.
This place was just weird.
I went with a Groupon and was expecting a romantic, delicious Italian dinner, as Bacaro had been voted OpenTables #1 Voted restaurant in 2010, 2011, and 2012! But, what a lame dinner date it happened to be. The only postives to this whole thing was that we left full and that my date was very gracious about the restaurant choice.
The negatives:
-The decor is so mismatched and chaotic. It's visually stressful.
-The tables are seated WAY too close together. The staff kept running into my elbow and sliding up against the back of my chair because I had my winter coat hanging off my chair. They don't have any coat racks either, which would stink for someone with a longer jacket or coat.
-The staff has NO emotion. They are like robots. I think our waitress literally said five words. She would just drop off the food, check, etc without any communication.
-The food was sub-par at best. I think that we could have made a better tasting meal off of some internet recipes at home. The mushroom bruschetta was so burnt we had to peel strips of the bread off in order to eat it, and the rest of it was tasteless, so it was burnt bread with tasteless toppings. The entrees were just okay. The shrimp was overcooked and chewy while the pancetta was actually perfectly crisp. Â However, the flavor combinations had no spark. That's why I said I think I could've made better at home- there was no life in this meal or anything interesting. Then we got the almond and pear tart for dessert. While the caramel sauce was good the gelato had a very weird taste- almost like chemicals. Which does not surprise me about this place.
- Also their bread "is only by request?" Never heard of this. We had to very awkwardly ask for some sliced bread to go with our meals. And we only knew they had it because the bus boy handed it out to a table near us.
Overall, it was just "icky." I'm astounded that they received an OpenTable award, especially in Boulder. Save your money and head to one of the many better choices on Pearl street.
I had my wedding reception here. It was reasonably priced and the staff was very accommodating, especially with all the food needs/allergies in my wedding party and the families that attended the reception.
Klaus, the events coordinator is amazing, and will listen to your needs and ideas openly and will help you produce a classy and elegant final product.
My husband and I made reservations for dinner and because there wasn't a table ready for us at that time, they brought in a table and chair from outside and seated us there. It was literally freezing outside, so our bums were VERY cold! Thankfully, the table next to us cleared out shortly so we could switch out the chairs.
Our server was fine, although she didn't smile once the entire time we were there.
I ordered the Bistecca di Agnello which comes with sweet potato gnocchi and arugula. Instead, mine came with regular gnocchi and spinach. It was still really delicious, but I can get gnocchi anywhere...sweet potato gnocchi is something I don't see often, so I was excited to try it.
We loved the food and liked the rest enough to give it a shot again.
Our trip was somewhere between "meh" and "disappointing."
The food- We started with the beets with smoked ricotta and the crab cake. We really loved the beets, but didn't really appreciate the tomato under the crab cake (which was great) making the whole dish soggy. Â We got the ravioli and salami pizza to split. The ravioli was nothing to write home about- The filling and butternut squash didn't seem to be seasoned very well/ at all, other than there being some whole sage leaves on the plate. The pasta of the ravioli was also pretty chewy. The pizza crust was nice and crispy, but overall the pizza wasn't anything to write home about. It also seemed to be lacking the "spicy oil" mentioned in the description.
The drinks were really good- We both got mixed drinks, and they were nice and strong.
Which brings us to the service- Our waitress was barely a notch above surly. We were halfway through our appetizers when she abruptly asked if we wanted bread. We said sure, and it arrived about 10 minutes later, after we were finished with the appetizers. The waitress that brought us our drinks was sloshing mine all the way to the table because she had filled the glass too much, and then spilled my husbands drink on our appetizers and his shoes. She brought back a towel to mop up the table, but didn't seem to care at all that our beets were swimming in whiskey. Honestly, it seemed like she might've been sampling the beverages herself.
We weren't expecting the restaurant to be packed on a Sunday evening- But it would've been nice if the music had been turned up a little bit to compensate for the quiet. Or if someone would've re-pressed "play" when the cd stopped.
Overall- There seems to be a little room for improvement with the food, and a lot of improvement needed with service.
This is another review that I don't want to write, because I HATE sharing secrets.
But here's the deal with Bacaro: At night, it's a crowded, sweaty, kinda gross, undergrad-y brodeo. Seriously, if there's music blaring and a line, don't even bother.
But during the day, it's my favourite Sooper Sekrit happy hour spot. There's a new chef and a new menu (probably for the best, the old menu was Cheesecake Factory sized levels of impossible), and the HH menu is affordable and interesting. As of late, it hasn't been that crowded (which is great, I love not waiting for the roof deck), but if people start realizing that it's awesome and cheap and delicious and not crowded, I expect that will change.
Service can sometimes be a little slow (in my experience, that's more a result of the place being huge and people being busy), but it's always attentive.
Also: their house white wine sangria is dangerous. In the best ways possible.
Bacaro gets my eternal gratitude just for being open on Super Bowl Sunday (aka my birthday, which is far more important than Super Bowl Sunday). Â Seriously, I didn't know the city of Boulder took football so seriously. Â I'm quite positive that Bacaro was the only open restaurant that wasn't a) a fast casual chain, b) a sports bar and grill, c) a coffee shop, or d) The Cheesecake Factory.
Actually, I'm surprised I never went to Bacaro when I was in college. Â The menu is incredibly appealing, with loads of food options for happy hour including more than one eggplant dish, a variety of antipasti small plates and a plethora of pizzas. Â The white wine that was on HH special was a Chilean Sauv Blanc and it was very crisp and refreshing. Â Once you muddle through the extensive HH menu, the dinner menu is awaiting with items like burrata salad (which we ordered) and ravioli filled with asparagus over a pool of butternut squash puree (which we also ordered). Â It was seriously hard to decide.
Our server was knowledgable and attentive and even let me pick a complimentary birthday dessert (I went for the pear tart). Â Prices were decent: a HH small plate, salad, pasta entree and two glasses of wine came to about $40. Â The pasta dish wasn't huge, but who needs huge with all of the small plate options?
The food wasn't OMG-wow, but it certainly hit the spot and wasn't overly heavy for Italian. Â Could have used more other "stuff" with the burrata salad (it was mainly a wad of burrata with grilled bread and the vegetables promised were more of a relish). Â The raviolis were good as well, but certainly not flavors I couldn't replicate at home (even though I have no patience/desire to make my own ravioli, so thank for making it for me Bacaro).
It was a nice dinner though, and I'm bummed I didn't get to this place sooner. Â HH would have been very welcome for my college-age wallet.
Not bad.
I was here for New Years Eve with a friend to enjoy their covered/heated rooftop patio. The space is nice, if a little small. Luckily, there wasn't a big crowd and moving room was good.
There's a bar downstairs and one upstairs on the patio as well, so points for having 2 bars to help handle crowds. I have to give it up to the bartenders for being so attentive-they helped me out within a minute each time I walked up, even in a deep crowd. Nice.
The drinks here, sadly, ain't the cheapest and they're pretty small for what you're paying. Throw in the fact that it's 85% ice and you're paying $4 for a gin and tonic that should be worth maybe $2. That's my one big grudge about this place.
And another very small grudge specific to NYE...no countdown! The whole bar missed the arrival of the new year because they didn't have one going. That kinda sucked.
We had dinner here during happy hour. Even with the special prices, it still wasn't worth it.
The service was awful - our waiter transitioned back and forth between hovering constantly and totally disappearing. We had to flag down someone else for drink refills twice. He was visibly irritated when we asked for split checks at the end of the meal (isn't it common sense if there are two couples at a table, to split the check, or at least ask about it?).
The food was bland and totally dismissible. There was really nothing memorable about this place, the prices were too high, and there are much better options on Pearl Street.
Who knew there was such a great restaurant hidden in plain view on Pearl Street? I live in Denver but have walked past Bacaro every time I've been in Boulder and never stopped in before.
My husband and I went the night before the Bolder Boulder on memorial day and it was awesome!! The food was fantastic, the service was great and the price for food and wine during happy hour was unbelievable. We plan to drive to Boulder to go back here for dinner sometime.
I gave one star and I think Bacraro should refund it! We ordered delivery last night and were really excited for all the small plate yummies to comes. We ordered Ossobuco, Calamari, Caprese salad, Scalopini and grilled prawns. The delivery was quick (Thanks Restaurant Runners) and I thought the food was going to be fantastic.
  I have never been SO wrong. I don't usually call restaurants back to complain but I felt this was a health risk. The meat was RANCID!!! Not just ' it tastes a bit off ' but from across the room it smelled like a rotten animal! When they say small plate, they mean it. That means 3 shrimp for $10, a Caprese salad that consisted of a small handful of mini-mozz balls and 4 sliced cherry tomatoes (No basil or olive oil) for $7.50. The bill for "dinner" for two? $80!! Yes, 8-0 dollars! It was inedible and I was actually frightened someone would be sick. The hot foods were not hot, and the cold foods were not cold. It was all room temperature and that is a sure combination for food borne illness. This was NOT a result of being standard delivery-timed cool down.
  I called Bacaro and spoke to their manager, John, who talked over me most of the time until he heard the words "Health Department". Then he went on to tell me that in 13 years they had never had so much as A SINGLE complaint about their food. In Boulder, really? They did not offer to make it right, give me a credit, (not that we would ever eat there again) or do anything but tell me they don't run credit cards until next Tuesday or Wednesday so it 'probably' won't be charged. (Just to give you the idea, we had to double bag ALL the food, and open every window and door in our apartment in the 30 degree weather just to not gag on the smell!) He told me I would get a letter in the mail as a follow up. How helpful! (Update: they couldn't be bothered to do this either.
This was not an issue of not liking flavors, or being unhappy with tiny portion size at full menu prices. The meat had literally gone bad! I don't even know how that left the kitchen! I've eaten in restaurants in countries all over the world, and this was by a large margin the worst food ever!
Bottom line: Bad food, (literally) bad portions, bad service, horrible conflict resolution. Someone is going to get sick.
Bottom line: this place has goats, and they blow them often. Skip Bacaro for your safety, AND your wallet!
So I went to Bacaro again, with pretty much the same crowd as last time. Now, this was a few months ago, so it's possible things have changed...but I found that the normal prices for dinner were much more expensive than the quality and portions of food.
I had the bolognese if I remember correctly. The pasta was well cooked, but for the price, I expected to have some to take home. However, once I tried the sauce...I guess it would have been a waste if the portion was larger. Don't really see myself going in here again.
I decided to try Bacaro out for happy hour since I'd heard extremely mixed reviews. Â That way, if it sucks, oh well, I only spent $10 and not $30!
It did not suck (yay!). Â Though we were pretty much the only people there at first, our server was extremely friendly and nice, yet managed not to hover over us, her only customers.
I ordered the salmon pizza (smoked salmon, onions, capers, baby greens and horseradish cream) and a virgin peach bellini for a total of $9. Â Our pizzas took ages to come out - why, I'm not sure, since there was no way they were cooking anything else in there - and in the meantime I was able to sip on the peach bellini, which was so small it would have been more appropriate to view through a magnifying glass and pick up with a robot hand. Â Imagine maybe two shot glasses full of seltzer water with two drops of peach juice painstakingly dripped in there out of an eyedropper. Â For $3. Â Imagine this, and then make your own decision about Bacaro's happy hour drinks.
By the time our pizzas arrived I was a bit annoyed, but my pizza saved me. Â It was the same type as we had at Marco's - thin, crunchy crust with all the toppings sort of floating around on top like a salad. Â The difference here was that the horseradish cream and heavy salmon slices managed to hold everything down and stick it to the crust so it didn't just slide off everywhere.
The way the ingredients were combined and sized worked perfectly for me; nothing was overwhelming (not even the bread!). Â I'd categorize it as gourmet bagel 'n' lox.
Overall - I'd go back again for happy hour and skip drinks. Â No complaints here about a $6 dinner pizza.
Dear Bacaro,
You are not the Med. Never have been, never will be. Why not work with what you've got (a great patio for people watching) and ditch the crappy fried-only "tapas" menu?
Though I didn't try them, your pizzas looked great, like they were light and crispy, and cheap!
Your tapas are crap though. I ordered the combo platter and it was missing some of the stuff that was supposed to be on it. For $18 I should not have to ASK the waitress for a substitution.
I might be back for pizza on a nice day, but will stick to the Med for Tapas.
PS- Â your night life scene is highly amusing.
With no plans of going to Boulder and then ending up here for brunch, today turned out to be a great day in a long line of great days with the ball-n-chain.
Wonderful cheesy, melty, creamy Margarita pizza with a yummy thinnish crust and a sauce made from crushed tomatoes instead of a heavy overly spiced goop of paste. Lots of julienned basil too....
The ball-n-chain had the speck panini. Any place in the USA that serves speck with abandon with warm cheese, greens and horseradish has my vote. The bread was properly crusty and I could almost picture us back in Italy.
Nice Mimosas with a cherry in the bottom. Service was good and the patio was lovely.
My only grip was that they share a restroom with Chipotle and it had seen better days. Stupid tap so you have to hold it down with one hand to make the water come out. Hello? Germ issues here!! No soap and it was pretty torn up by 11:15.
Nice place, good food and a cute little joint for an unplanned stop for brunch in Boulder.
There isn't anything wrong with Bacaro if you go before 9pm and your parents are footing the bill. It's civilized during those hours. It's a totally different and mad world after 10pm, which the other reviews have so accurately captured. Â
Stopped in last night for drinks with my dad. Because he's something of a regular at the bar, the service was top-notch since everyone was coming to say hello to him. I was impressed by the number of fall/winter-themed cocktails on the menu, since I'm always looking for a drink that is cold and warm at the same time. I picked a pineapple-cinnamon margarita that didn't taste like it had any tequila in it at all, but after I stood up, I was reassured that it did. After that, I switched over to champagne cocktails- which the bartender made with bourbon! YUM. Drank about four of those.
We hadn't planned to stay for dinner, but realized that our chances of getting seated anywhere else after 8pm on a Friday night were slim. I ended up with the beef tenderloin on top of a gorgonzola mashed potatoes and wilted greens and not only was it beautiful in it's presentation, it was delish. I have to admit, I was surprised at how much I Â enjoyed it.
So, 4 stars for the pre-10pm experience (happy hour, dinner, great bartender, friendly regulars), and 2 stars for the after 10pm experience. Average: 3 stars.
Happy Hour is the only time worth coming here. Good drinks and food at decent prices. Try the pizza's!
Service is slow, so make sure it's not a quick in-an-out. I avoid dinner, because it is overpriced and generally hit or miss in terms of the dish. Ordered a ravioli there recently and asked for several spices to make it a bit more palatable. Rest of my group was equally unimpressed with their meals.
Unless you are drunk or are into the stumbling bumbling college student thing, avoid this place at all costs after 10 pm on weekend evenings. It turns into a screaming, drunken out of control mass of people.
I like this bar for Happy Hour or just grabbing a few drinks with friends. Â The upstairs has a kind of relaxed atmosphere where as the downstairs is a little more upscale. Â It's creates for a nice balance between looking good and being comfortable in your own skin.
I like the Happy Hour pricing and food - although nothing stands out as amazing. Â They have lots of " -tini" drinks which can be fun for fans of neon blue and pink drinks. Â Like most places in Boulder, there is plenty of eye candy. Â The place gets an extra star because the girls tend to dress a little nicer here - which is totally right up my alley. Â
Overall - a good destination at a good location. Â Thursday nights seem to be the most crowded - so go then or avoid depending on your mindset....
I attended a reunion-type event for a large group at Bacaro and had a great time there. Â We had private access to the roof-top deck, large speakers for music, and great finger foods. Â The appetizers that stood out for me: pera e arugula pizza (pear, goat cheese, gorgonzola, arugula), pollo pizza (chicken, basil pesto, mozzarella cheese), calamari e zucchini (fried calamari and zucchini), torta di granchio (grilled crab cakes with a corn, red pepper relish, and mango puree), and spiedino di gamberi (grilled scallop and shrimp skewer). Â The dinner entrees didn't wow me that much though.
When our group was getting crowded on the deck, they actually allowed us to expand to the downstairs bar. Â Sure, there were people trying to have a romantic dinner getting annoyed at my friends' drunkenness, but my thought is, why would you have a romantic dinner at a tavern???
1 star off: stupid people trying to have romantic dinner at a tavern
Great food and good atmosphere during dinner hours. The menu is well prepared and sophisticated but not pretentious. It also has icons next to each item indicating which items are gluten-free as well as which are vegan. Almost all tastes and needs are addressed here and the chef will do what he can to accommodate you, whether dietary or not.
At night it turns into a bar. The perfectly spacious restaurant becomes packed with the sect of the younger bar crowd that is pretentious but not sophisticated and drinks are hard to get, but Bacaro does have its moments.
I wouldn't so much say that this place excels in its Italian food, at least if you take the price:quality ratio into account.
However, what this place does excel at is making you feel like you are having a classy meal while still giving you the option of $1 tapas for happy hour.
So: as a restaurant after 6:30 pm, this place is eh....3. Expensive and a little pretentious maybe, with service issues.
But: as a restaurant/bad before 6:30 this place is killer. The happy hour does it for me. 5
Split the difference: 4
Bacaro is a mixed bag for me. I've had some great times and great food here. I've also had some not-so-great experiences.
First the positive: The food is consistently fresh, flavorful and delicious. They have one of the best tapas menus in town (especially the pizzas). The downstairs patio and interior provides great (if at times cramped) atmosphere, and the rooftop patio is one of the city's best.
The bad: The service can be really, really spotty. I've had great service some nights, horrific service others. One night we were up on the patio for what felt like hours waiting for service and then for our food. When it came, a couple of the orders were completely screwed up, but at that point we were so hungry--and fearful of the wait to have it corrected--that we ate it as is. Getting our server to take our money so we could leave was another harrowing adventure.
Make the service more consistent and I'll gladly bump this review up to 4 stars.
OK, i'm biased here too, but it's the natural second choice in my debut as on-line critic. Â I'm generally not here for the food, even though the food is very good. Â I'm here for the deck on the 2nd floor... great place on a Friday night in the summer, especially when Samba Dende is jamming up top. Â After the brazilian music, they bring in the hip-hoip dj's, typically playing my preferred style of hip-hop... Â Also, Stan, Cassandra, Jordan are a top-notch bartending crew holding it down up top. Â Creative drink-mixing is standard fare. Â
For me, the typical night out in Boulder is to start at the Attic, go to Bacaro, then go back to the Attic. Â Maybe drop in at Seven in between to see the polished Boulderites.
Okay, so, they didn't hire me as a cocktail waitress so ovbiously they can't be that great. Â And obviously--not classy at all. Â
Little do they know...I have a better job now. Â But, aside from this, I s'pose you could have a time finding yourself amongst the best lookin' of Boulder in their nice (but boring--naturally--threads). Â The dance floor can be..hoppin' Â and there is one upstairs too. Â I have definitely seem some cool peeps here, but mostly when I was there. Â Otherwise...not so much. Â But you may possibly catch some Justin Timberlake and will probably end up with a drink spilled on ya.
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