Bacco Restaurant and Wine Bar

I went to Bacco restaurant in Holborn, reviews sounded good, and the food and service lived up to them. Very helpful, attentive & friendly staff, even when it got busy in mid-evening. Lovely menu and great food. For all four of us, no wrong notes at all. Lovely fresh pasta in particular. Will definitely go again.
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Gianpiero Altavilla
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Sunday, October 14, 2012

Absolutely delicious Chicken with wild mushroom- the mozzarella is the real thing You will need to order anti-pasto, a second (pasta al tonno for ex- which was excellent) and a main course I had the chicken which was really good. The wine list is really super what a change relative to so many French restaurant.

Do not forget to ask for a glass of grappa at the end
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gustave
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, September 28, 2012

Hero to zero in an hour and a half. Beautifully clean and a warm welcome. The starters and wine were great. The mains the service were fine. (The jury's still out on the pour-your-own-wine debate. Personally, I don't particularly mind, and if I did, I'd say that I'd like to pour my own.)

Things came to crashing halt with the dessert. I ordered a creme brulee and got a stone cold flan out of the fridge. The maitre d' set out on a load of bs about authentic Italian recipes and this was how it was meant to be served, but had the good grace to back down when he got the idea that it wasn't going to be eaten.

Unfortunately the entire meal was overshadowed by a rowing couple at the next table. Maybe I should have told them to belt up, but I didn't. What is unforgiveable is that the (ahem!) gentleman turned out to be mates with the staff and all this was going on with their tacit approval. Shame on you!

80 quid for that (including the compulsory 12.5% service)? Never again.
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Chris L
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Bacco in Holborn was a very nice food. Finally an Italian Restaurant with few new dishes and not the usually traditional ones.Fresh ingredients, very good cooking, Finally an Italian restaurant that does not disappoint. The service was perfect, efficient, discrete and friendly. The wine selection is also very interesting combo of Italian and French selections. Ask the waiters to help . A very pleasant experience, and I will definitely come back for more.Higly recommend
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katie smith
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, May 04, 2012

In short, spend your money on a lovely evening elsewhere.

Pros: Decor, Welcome

Cons: I was visiting my girlfriend in London and after much deliberation, sounded out this restaurant for our meal last Friday night.

The restaurant had a quite nice, mainly wooden decor, and our welcome was pleasant with the manager taking our coats. Upon being seated, we ordered some drinks and accepted the offer of some water. To cut to the chase, the food was served in quite small portions and was generally bland. For example I had the crab and avocado mousse which served fresh and chilled, but a little tasteless. I then had the calf liver with polenta, and this was flavoursome, but the polenta was overcooked to verge of cardboard-like. My girlfriend chose the swordfish based on her love for olives, but this arrived without a single olive! To make matters worse, our food arrived cold. After persuading the waitress to look at the menu, who insisted the swordfish was fine, we sent the food back and they a few minutes later with the grand addition of 2 olives. After two courses we decided to end it there, even though hungry.

Our overall frustration came in the service, which was too quick and far too attentive; for an intended leisurely anniversary meal we were rushed through the evening by the third wheel of the waiting team. Every sip of water meant a waiter diving in to re-fill the glasses, we were asked twice if our meal was okay, and plates were consistently swept up on the last mouthful.

Given these reasons I challenged the bolt-on 10% service-charge. The head waiter apologised and said he would inform his waiting team, before returning moments later in a beautiful irony to sweep away our glasses the second we'd finished. The water we accepted on arrival? Icing on the cake to find a cheeky £4.00 charge without any kind of warning. Maybe that explains why the waiters were so keen to top us up every thirty seconds.

Having travelled all the way to London for a celebratory meal, this was simply an evening of massive disappointment. I chose the restaurant based on Tripadvisor other reviews so be warned. With so many other wonderful places around, perhaps look elsewhere.
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Tim Wood
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Sunday, November 06, 2011

Took my girlfriend for dinner at Bacco Restaurant in holborn last night - excellent service, delicious food and very good choice of wines.The restaurant had quite a few dinners, a lot speaking Italian which must be a good sign for an Italian restaurant. highly recommended
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steven cook
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, September 17, 2011

The only time i used this restaurant i swore i would never use it again. The sardines for starter were tasteless and the chicken with mushrooms for main were awful, the mushrooms tasted as though they were dried and uncooked and the sauce tasted like a Sunday roast gravy. A Southern comfort, glass of Merlot and the meal came to over £70. Not worth the money. Don't use it.
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Mixter
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, August 22, 2011

We went to Bacco Restaurant and wine bar last night we really enjoyed some lovely fresh pasta at this restaurant on a quiet street just a few minutes from holborn station. Service was excellent & so friendly.! BTW I m Italian, will certainly go back!!!
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alex billi
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, July 15, 2011

Disappointing to say the least. Ordered a red wine which cost about £25 and suspect they paid about £6 for it. The house red much better but still overpriced. Didn't like the way one of the waiters gave a waitress a dressing down simply because she put a dessert in front of the wrong person. This is bullying. Heavy white plates looked cheap and were not warmed. No steak knives. They didn't even have the grace to put a salad garnish on my main course of aubergine parmesan. A side of green beans was £3.75. They were well done and buttery. Aubergine tasted good too but not substantial enough for the price they charged - and it was a vegetable, for heaven's sake, not a steak or seafood platter. We got our 50% off but, cynically, prices have been jacked up accordingly to make you think it's a bargain. It isn't.

They wouldn't put the wine bottles on the table & filled before glases were empty trying to make us drink more. (There were 10 of us.) It didn't work. Service fussy and too many waiters (a very rare complaint i know!!)

They offer swordfish which is an endangered species.

Luckily, unlike poor reviewer below, there was no loud music - none at all. Place was packed and that was bad enough volume-wise. All in all just another London rip-off. RIP Bacco soon i hope!! March 2011
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Terry Jones (Ms)
4 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Friday, March 04, 2011

i dined out at your restaurant and i though the food was good and the service but i was a little bored waiting for my meal as there wasnt any entertainment. other than that your restaurant is fantastic !
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Zac Smith
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, January 14, 2011