Bacco Trattoria

I absolutely love Bacco! The food is always amazing and their service is spectacular. Their happy hour is incredible, be sure to try the scampetti or the avocado bruchette. This is my go to spot in my neighborhood. Couldn’t be more please with Bacco.

Okay, let me update my previous review with specific tips for diners. I was dragged back here after my first awful experience by my mom who insisted I try it again. Here are my thoughts on the establishment:
1. The food is great! If you can sort through the dense menu, the meat quality is great, prices are reasonable, and the fresh pasta («pasta fresca» section on the menu) is top-​notch. (However, the fact that there is a small «fresh pasta» selection on the menu made me realize that the much larger «pasta» section was just made with regular boxed pasta. Not sure that’s good for Bacco’s business.)
2. The service is still deplorable. I experienced this twice before (see my previous reviews) and nothing is new here. The hostess was sitting with her feet up on a chair texting when we walked in (yes, I’m serious. Blonde teenage girl in see-​through leggings who could care less about her job.). Our waitress was unhelpful when we asked for recommendations from the mozzarella bar, informing us that it «just depends on what you want.» Well, obviously, but we were hoping for some help picking a plate of mozzarella!
3. The menu is confusing. It’s typed in a plain, unimaginative font and looks like a dense word document. There are broad categories with varied dishes underneath, so you are forced to read every single item on the front and back of the menu. This makes it hard to narrow down what you want, especially since a lot of the items are repetitive (i.e. same type of pasta with different sauce). I would recommend that they simplify/​organize the menu better. Many items are in the wrong category (seafood is scattered throughout) so if I came in with a craving for something specific I’d have to read the entire menu, too, rather than quickly finding what I want under the correct category.
4. It’s the little things, Bacco. While the food was good, the huge group behind us all left while we were eating. Since they don’t bother to put those sticky felt squares on the feet of the chairs, the sound of everyone scooting their chairs out was so loud we couldn’t hear each other speak. The group took a few minutes saying goodbye and hugging and moving chairs and the sound was so loud I’m surprised no one has done anything about it yet. Our table was also so lopsided our wine glasses keep sliding half way across, almost spilling. It’s the small details, but these things were annoying and I feel like a good business would care about the details. I definitely did not get that vibe here, especially with the poor service and disorganized menu… Everything just seems like it’s poorly thought-​out.
Overall, I would not return. Even though I enjoyed my food, the rest of the experience was certainly not worth it. This makes me sad for Bacco, because they have the quality food and good prices, which should be a recipe for a successful restaurant! They’re lacking on the easy stuff like employee training. If you come, come for the food and don’t expect much else.

When Bacco first opened years ago, I was excited for a new Italian restaurant in north Boulder. The food and service were always great and consistent. …Fast forward to 2014 when every time I go in the place smells like they just put out a fire. A few months ago it was actually smokey in the main dining room. It’s a shame because the restaurant actual does have nice ambiance aside from the noise and zero music.
The food has also gone downhill. Last night my husband and I just kept it simple with an order of mussels, a margarita pizza and a Caesar salad. The mussels were really puny as was the portion size and the broth pretty tasteless considering that’s often the best part. We actually went there just for them, so that was the initial disappointment. The Ceasar used to be served in full leaves with flavorful dressing and fresh mozzerella, instead it was a chopped version with zero flavor and small pieces of tomato (?). The pizza was thick with a lot of cheese and not enough sauce or no sauce — my husband said there was none. All the food came at the same time. I know they had a reservation on our table bc the hostess graciously let us sit there if we agreed to be done in one hour (seriously, they were going to save a table from 6:30 — 7:45 on a Saturday night). When we left there were several open tables.
So that’s it Bacco. I’ve given you several chances to redeem yourself, but your food does not taste Italian.

Yes, the bread… That’s all I can say without… nope…already salivating. It’s wonderful. One of the main reasons I enjoy this place.
I can’t speak to the one-​star reviews, but I stick to the lunch special and the Romana pizza (prosciutto, arugula, and parmesan pizza). They’re fantastic! I’ve noticed the pizza changes from time to time, in the way they make it, but I’m never disappointed.
Their pastas are great and the salads are delicious. The bartenders are really friendly and they’re more than willing to fulfill any special requests.

Ambiance: Horrible. The restaurant was unbelievably loud, to the point of the three of us not being able to hear each other speak at a small four-​top. Our request to move to a quieter part of the restaurant was refused in spite of a party having just left a quieter area.
Food: Mostly bad. The burrata cheese was great, the salads average. One of the pasta entrees (scampi) was good an another (wild boar ragu) was OK. But the third (white clam sauce) awful. First the dish came out without any sauce, just pasta. Not sure how that gets by the pass. When returned to the kitchen it’s clear the sauce ingredients were thrown in but not cooked together as the dish had the distinct taste of white wine having been added but not reduced. Very bad taste, not worth eating.
Service: Terrible, maybe the worst I’ve ever experienced. First, after being sure to notify the server we had a Groupon for the dinner, we were told that we could substitute wines from their list for the house wine that was included and pay for the upcharge. When presented with the check, though, we were told just the opposite and were charged full price for the substitute wines. Of the three pasta entrees we ordered, the first was brought alone, with the other two dishes following nearly 10 minutes later. As previously mentioned, one of the slow-​to-​arrive pastas was delivered without the featured white clam sauce and had to be returned to the kitchen only to be brought back tasting awful and nearly inedible. A red wine refill order resulted in an attempted white wine refill and needed to be sent back. The details on the check were wrong, but we decided we only wanted to get out of there so we didn’t dispute.
In short, a really bad dining experience with the disappointment of the average-​at-​best food was exceeded by really poor service.
In fairness, the bread and pesto dipping sauce were great, and the pasta scampi was good.
We’ll certainly not be returning to this restaurant. There are SO many really good Italian restaurants in the area there’s no reason to risk a repeat at Bacco.

We normally have loved Bacco’s for 4 +years.
Live close by
The last 3 – 4 times there have been disappointing.
Food still very good but service is dropping. Especially with the bar staff.
Most of the time we sit at the bar to have vino and often food.
Seems as if turnover at the bar had resulted in a less efficient — friendly bar staff.
Slow w bar customers — might be one reason less people sit at the bar than prior?
Measuring wine pours is new also. Much slower and literally a little less than half a glass poured now. And prices remain not that cheap.
Plus have been out of different wines several times.
New mgr? Not sure since never see them. But I hope this place has not «rested on its prior great reputation».
Several of us in the immediate area have all felt this the last 2 – 3 months.
Go less often.
Please correct your issues.

I’ve been there a few times and given it a few chances. I can’t throw my money away. The risotto tasted like a glass of wine and the chicken was absolutely tasteless. I really tried-​please open a recipe book and follow it

The food is average and fine for a weekday but the service was very slow and below average at best. We were hoping it would be a good experience but sadly it wasn’t. I will not go back.

Had their mussels and clams which were delicious. Bartender was super friendly and recommended some delicious dishes. Don’t know what the negative reviews are about. Check it out for yourself.

Fishy scallops. Fishy! Scallops!!! In one of their most expensive entrees, the Fra Diavolo. On the plus side, there were a lot of them. If that’s a plus. It just meant more of them that I couldn’t eat.
The pasta itself was fine, and in that I a lot fared better than my wife, who had a vodka rustica with sauce the consistency of white glue. Her dish that was long on fat pasta and very short on its claimed ingredients of salmon and pancetta: Two half-​pinky-​size pieces of salmon, and about a postage stamp’s worth of pancetta.
The salads were inventive, good, and really big for a dinner salad. Mine had very crisp romaine, crisp thin-​ish (just right) apple slices, balsamic vinegar, candied walnuts, and a bit of, I think, goat cheese (something like that; I don’t remember). A super combination.
Our take on the signature mozzarella bar offering was mixed. My wife might have liked it if we hadn’t ordered what we found out was a semi-​soft mozzarella. She doesn’t do softer cheeses. The roasted peppers as a condiment were great, and the roasted eggplant was OK. I liked it. She didn’t; soft cheese.
The bread was pretty OK, as was the olive oil + pesto that came with it. I’ve had better, nearby.
The waitperson was prompt, friendly, attentive, and generally good. No objections to the décor. It was busy, but not crowded to the gills, at 6:00 on a Friday.
We had that combination, and went there at all, thanks to — taadaa! — a Groupon. $ 59 for all that and a glass each of house wine. A pretty good deal, I thought, but the entrees just wrecked it. No way would I pay the alleged $ 119 list price. I’d dump this place and go to Zucca’s in Louisville, which is cheaper and far better. I suppose it’s convenient for northern-​reaches Boulderites, but we hail from a 30-​minute drive southwards. They seemed to be doing a rip-​roaring business in pizza that looked pretty good.

Best wine list in town! Fresh seafood! (yes in Boulder!) and attentive staff! Will be back!

If you’ve been as disappointed with bread in Boulder/​Colorado as I have been, then come here and be sated. It was such a relief to get a real carb fix! And the green dipping sauce that came with it? It may have been pesto, but it was definitely amazing.
I ordered a few tapas plates, including a huge plate of spinach that Popeye would have approved of, but was enough for two people, and what I thought would be Texas toast with marinara dipping sauce, but turned out to be what I always call ‘bread pizza,’ which is what you make at home when you want ‘pizza’ but don’t feel like making the crust and so make do with that loaf of whatever you’ve got.
This wasn’t the ’15 varieties of mozzarella’ that I was hoping for when I saw the words ‘mozzarella bar,’ but they do have a few varieties you can try. The way it’s on the menu you have a few cheeses and fancy veggie sides to choose from, which at first I was inclined to skip, but I’m glad I didn’t. The sides are amazing, especially the green tomato marmalade.
But I’d be happy to go back and just get several baskets of bread. ..

This is some delicious Italian food. The bufala mozzarella was incredible, and the gnocchi bolognese was very good. Perhaps the best thing of all, though, was the bread. It was mind blowing. Service and atmosphere were great. The hostess’ outfit set the stage for something really casual, but it is a fairly nice restaurant.

I’m im town for the week and dined here once solo and loved it, so I took my friends to try it last night. Ordered lasagna again, which was delicious. The Romana wedding soup is not good though. Very watered down and is definitely one to skip. Service wasn’t quite as good as my first experience, but I will still return.

Great happy hour! The meatballs and margarita pizza are the best. And our 5 year old agreed, and even asked for seconds on the meatballs.

Update. Went back courtesy of Leslie the owner and I must say it was a welcome sight. My food was excellent (chicken parm, avacado bruschetta). The server Jeff was attentive and hospitable. It was the exact opposite of my three previous experiences. I do recommend sitting at a table and not the bar because the service is of a much higher quality. Will be coming back!

I have been here many times for happy hour, which is a super deal in a fine restaurant 6 minutes from home. But tonight my buddy and I got «real meals» off the menu. His pasta was quite good, but since I wasn’t planning a review I have no details, sorry. BUT, for $ 25 I got the grilled seafood combo which contained: super-​tender scallops, shrimp, nice piece of mahi mahi AND big slab of perfectly grilled salmon! So, huge amount of goodness layered over all kinds of vegetables.
Our fun, personable server, Elizabeth, even changed out the tuna that was supposed to be on my combo for the mahi mahi because she thought it was better — I am sure she was right!
In a town with a plethora of restaurants to choose from, Bacco is always a hit with whomever I have been here with.

Im just leaving bacco where I dined with my wife. My wife fared somewhat better than I. Full disclosure I am not a som or food expert. Sort of know what I like.
I started with a glass of the pinot noir. ca orign and definitely not a typical pinot. The after taste reminds me more of a Merlot. Certainly not what I would associate with an Oregon or wa pinot or a French. But the only choice by the glass. I swapped to the syrah which was only slightly better. Grand total $ 18 for two plain glasses of wine not really typical.
My wife ordered the mozzarella. She loves mozzarella. It came with avocado and a green. It was nice except for the mozzarella which was incredibly bland and tasteless. (Voice of my wife)
My wife got the salmon. She liked it. Accompanied by potato and a green. She liked this dish.
I got the spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs lacked any discernable flavor. The sauce a thin tomato lacking herb or wine in the base. I love spaghetti but ate just one meat ball and a little pasta. It was just bland. Compare with the lamb and pea pasta dish at the med or even their spaghetti bolaganese (sic). You can make a great spaghetti. But sadly not here.
There were nice enough to see I wasn’t eating and take the dish away and not charge me. I dont usually make a fuss but they asked me twice if the food was OK so I told them. They offered to comp desert. We split the crème brulé which was OK without being great.
So that was it. The bill $ 60 for one bland mozerrella salad one nice salmon meal and two glasses of questionable wine. A 10 minute drive down town you can do better.
Staff were nice. But need a chef. And do something about the wine by the glass.

Fresh food and good service. Really pleased. I am glad to come at Lunch hour on weekday because it wasn’t busy at all. Though parking was a little hard to find. It was really worth it though.

We just moved to the neighborhood and couldn’t be more thrilled to have this yummy little bistro right around the corner! We have been several times with our children and everyone has been happy with their selections. My daughter (10) says it’s the best spaghetti she has ever had! My son (14) has ordered the lasagna twice.
The only downside has to do with the common problem I find in restaurants when you try and order salmon– overcooked. My husband ordered a steak and was disappointed to find it fried– probably could have avoided that if we understood Italian! We will continue visiting and trying the different choices– including the pizza which we haven’t had yet!