Bacco Enoteca

Risooooooto balls! Yum yum yum. Arugula salad with pine nuts, asparagus tips, and goat cheese stuffed cherry tomatoes= delicious.
Gorgeous atmosphere! Great service. Thanks to all my fellow Unilocalers out there I knew exactly what to expect. $ 46 for two people, 2 glasses of wine, 3 small plates. Nice light meal when you want to feel fancy. (Wouldn’t order ravioli again)

This place is fantastic.
Have been to the restaurant next door several times, and am extremely happy to enjoy authentic Italian food.
Bacco’s small plate setup streamlines that experience. We have been several times on Friday evenings, and our server Nicole has been cheerful and informative. They do have rotating specials, which are creative and delicious.
The Happy hour menu makes the wine list a little more accessible to those who are not aficionados of proper Italian cuisine.
Personally small plate coursed meals is my favorite way to explore a menus offerings, and this place fits the bill.
Will be back, and highly encourage the open minded and adventurous to give them a try.

I don’t understand this place. I thought it was strange that it was so close to another Italian restaurant, La Parolaccia Osteria, but then I realized it’s the same restaurant.
Though BE is designed more for having a glass of wine and some tapas-​sized plates, it’s the same menu as LPO. The food is good. In fact, you can order from the full LPO menu in BE, and you can wait in one to wait for your table in the other.
My problem with this is that it defeats the purpose of having a separate, smaller, intimate restaurant. While the décor and charm in BE is lovely, it easily becomes noisy inside even with the limited seating capacity. It may have been that a large party for a family birthday (i.e. kids and teens) couldn’t fit in LPO so they sat in BE, but it really detracted from the experience. I’m not saying minors shouldn’t be allowed in here, but if BE were truly a wine+tapas bar (instead of an extension of LPO), you wouldn’t expect minors or large family birthdays to begin with.
As far as service, our waitress was very nice but also the only person in the entire place. It wasn’t exactly her fault that she was slammed and service was slow.
So, basically my gripe is that BE is very misleading and ultimately disappointing because I was looking forward to a new experience in an intimate, charming new restaurant. No wonder they’re only open during hours that LPO is likely to be crowded.

I brought a few friends here we each ordered something we liked off the menu, got two bottles of Italian wines (great selection btw) and shared all of it! Great time and has a good setting, nice vibe! Bravo!just what this LB neighborhood needed some authentic CALItalian style!

Arancini are fried risotto balls served with tomato sauce. The arancini are fried to perfection and are crispy on the outside. The risotto on the inside is very bland. More salt and parmesan cheese would punch the flavor up a bit. The tomato sauce helps but needs a little more flavor to make a well-​rounded dish. Rating: ³⁄₅
Burrata con Pesto is fresh creamy mozzarella served on cherry tomatoes in balsamic reduction and topped with fresh basil pesto. The burrata is soft and creamy and the pesto is perfectly paired. The fresh tomatoes are sweet and balance well with the balsamic vinaigrette. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Vongole e Cozze is fresh clams and mussels served with cubed spicy salami in a saffron beer sauce. The seafood is cooked to perfection. The sauce is fantastic. This would be great atop capellini or linguine to utilize the leftover sauce. Rating: ⁵⁄₅
Polpettine al Tartufo con Polenta is grass fed beef meatballs served over a creamy parmesan polenta and topped with sliced black truffles. The meatballs are average. The mixture needs more oregano and salt to be flavor forward. The polenta is a bit too runny, consistency of country grits, but the flavor is great. Rating: 3.5÷5
Pasticcino di Cioccolato is dark, decadent chocolate cake served with a scoop of cappuccino gelato. The chocolate cake is rich and almost truffle like. The cappuccino gelato is like affogato mixed up and frozen into a creamy treat. It pairs well with the cappuccino gelato, like having dessert and coffee. Rating: ⁵⁄₅

I came here with the boyfriend for a date night. This place décor is so cute and welcoming. I really wish I would of known about this place sooner I could have celebrated my birthday here! The food is great and the wine is great as well! The portions are large to share and I definitely will return. This place is a great date night spot or a great place to share some cocktails with the girls.

Great ambiance. We’ve been twice and had delightful service, very helpful with advice on food and wine. Amazing choice of wines and can’t beat the happy hour prices– 50% off wine from 5 – 7 every night they’re open! The ravioli fritto, burrata con pesto and the antipasto plate were a few of my favorites. Mr. R loved the baccala, their Italian spin on fish and chips. The almond torte was to die for. Definitely will be back!

Tried this place for happy hour and was happy with the experience but it wouldn’t cross my mind to come back.
great service and tasty small plates but the small plates are just that. small. For $ 9 – 11 each, the small plates left me wanting for bites for the buck

As with some other reviewers of Bacco Enoteca I am also a fan of La Parolaccia, although I have dined there infrequently. So I wondered why they would put another restaurant right next door.
It did not strike me until I had finished dinner there recently with my daughter that while it is a restaurant in the purest sense, it is not really for dinner. It is truly an enoteca; a place to go and have a few appetizers and glass or two of wine or beer. Unfortunately I do not live close to Bacco so will probably not return, but not because of the food.
Speaking of the food, we chose three selections the evening. First we had Antipasto Bacco which had a nice variety of cheeses and meats on a wooden plank. We then went on to Panino Melanzane, sandwich slices with eggplant among other ingredients. We agreed we did not like eggplant as much as we thought but not because of preparation. Lastly came Polpettine al Tartufo con Polenta. Easily the best of the three dishes, it consisted of beef meatballs with Parmesan polenta with shaved truffles. As soon as the dish arrived my daughter asked what that certain aroma was. She just discovered truffles, described as «the most elusive of all scents.»
The wine list is very eclectic and yet recognizable if you have a basic working knowledge of Italian wines. She got a nice Arneis on Happy Hour special for $ 4.50 (a must try if you go to Bacco), and I picked an off the Happy Hour list Vermentino (I believe) at about $ 8.00 or so.
For a walk-​in experience after a play or for just an evening snack, it is a nice place to go. As a restaurant, I would say stick to Parolaccia your other favorite restaurant in the Heights.

Well I’ll preface this review by saying I am a huge fan of La Parolaccia next door. I was really excited to hear they had opened up a tapas/​wine bar adjacent to the restaurant. I did however have my doubts as to whether or not it could live up to the quality of food at La Parolaccia. It did and then some.
We started by having the meatballs on top of parmesan polenta. Wow they were super yummy. They do come accompanied by truffles so if you are not a fan of truffles, I definitely am, you may want to stay away from ordering these.
The second course we had was the bruschetta. There were three different kinds, the traditional tomato, pesto, and olive. Each were really good and the bread was just the right kind of crispy.
The last course we had were the spinach and cheese raviolis in a tomato cream sauce. Oh, it was heavenly.
We also ordered a bottle of their California Zinfandel which was very nice.
Service was awesomely good (thanks Annie!).
The place is small which gives it a real intimate kind of feeling. It’s casual and has a really good neighborhood type establishment vibe. I look forward to having many future meals there.

Take a walk. Discover your city. Discover something new, like Bacco Enoteca on Broadway in the Bluff Heights neighborhood – one of my favorite places to stroll through.
Owned and operated by the same people as La Parolaccia Osteria Italiana next door, this is their bacari or bistro that serves just cicchetti (small plates), select beers and wine.
It’s not huge but it’s not cramped either. It’s cozy with a variety of high-​top, bar stool, and outdoor seating for about 25 max. They do not have proper permits in place to serve alcohol outside just yet, so you’ll have to enjoy happy hour deals (more about that in a bit) indoors.
Right now they’re only open Thursday-​Sunday 5−9pm with a happy hour that covers 5−7pm daily. The deal is half off beers and glasses of wine and this place serves the good stuff. Beers range from $ 6 – 7 ($ 3 – 3.50 on HH) and Wines are $ 7 – 9.50 by the glass.
The menu is succinct, only what is necessary for a few friends to gather for lite bites and drinks. It starts with stuzzichini or finger foods like bar nuts, marinated olives, and homemade waffle-​cut potato chips all at $ 3 each. There are a couple of desserts by Scratch bakery on the cover as well.
The cicchetti or Italian tapas if you will, are a great assortment of dishes you’ll want to mix and match. I came alone because I was just on my stroll and felt like I wanted to stop for a beer. It happens, okay. But I saw the the menu and had to get a couple of snacks.
Since it was happy hour, I went with the Clown Shoes Clementine White Ale (a nice beer at $ 3) — excellent citrus notes with s bready/​wheaty finish. Belgiany for sure.
To eat, I had the polepettine al tartufo con polenta, or Grassfed Beef meatballs with shaved black truffles over creamy Parmesan polenta. Delicious and full of flavor. I love how tender these balls are. The polenta gives this dish a boost in heartiness. Truffle is s nice touch especially because it’s the real stuff, not oil. Smell factor is amazing as you would expect.
I accompanied those balls with more balls – the arancini or lightly fried risotto balls in tomato sauce. These were good, but I have to admit were a little flat in the flavor. I think some pesto drizzle or a sun dried tomato compote of some sort on the side or even inside would have made a difference. They were cooked perfectly and the tomato sauce was a good way to add some moisture.
Service is quick, but then again there were only a few tables beside mine that were being helped. I was confused when it came time for the bill. My tab added up:
Beer — $ 6 –50% HH = $ 3
Meatballs $ 9
Arancini $ 7
So $ 19 + tax = $ 20 and some change.
Great. But after my card i swiped, I see credit charged is nearly $ 37.
Wait what? How did a $ 20 meal just gain $ 17? I inquire before signing and was told that it was the total before the discount was applied. Okay. But why was it so much though??? I didn’t get much clarity on that, so I just wrote the total with tip of what I knew to be correct. I will need to go back and check, but I’m sure my math is correct.
Otherwise a great place for people seeking a cozy place to WINE down after a work week. I’ll be back for sure!