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26 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1. baritalia.ie
It's been many years since I last ate at Bar Italia, located in the Italian Quarter originally developed by Mick Wallace. I don't remember much about that meal, but I've noticed the restaurant — and particularly its pasta dishes — cropping up in social-media posts recently. I suppose I was influenced to revisit.
Inside, a large coat rack dominates the entrance. My friend Mei has made the booking, but I'm the first here and have plenty of time to look over the menu and observe the other diners — mostly tourists, I'd hazard — before she arrives. Nobody asks me whether I'd like a drink while I'm waiting, or offers to take my coat, or engages with me at all.
The menu offers starters, pastas, pinseria romana (pizzas), salads and main courses. It's a cold night, and neither the starters nor the dull-sounding salads (with chicken, grilled vegetables or smoked salmon — yawn) appeal, while the main courses are limited to a choice of steak (a review cop-out), sea bass and sea bream. I ask whether the fish are wild or farmed and, after an offthe-cuff bluff that they're wild,...