Another great Italian from the people behind Dunne and Crescenzi, Bar Italia is in three locations, this one on the North bank of the Liffey. The service and food are up to the normal high standards, and the value for money is a given. They open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Those of you familiar with Paolo's plight of finding good Italian food, will love this place. Paolo visited with the family and found an authentic Italian experience.Italians do tend to stick together when abroad and I'd been told more than once about the Bar Italia near Essex Quay. This time I set off with my wife and daughter specifically to find it.. The Bar Italia doesn't just look Italian, it is Italian. The young waiting staff are all Italian and that's the language you'll hear them use to one another. Italian music plays on the stereo, the coffee machine hisses steam and makes that inimitable noise when steaming the milk for cappuccinos. A counter display has a huge mortadella and a variety of cheese, all of which you can have in sandwiches.
. Antipasto include really good prosciutto, mortadella, salami, mild provolone, artichoke hearts, cubes of mozzarella and olives. If your appetite was anything less than strong, you could have quit after this. But we went on; a pasta of the day for Isabella, which was tagliatelle with a salmon sauce, gnocchi alla Sorrentina for me and salad for Susie. These were all dishes that reeked of the Italic shores; the tastes were genuinely authentic. I've been unhappy more than once with the quality of ingredients in Ireland that pass themselves off here as Italian, but in the Bar Italia the ingredients must have been right because the tastes were right.
The wine list here is short, but it's all Italian and it's fairly priced. Good food and a real Italian atmosphere means that I'll be going back.
