Bar Roma

Such a little cute Italian place on UES. Not posh, but charming with great food, vines and proper coffee. Went there after cultural visit of this area and was so happy to eat such delicious octopus, fresh pasta for me and osso buco for my party. I would recommend this place for any Italian food lovers. Definitely coming back there.

Comfort food!!! Good place to sit and chat away the hours. Friendly service. Orecchiete and gnocchi are my favs. Brie and black truffle bruschetta is a must!

If you would like to go to Italy, but don’t have the time or airfare, head to Bar Roma! It feels so authentic, like you have taken a mini vacation. The staff are friendly and accommodating.
All the food was fresh and delicious and the wine, excellent.
We started with a buratta appetizer that came with fresh figs and tomatoes. I had a cucumber yogurt gazpacho and my friend had orichetti w shrimp.
I look forward to going back, and taking other friends.
If you try it once, you will be a fan.

Super quaint neighborhood eatery with yummy Italian food. Nice wine-​by-​the-​glass selection. Can get crowded, but it’s totally worth the wait. Love their food!

I love all the food! Ravioli Di pera e formaggio. I also recommend their lasagna. The chef cook just there and the staff is friendly

I am tempted to give it a horrible review to keep others away, this is a neighborhood gem. I don’t understand the reviews complaining about portion size, I have always been served «normal» size portions. Of course we always order an appetizer, or two and some wine in addition to our entrees, so perhaps I’m just not starving when the entrée arrives to notice. It doesn’t matter if I’m meeting a friend for a glass of wine and a quick nosh, dining with my husband, or bringing friends along, we always have great service, delicious food and a lovely atmosphere.
Yes, it is a small place, and the tables are small as well. 4 people are accommodated just fine. It reminds us of a small, out of the way, restaurant in Rome, and the staff is just terrific.
Don’t go if you are expecting over size portions, or sprawling elbow room. Definitely tight space, but well worth a visit.
love it

I had dinner at Bar Roma last night. It was Thursday.
I was there with my wife.
We had the classic «Caprese» salad mozzarella and tomato and the «Roma“salad both very good!!!
As main course my wife had the orata (sea bass) and I had orecchiette with shrimps and zucchini. The orata was perfectly cooked served with a nice sauce artichokes/​black olives and some roasted potatoes. The orecchiette so delicious!!! Light, testing, delicate… very very good!!!
We had a nice bottle of Rose wine with our dinner.
We ordered a pear tart as dessert to complete our superb meal and finish the wine.
Dinner was wonderful… really good!!!
Staff was friendly and attentive at the same time. Place cozy and simple!!!
Very happy!!!
We definitely we’ll go back!!!
Thank you!!!

I agree with the others about potion size but if the food was amazing it would probably be ok. Unfortunately the food missed in every area. The service was atrocious. There were four of us and here is how the food came out. Two orders of lasagna came out first. Four minutes after that the 3^rd entrée was sent out with the 4 th person’s appetizer. Three minutes later the 4 th persons entrée was delivered. It was crazy. The lasagna was dry and the sauce mediocre. The rabbit special was dry and tasted like a salt lick. The potatoes were good. The chicken entrée which came out last looked a lot like my rabbit so I’m pretty sure they used the same sauce. The place was jammed and it was very noisy. Not my kind of place.

I went las week Nice place to have a dinner, the food is really good a nice atmosphere very good

I found this great little restaurant in Carnegie Hill, right next to the 92Y, where I had seen a show. We had the special salad of the day with eggs, spinach and crunchy whole carrots, it had a very summery taste; then we ate a plate of grilled marinated vegetables with buffalo mozzarella. It was all delicious.
To drink we had a very good Italian beer.
The staff is all Italian so I really felt at home.
The place is very small and the tables are very small so we had to sit at the bar because the restautant was full.

Great décor. nice place for a drink, but the food is over priced and the portions left me hungry after my $ 100+ meal. I would give the food a ⁷⁄₁₀ highest — I was not impressed.

THE WORST PRICE-​VS-​SIZE VALUE
I’m write this review at 4am because this place kept me awake. I still can’t believe what we paid for tonight. I felt good about the place for 15 minutes until the food came. And I can’t believe my eyes. I just ordered a nearly $ 20 pasta and got a scoop of pasta with 5 little shrimps in it… and my husband got about half a dozen count of big pasta tubes with one table spoon of meat sauce… and my 5 year old got an regular order of lasagna size of a hotel bar soap. This all felt like a bad joke. With wine and dessert, 2 adults and 1 little kid paid $ 120 and we still walked out hungry. The food was unspecial… something I can easily made at home. I can’t stop thinking… what makes them feel so special that they can charge this much for this quality of food at this proportion? This place just made a benchmark for the worst price-​vs-​size in town… and I just know I’d still be upset thinking about it years from now!

Beautiful fairly new place in the Upper East. The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because is tiny. If it was a bit bigger and more spacey I would give 5 stars plus. Great traditional Italian food, loved the braised calamari with peas, bruschetta Tartufo and the cheeses were so yummy, too and prices are really good. You should definitely try their red wines, too. Some very good selection to choose from.

I’ve walked by this quaint location tucked away on a quiet side street in my Yorkville ‘hood for awhile. It reminded me of a hole-​in-​the-​wall place found in the non-​touristy areas of Rome. All for feeling nostalgic about my study abroad days, I found an excuse to stop in one night for dinner.
The space is tiny and I wouldn’t arrive with more than four people.
The menu is reasonably priced (for NYC) and the portions here are a bit smaller than one would expect at a neighborhood Italian joint. I ordered the gnocchi and it was unfortunately slightly overcooked. This isn’t okay in my book but I was so charmed buy this place I let it go. If I come again, I would try something different.
There service here was prompt and our server didn’t rush us. Overall, a nice place for a causal weeknight dinner.

This is a delayed post, but want to share my experience nonetheless.
It was Valentine’s Day and felt like staying in the neighborhood last minute. My boyfriend and I were craving Italian. We were hesitant to try bar Roma because of the scattered reviews.
The place was quant and super cute. It’s really amazing what they did in such a small space. It’s a warm and homey feel. I really like what they did with the décor. But since it’s so small, the tables are close together. But that’s to be expected.
Since it was Valentine’s Day, they tried really hard. Fresh rose peddles on the tables, a complementary Italian shot/​drink, And even my ravioli came out in heart shapes (see picture). And it was delicious. Not a huge portion, but a normal size for a classier restaurant.
The service was attentive and pleasant, and the overall experience was more then we hoped for. We will definitely be back.

Was attracted by its proximity to the Y where we were going to an event. Very disappointing. Price points are somewhat high for what they put out.
Had a very watery minestrone; I don’t mind a clear both but it should be full of flavor. More disappointing: osso bucco in an Italian restaurant should be a slam dunk for them, but they blew it. Meat wasn’t succulent and falling off the bone but dry and chewy. No marrow spoon. Skimpy sauce. Side of pasta, special request, was way undercooked. I don’t mean al dente; I mean not done.
Not going back.

First time here: Friendly, authentically Italian staff serving up a little piece of Rome on 92^nd Street. Had great minestrone soup, a hearty lasagna bolognese, & wife had tasty pasta special.
Also enjoyed a perfect dirty martini, which is actually hard to come by on the UES.
Small tables and cramped quarters might make the experience less enjoyable. We were here on a night that was not busy.
Most Important: will come again :)

Come on people! Things are not that desperate on the Upper East Side! How this place got all these five-​star reviews is beyond me. I walked in expecting a warm, reasonably priced neighborhood joint and left sorely disappointed.
The décor and the vibe is really nice — cute little wooden tables, warm terracotta walls and a big open kitchen — but unfortunately that was probably the best part. I’ve lived in NYC for a while now, and understand the difficulties that even the best restaurants have to turn a profit. But Bar Roma gave us all a total sticker shock. Most of the appetizers were $ 15+, the pasta dishes were mostly ~$ 20, and the entrees…, well I don’t exactly remember, because I was too busy being shocked at the price of everything else on that menu. Seriously, after seeing the prices on the menu I looked around me to make sure I wasn’t in some fancy mid-​town/​west village trattoria. Since we already sat down and ate some bread, my fiancé, our friend and I decided to give Bar Roma the benefit of the doubt — who knows… maybe the portions are huge…
I wasn’t super hungry and had eaten a greasy brunch so I decided to ordered a beet and goat cheese salad for $ 17 and my fellow diners each ordered a pasta dish for ~$ 20, and these are not fancy pasta dishes, mind you, they ordered pasta Bolognese and fusilli with pesto. Well, by the time our food arrived the last bastion of hope, that the portions would be decent sized, was dashed. The beet salad was a normal appetizer portion. The dressing complimented the sweetness of the beets and salad was pretty refreshing but does not really fill you up. The pastas were normal portions, perhaps even a bit on the smaller side. My fellow diners though their food tasted decent enough, albeit a bit too greasy.
After that unsatisfactory meal, we all had room for dessert but decided against it when we saw the price. $ 12.95 for dessert??? Are they aware that Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern charge $ 9 — $ 10 dollars for dessert? Word of advice to the owners of this place, you can charge $ 25 for a plate of pasta and $ 13 for dessert at Botegga del Vino because it’s in mid-​town and most of the clientele (including moi) are dining on expense accounts. But charging these ridic prices uptown (where the rent is cheaper) is like giving your guests a big giant middle finger! Needless to say, I won’t be back!

This quaint, authentic Italian bistro restaurant is a little visit to Italia!
Went there with our Italian friends, who are excellent cooks in their own right!
We all agree Bar Roma food was very good especially the dessert!

Wow. Just found this new venue by the owners of Via Quadronno and Bottega Del Vino. OMG… my new favorite place for cocktails and dinner. They’re not officially opened and in it’s «soft opening» stage. The design is very old school and makes you feel like you’re in rome and the service is impeccable. The cheese and wine selection is something I have only found in Italy. The Lasagna Bolognese and the Gnocchi alla Romana was «almost» as great as my grandmother’s…but a close second. My buddy Tim had the Capesante al Miele (Sea Scallops with honey) and he’s still talking about it.
Overall, I wish Unilocal would allow me to give them 6 stars! The café size restaurant is somewhat hidden on a quiet block on the upper east side but the the secret is out… I only hope that I can get a reservation in the future.