Il Baretto

While easily spotted on the main street in Vernazza, Il Baretto came suggested in a few articles online, so we chose this for our first meal in this beautiful seaside town.
The patio seating is actually just across the street from their indoor area, and makes for great people watching, even in the late evening when the bulk of the tourists and beach-​goers have left town. Naturally, we had to sit outside and there was plenty of room with it 40% occupied or so. As with many places in Vernazza, the menu skews towards fish and shellfish, but there are plenty of options for those who don’t like that sort of thing or are allergic.
My wife and I started out with a caprese salad and grilled vegetables, respectively, as well as a bottle of a Cinque Terre white wine. My veggies were simple, but good; zucchini, carrot, green pepper and egg plant all got a nice char from the grill and were finished with some olive oil and herbs. The caprese salad came a bit differently than we’d often seen offered, with just mozzarella and tomatos and no basil leaves, but it was still great. The mozzarella had more flavour than some we’ve had in Italy and the fresh hunks of bright red tomatoes were tasty as well. A great start to the meal.
For our mains, my wife ordered the trofie pesto (little handmade noodles) and I got the croxetti genovese ragu (flat, medallion-​like noodles). The pesto was fantastic, with a moderated basil punch, balanced well by the olive oil, and the pasta was cooked perfectly. My ragu was hearty and beefy, and I enjoyed the efficiency with which I could eat the large croxetti noodles, not having to twirl, scoop or chase them around my plate.
The wine was very easy drinking, not having the tang to it that many French whites and others back home tend to have. If we had wanted to settle in and get our Canada Day drink on here, it would have gone down quite easily. As it was we had to slow down before finishing the bottle before our main courses arrived.
Our server was super friendly and spoke great English.
Not that there seemed to be many bad places to eat in Vernazza, but it’s hard to go wrong at Il Baretto.

The primi spaghetti frutti di mare was booring and only oil with miscels. The tagiatelli neri with pesto was also booring like supermarket pesto with black tasteless souce. So we didn’t even order secondi since they failed with the little easy dishes… We ate better at levanto maybe this should be a lesson not to eat in the Cinque Terre villages. Can’t understand all the good reviews..

You know what is the perfect complement to the beauty and charm of Cinque Terre? The food! Cinque Terre is known for a few staples: seafood (especially anchovies), pesto, focaccia, and farinata. My friend and I decided that we must sample some of the local specialities while we were in Cinque Terre. At Vernazza, we saw Il Baretto and decided to try it. Only later did I find out it was featured in my Rick Steves’ Italy guidebook. Even better!
We ordered a plate of salted anchovies, or accuighe as it is called here, and trofie al pesto to share. If you’ve had anchovies in the States and hate it, try them fresh here! It makes all the difference. The anchovies were very, very good. I could instantly tell they were fresh and caught that day instead of the cured-​in salted ones I’ve had in the U.S.
Cinque Terre is also the birthplace of pesto. Pesto on trofie is delicious! Trofie is a Ligurian pasta made with flour and water but no eggs and rolled into little squiggly shapes. It’s best served with pesto. Definitely try trofie because it’s nearly impossible to get outside of the Cinque Terre/​Liguria region. And it is absolutely fantastic!
We met someone who was born in nearby La Spezia here and he loves this restaurant, so we knew we hit jackpot. Great little spot in Vernazza. We sat outside and people watched. Service was great too.

Good service and good, local food for a fair price. We sat outside and were able to bring our dog. The menue is not to big, but containing fresh sea food and local specialities. Sitting right outside at the street to the train station makes it a great spot for people watching. Local wines served.

11÷2÷2013
My husband and I hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza (in Cinque Terre) and after spending some time hanging out by the waterfront, and enjoying some gelato… we ventured to find a restaurant in Vernazza that would serve some good authentic Cinque Terre cuisine!
We came across this restaurant — as it was one of the few that still remain open during the latter part of the afternoon. We entered and sat down for lunch! It was also featured in Rick Steve’s Italy 2013 tour book.
We ordered:
Ravioli with fish (homemade), it came with 3 shrimps, 14 € — I ordered this dish, as the guide book specified that this place makes great homemade ravioli with fish. I thought it was decent and flavorful… especially what was inside the ravioli. The other ingredients (chopped veggies+ seafood) that came w/​the ravioli helped to add some color to the dish.
Spaghetti marinara spicy, 10 € — my husband ordered this, and he thought it was pretty tasty. :) In my opinion, I thought the spaghetti was a bit plain, but he likes tomato marinara sauce type pastas and was happy it came out pipin’ hot and filled him up.
Marinated anchovies, lemon flavor, 10 € — this was our appetizer and Cinque Terre region is suppose to be known for their anchovies! oh — it was delightful to eat, and the lemon made it very refreshing and tarty. :) It definitely wasn’t salty, as how typical anchovies are… these were just delicious. You should try this if you venture into this restaurant, you won’t be disappointed. Anchovies were fresh (they probably caught them earlier in the day or week).
We sat at the very interior of the restaurant (in the cave) or sorts… so there was no wi-​fi or cell phone reception. There was a cover charge, but for some reason — we didn’t get any bread to go with our meal? What’s wrong with that?
Overall, we enjoyed our meal and the items we ordered. Glad everything was fresh and tasty. Was just disappointed that there was no bread to go with our meal, especially since most restaurants include bread + olive oil/​vinegar as part of the cover charge.