How I wanted to love you based on looks alone: Barroco

I had walked by this restaurant thats in the place of the defunct Cobalt and thought it looked cute and cozy. I liked the brick walls, the dim lighting and the nouveau Baroque theme they were playing with. I really really wanted to like this place. I really did.

I suggested we try it out so 8 of my favorite ladies and I decided to get all dolled up and have dinner there on wednesday night. There was lots of fur, good shoes, a few Blair Waldorf inspired outfits, some 90s. We have fun.

The cocktail list was enticing and the drinks were good. Kristina got a maple syrup, orange and bourbon that was delicious at first but the orange was overpowering after more than one sip. Alissa and I ordered a white wine, a Chablis, and for 68$ were not at all impressed. The whole menu was excessively expensive actually.

The menu was appetizing. Renata and Alissa ordered squash soups that came in little pumpkins which was a cute presentation. It was decent tasting, not mind-blowing.

Isabelle's endive and goat cheese salad was extremely bitter and uninteresting. Alyssa's coquille St-Jacques were actually well executed and for some reason reminded all of us how our mother's used to serve them at christmas parties in the 90s.

Kristina's octopus salad was chewy and as she so wonderfully put it, underwhelming. When she threw a piece into my plate for me to taste I asked her what it was forgetting what she had ordered and not being able to identify it. Jessie ordered the bison tartare and was horrified and incredibly disappointed. It was bitter and chewy and just plain gross. L'orignal a few streets away has a much much better bison tartare.

I ordered a 34$ main of ricotta stuffed dorade royale with green pea gnocchis and... green peas. First of all the presentation was awful. The red wine sauce was heavy and didn't go well with the fish. The gnocchis were pretty good. But for 34$ I was terribly offended.

I don't even understand how these people have the balls to offer such sub par food at those prices. It's a nice place, it looks great, but the food is not. The cocktails were their only redeeming factor. And the waitress was really nice.

That's about it.

Save your money and go eat somewhere where they care about the freshness and quality of the food and not just looks. There was just no love in this place.

Gnight!!

S.