Bar Italia - Truly Italian!

Bar Italia is located right at the heart of Dublin city center and sees it's existence dating back to the previous century. It is one of the few ventures which has seen it's light being prevalent right since 1999 onwards and you would see the proud display inscribed in white text with below quote "Open 7 days for lunch and dinner since 1999". This and the popular Italian eatery joint Toscano are the 2 restaurants in Dublin which have now been serving customers for around quarter a century.

As the name connotes it's pretty to surmise that this is a restaurant which prides on Italian fare with a variety of pasta and pizza options along with samples of antipasti on the board. It was however very limited on the vegetarian side of things and I just had couple of items to choose from on the pasta or pizza menu.

For starters, I went with Rosemary Potatoes. They were large chunks of pieces shaped like a spiral and slathered with garlic, oil, butter and flourished with seasoning. They felt good on the mouth and it was nice consuming these giant sized juicy potatoes.

On the main course, I decided to go with Pasta and I literally had just 2 items to choose from one being ravioli with mushroom stuffing and another being a cheesy pasta sauteed with pepper in what you call a cacio de pepe pasta. I chose the latter and it was brought in a big 2 tier bowl with the upper end being garnished with parmesan cheese and the bottom portion were the rolled up pasta infused with cheese and a dash of pepper. It was quite lovely though for the Indian palette of mine felt a bit too bland lacking the masala you're so used to but nevertheless the tinge of cheese and pepper worked really well and it was flavorful on the whole.

The place gives a rich appeal with a black carved theme with dim lights associated. You have the bar right at the entrance and a row of seating to go along once you get inside. The service was crisp and on point. There was hardly much waiting time and you got your stuff without any delay. It's definitely a good spot to dine out however being a vegetarian options felt a bit too limited and will certainly be helpful if they have little more items in the fray. The two items which I had set me back by about 23.5 Euros with the pasta costing 19 and started about 4 and half Euros. Pricing seems par for the course and on similar lines to other places. Overall a cozy smooth dining place at Ormund Quay right around the corner of Dublin city center.

Toscana - Tantalizingly Italian!

Toscana is located in the busy and bustling Dame Street which is packed with restaurant's aplenty. When most eat outs these days are hardly in existence for a year or two, this one sees it's entrance from way back since 1999. One good thing with most eateries in Dublin is that they place the menu along with the prices right at the outside giving a glimpse of what to expect for the customers. I happened to see a two course lunch meal for a price of about 20 Euros and decided to give it a shot. The rate looked like quite a deal especially since most singular items themselves cost around the same and with this you get to try 2 items for more or less the same fare.

Being a vegetarian however, options are limited to the bottom. With less choices available at hand, it wasn't much of a hassle choosing the appetizer and main course. In the appetizer section, I went in for the 'Suppli' which are basically Italian breaded rice balls in the form of a croquette. There were 4 of them and the plating was done up nicely with each of them given separate space and coming along with a garlic dip. The arborio rice inside stuffed with mozzarella tasted quite creamy and fresh.

On the main course side of things checked out the Vegetarian Lasagna. This was pretty tantalizing with cheese infused all over the plate surrounding the layered sheets of pasta which themselves were quite hard hitting and deliciously creamy comprising major portions of broccoli florets along with pomodoro, courgette, spinach and ricotta cheese. It would have been nice if there could have been a piece or two of garlic bread to additionally complement it but however the dish overall felt quite full fledged and nice on the tongue.

The service was quite quick with hardly much waiting time. They were also quite sweet to check in regularly if things were fine. The rates in general seem a bit on the higher side but thankfully with this combo deal didn't really set back too much. The ambience is designed in the form of a pub and gives a laidback insouciant feel with dim lights and dark color palette doing a tango. Overall a nice little eatery for craving Italian delicacies which has been serving customers right from even before the turn of this century.