Bacari. (ITALIAN) Noun, plural of bacaro (masc): A simple restaurant or wine bar, typical of Venice serving small meals. Oxymoron, but more on that later.
You won’t stumble upon Bacari Social in your travels. In fact, it’s tricky finding it when you have directions. Nestled at the far end of Westbrook’s Safe Harbor Pilots Point Marina, this charming restaurant can boast about having one of the loveliest outdoor dining spaces on the Shoreline. Directly on the Menunketesuck River, which leads out to the Sound, the restaurant’s covered porch, is a fabulous place to sit, unwind, and take in the beautiful surroundings. The indoor dining room has a cool “dine at” bar, high tops, tables, and booths. They can accommodate whatever type of seating strikes your fancy.
We were greeted by Connor at the outdoor bar where we stopped off for a frosty beverage. All smiles and eager to please, he was cool and confident in his new position as bartender. It was a beautiful evening and we sat with our cocktails watching the boats, docked or meandering by. A feast for your senses.
When it came time for dinner, we chose a table on the porch. Grayson took over from there, but the entire staff pitched in to make sure the service was impeccable. What a friendly crew! They need to work on spacing courses, however, as everything arrived at the same time.
The menu is creative and diverse. We started out with two “small plates.” Polenta with marinara and the roasted olives. The olives would have comfortably served a party of 12. Moderately priced, we wondered how they could possibly afford to be so generous. The polenta was delicious, rich and creamy. The marinara sauce was nicely done. Such a large portion was much more of a main course than a small plate.
Next up, we shared a pasta appetizer. Bacari has an offering of 6 housemade pastas with your choice of 7 sauces. (What a fabulous idea). We chose the Campanella with n’djua sauce. N’djua is a very flavorful Calabrian sauce made with meats, spices, and peppers. Bacari’s version includes beef, sausage, soppressata, anchovies, prosciutto and Parmesan. The portion was enormous. The ingredients in n’djua almost guarantee a wonderfully strong flavor profile but all I tasted was the garlic, which totally obscured everything else on the plate. All the wonderful elements of the dish were sadly lost in garlic overload. I’ve found that a good chef appreciates feedback, which I’ll thoughtfully provide at our next visit.
Next up, were fish tacos. prepared with bruschetta, parmesan, and citrus aioli. You can choose salmon, shrimp or lobster. We decided on the shrimp and the salmon. We were so stuffed by the time they arrived, we took one bite and packed them up to take home. We almost never take home leftovers because they inevitably sit in the fridge, unnoticed, for days, (and because we usually finish every last morsel) but we made an exception. They were just too yummy to leave. (The following day, we scooped out the filling and had it on a salad for lunch. Delish).
As we were leaving the restaurant, we met a friendly couple, Chuck and Joyce, who were sitting in the dining room, staring in disbelief at their veal milanese and chicken cacciatore. They summoned us over. Joyce remarked that if she had known ahead of time that the portions were so large, she and Chuck would have ordered just one entree. “Will you look at this, she said somewhat peeved? “How can they afford to do this?!” I thought the same thing.
I fully recommend you try this little jewel of a restaurant. Just be sure to order conservatively, then sit back, relax, and enjoy!
