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| - I'll confess that after nine years I never took the time to sit down in Bacaro for a meal before last night. I always preferred Radio Maria, Escobar or some other place for a nice meal. So before we set out on a Friday night for Bacaro, I decided to Yelp it and I was (and still am) very suspicious of a few of the reviews.
Here was a place with lots of 1 & 2 star reviews and yet a couple of 5 star reviews, written in great length and gushing detail by Yelpers for whom this was their only review. So who writes their first and only review in great length and never mentions anything they ordered, just summarizing it as an excellent restaurant, then never subsequently reviews any other restaurant? I may be a cynic, but it raises red flags....
So, we set off to do our own independent research: Three people on a Friday night. The place is full, we get one of a couple of available tables, with no reservations. The waitress was wonderful. My first requirement to enjoy a restaurant experience is good service, and she was great. She knew the menu, she was unequivocal when we asked her what she liked. She kept her distance and watched us for cues, never interrupting a conversation and never rushing us nor ever making us wait.
The wine list is huge, the drink list is equally huge, but both are very pricey by Champaign standards. My wife's martini was a very full glass, all the way up to the "c" section as we Assembly Hall fans would say.
We had a risotto special with fish "for the table", one mixed green salad, and one fried pork belly starter. The pork belly was $10 and was the size of a large marshmallow in the center of a 12 inch plate, humorous by its dinkyness. But good, like a chunk of fried bacon fat.
Then we had three entrees, all were very good. Mine was the grouper ($28) and frankly I don't recall my companion's meals because we also knocked down one martini and two bottles of Cote D' Rhone between the three of us. The Cote D' Rhone was $28/bottle and the lowest price wine on the list. Several other wines could be had in the high $30's, and then the rest of the list was north of $40.
One apple pie ala mode later and the three of us were out of there for $192 before tip; and she was worth the $40 tip we left, so by the end of the day it approached $77 per person.
So if you start a Yelp review at a three, this place gets one more star for having a great server, one star for being in DT Champaign and being beautiful inside & out, including cloth hand towels in the loo. Then I'll knock one star off for being too pricey for the market, but if Yelp allowed half-stars I'd give Bacaro 4.5.
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