I am SO glad to have new restaurants opening downtown. My friends and I had eagerly anticipated PastaBAR opening, and I'd say that in general we were pleased with our dinner, service, and ambiance.
We were told that all of the pasta was made on site, which is great. The pasta itself tasted fresh and was cooked well. I have to say that I actually enjoyed two of the other dishes more than my own: the lemon/butter/parmesan Bavette al Cedro was really good, and the Bavette Cacio e Pepe with black pepper, butter, and pecorino cheese was also good -- I'd thought that the black pepper would be overwhelming, but it was nicely seasoned. Both dishes were simple and satisfying.
The dish I ordered was a fettuccine dish with fennel pesto, raisins, pine nuts, hot peppers, lemon and sardines. I was told by our server that you couldn't really taste the sardines, but they added a little saltiness to the sauce, which was true. I guess overall I just wasn't impressed by that dish. I couldn't taste the lemon or the hot peppers, and overall I thought it was a bit bland. One of the other people at my table tasted it and agreed. It wasn't that bad, just not impressive.
We didn't try any appetizers, but drank quite a bit of wine. :)
Overall, I'll definitely go back. It's a tad on the expensive side, and I wouldn't order the same dish again, but overall it was a nice evening in a beautiful restaurant.