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High End in Venice? (Barrique Review)

When you’re going out to have a nice, romantic meal for your 1-Year Anniversary, we weren’t expecting to be Hungry & Fit… just Alana & Chris, but we all know it can’t be that easy. If you put food in front of us, we’re probably going to return the plates to you clean, but we’re always going to have a strong opinion about what we just ate. We can’t help it!

You’ll notice that this review is missing something that we normally try to flood you with…our own photos. There are two reasons for that. First, we didn’t bring the fancy camera we use for our reviews. Second, it was extremely dark and every picture that I took with my phone was just blurry, no matter how many filters we applied. We could have used the flash for better results, but that would have taken away from the dining experience of the other guests, and when you’re paying this much for food, you expect an amazing dining experience. Bright lights flashing in your face isn’t the nicest way to enjoy a meal.

When I originally wrote out quick Yelp review for Barrique, I started high… mainly because there was this sense of… it was our anniversary dinner and we were so happy to be together, etc. As I started to think of everything we ate, those feelings faded and that mysterious veil disappeared. All that was left was the service, atmosphere and… the food. So, as always, let’s look at those factors and see just how high-end Barrique really is.

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Hungry Reviews… Antica Roma (Boulder, CO)

Saturday night and I am recovering from hurting myself, Alana has a cold coming on too. We rested a lot Saturday after working a ten-hour shift so once we wake up we are hungry!

Alana wanted to take a walk to be active since we took the day off of working out. Since it was so nice out, I had no problem limping and hobbling down the Pearl Street Mall to a restaurant that I wanted to go to since our last trip in that area of town. It was a nice looking Italian restaurant called Antica Roma. When we last walked past it, I loved the decor and thought the menu was reasonably priced and had good dishes. I was only partially wrong, fortunately/unfortunately.

Alana was dressed nice and I was wearing… black sweats and a black tee covered in Sajah’s hair but it was a nice atmosphere that tried to mimic the streets of Ancient Rome, to a certain degree. The waitress was nice, energetic, and attentive. Our water was never empty for too long and she was more than willing to refill our bread and help us with recommendations. I was in the mood for pesto or alfredo and they didn’t really have either. Oh well.

Menu and bread

Menu and bread

I told myself I was hoping they wouldn’t make the same mistake that Trattoria on Pearl made… but was it really my mistake expecting decent seafood in Boulder? Why would a restaurant serve something bad? Well, who knows but moving on to what we ate.

For an appetizer, Alana got a bruschetta with avocado, goat cheese and other goodness. She didn’t like the sweet chili sauce on it but she devoured everything but the raw red onion. I got the soup of the day, which happened to be a butternut squash soup… a personal favorite. It made me quite happy. The bread was burnt bad on the outside but the inside was delicious and their sun-dried tomato dipping sauce was very good.

Butternut squash bisque

Butternut squash bisque

Alana's bruschette

Alana’s bruschette

Alana's devoured bruschette

Alana’s devoured bruschette

Then came the entrees and I don’t know how she recommended this dish as her favorite. It was a lobster and tiger shrimp aragosta on fettuccine, but it wasn’t actually. There were two small shrimp… not tiger shrimp. There were three to five small pieces of lobster claw meat that hadn’t been completely defrosted. The fettuccine noodles were as thick as Chinese biang biang noodles and they all stuck together. It really was awful, and it was one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. This place had me hooked until this point. It wasn’t as bad as Trattoria because I didn’t get sick but I don’t know why they bother serving seafood if they can’t prepare it correctly. I understand its Boulder and it might be easier getting it frozen, but learn how to prepare it. Alana got a spinach cheese dish that she enjoyed.

My dish

My dish

All done

All done

Alana's dish

Alana’s dish

We took a look at the dessert menu and didn’t like the selection so we got the bill, put our 20% tip, and took our leftovers. We had a nice walk home and got more sleep! It’s a shame I wouldn’t go back because it’s so beautiful inside.

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