Bar Sprezzatura

“Lovely seating, easy to access with Great parking below the restaurant. Nice atmosphere. I ordered a squash soup that was delicious 😋. A chopped salad that was pretty bad actually. Butter. A bad salad. I tried to like it but it was just bad. And then I ordered meatballs and a pasta and my gosh! It's THE BEST pasta sauce I have ever tried anywhere! The pasta was good their meatballs were also good but the sauce was a symphony of flavor. So delicious. Highly recommend it. Lovely atmosphere. Nice restaurant. Delicious pasta and meatballs in delicious red tomato sauce.”

“Beautiful setting and top notch cocktails and food! The atmosphere is intimate and stylish, perfect for a night out or a date. The cocktails are thoughtfully crafted, balanced, and clearly made by bartenders who know what they’re doing. We had a tower of chichettis, the gem salad (the goddess dressing is lovely!), and finished with some pasta. We also tried the pistachio cake for dessert and an affogato. Everyone we interacted with was very thoughtful and knowledgeable about the menu, we will be back!”

“I first made a reservation at Bar Sprezzatura for my birthday dinner before heading to the Punch Line. I ordered the Fresh Bigoli Liberty Duck Ragù, which quickly joined the clean plate club. I also enjoyed the Sprezz Reviver cocktail with dinner, followed by an espresso to stay caffeinated for the evening. The dinner ended on a sweet note with a surprise tiramisu topped with a candle. It was a thoughtful touch! On my second visit, I opted for Moroccan mint tea and shared appetizers with colleagues for lunch. The Caprese and Mushroom Forest Floor were favorites. Both appetizers were vegetarian-friendly and perfect for sharing with the table. The Scampi Alla Veneziana pasta was also delectable. It’s not easy to impress an entire team, but Bar Sprezzatura delivered.”

“Very stylish spot. I’ve been there a couple of times after catching a show at Punchline. The staff are very helpful. We often don’t have reservations and they accommodate us by getting us a table (I highly recommend reserving a table though) . The food and drinks are excellent. As others have mentioned, the meatballs and the duck pasta are superb.”

“I have been very eager to visit Bar Sprezzatura. It was around 3pm, an hour before dinner service that I was finally able to visit. The experience would end up being lighter fare and drinks on the lunch menu, so take this review with a grain of salt as I did not order entrees. Firstly, the bar itself is constructed on what appears to have been the ground floor of a building atop dark sanguine bricks. Floor to ceiling windows give the appearance of an indoor space, but you can see the exposed bricks peeking through parts of the floor. The massive wooden bar reaches up toward the ceiling and covers nearly the entire width of the restaurant. There's a scenic view of the iconic Transamerica Pyramid just outside the windows. It was etched inside a Collins ice cube included in my first cocktail, the Fumo Rosa, which is made of Siete Misterios Doba-Yej mezcal, clarified grapefruit sancho-yuzu Japanese bermutto, pomello cordial, ruby grapefruit with Sal de Gusano aka worm salt brushed on the glass. It tasted a bit like a flat Paloma. The worm salt gave it a bit more complexity and weight, but what was in the glass tasted a bit diluted and light on flavor. My partner ordered a mocktail that was a lemon-based spritz with a ton of lavender. The appetizers we ordered were all very minute in terms of portion size. We ordered the Stracci & Caviar, Seared Ahi, Deviled Eggs, Roasted Beet Salad and half-a-dozen oysters on the half shell. The Stracci & Caviar and Seared Ahi arrived side by side on one plate. They were literally bite size portions for over 20 dollars each. The flavor was unremarkable. The classic unfortunate dish which does not add up to the sum of its parts. The stracciatella lacked flavor and the caviar and ground pistachios did not accent it enough to stand out. At least not with a single bite. Maybe after 3 or 4 of them you'd get more from it. The seared ahi tuna on crostini was even less memorable. I've had similar appetizers at upscale hotel buffets but obtainable by the plateful. The deviled eggs had cured anchovies and were decent. The oysters were immaculately shucked and topped with a prosecco mignonette. No issues with those two dishes. The roasted beet salad was loaded with the bitter taste of radicchio despite the fresh goat cheese and citrus ingredients. In my opinion, more citrus and beets and less raddichio would've helped balance the dish out a bit more. The appetizer and cocktail-focused experience here was disappointing and fell short of my other recent cocktail and appetizer experiences at Bar Crenn, Anchovy Bar, Dalida, Protégé and Horsefeather. That said, I would like to try their pastas and other entrees some other time and would be willing to update my review if they are an improvement over the appetizers.”