The Bari Hospitality Group’s Italian restaurant debuted in the River Oaks District development in 2023; this marks its second location. It will fill a 9,000-square-foot space at 24 Waterway Ave., serving dry-aged meats, house-made pastas, and European cheeses and fish, according to a press release.
Chef Renato De Pirro, who anchored the first location, will help with the opening, though executive chef Marcelo Mintz will supervise the kitchen day-to-day. They’ll serve many of the classics from the original Bari: fritto misto, pappardelle bolognese, several pizzas. Tableside experiences like truffle pasta and bananas foster are on offer, too.
Chefs also created some dishes specifically for The Woodlands. Their new tagliere di formaggi stars Italian cheeses, honeycomb, berries and almonds. Culaccia e melone combines burrata and melon with 24-month-old culaccia di Parma, a boneless, cured pork product. Pollo piccata arrives with lemon-caper sauce, sauteed spinach and roast potatoes.
Besides lunch and dinner service, and weekend brunch to begin Oct. 4, Bari in The Woodlands will offer weekday happy hour: $10 burgers, $10 individual pizzas and more.
The design is meant to emulate the original restaurant, which was decorated to evoke Rome and Milan. The walls are papered in Spanish patterns; Lladro chandeliers hang from the ceilings. It seats 250, with multiple spaces for private events.
“Guests from The Woodlands have supported Bari from the beginning, often traveling to our River Oaks District location and asking us to bring the experience closer to home,” Pedro Teyuca, co-owner and operator of Bari Hospitality Group, said in a release. “We listened.”
Dining and Cooking