One Review of “Picasso Restaurant and Bar”

1. WestCountry Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

   Four out of five stars

   Picasso is a fine restaurant in Barre center. It overlooks beautiful Barre Common, once called by Yankee Magazine as one of the 10 Prettiest Town Commons in New England, and that’s saying something.

   I’ve now dined at Picasso five times since fall 2007, with 1-3 friends each time. I strongly recommend calling ahead for reservations, because it gets very crowded. I’ve called the afternoon that I want to dine there, and always get on the list. On their site, dineoutpicasso.com, they do list their beers, wines, and full menu, however. Call ahead to make sure they’re open.

   The atmosphere is subtle and chic, painted in warm ochres, creams, and browns, with pendant lights in the bar and sinuous track lighting in various spots in the dining area. It’s the former town post office, but you’d never know it now. Yes, there’s the obligatory Picasso-like painting in the bar, and other good art on the walls. Overall, it’s a calming backdrop with music playing on the background sound system, but the telltale sound is lively conversation of the many diners. Attire is casual to nice “casual”. A 30-ish guy wearing a baseball hat, at a nearby table, looked out of place, but since that’s a very dated look, it would look out of place just about anywhere these days.

   At my most recent visit, I had a scotch and water with a twist. It was nearly twice the size as the drink usually is in Worcester or Boston, yet still tasted good and undiluted. The twist was actually a lemon slice but no quibbles there, as I like lemon in this particular drink.

   The staff is friendly and accommodating, all women, from what I could see, dressed in black and most being pretty chic themselves. Despite the success the restaurant seems to be enjoying, there is no snooty attitude that too often befalls eateries that become popular. The hostess was more upset than we were (two of us, this evening) that we were there at the appointed time, 6pm, yet no tables were available.

   After a short wait in the bar area (of maybe 8 seats), we were seated. Warm Tuscan bread and a tasty olive oil for dipping are quickly brought to the table. We later asked for a refill on the bread, with no problem or attitude.

   We shared the Chicken Kebab appetizer and that alone could have been a meal, or at least the protein part of one. The chunks of chicken were almost 2″ across, yet were tender and moist, and went very well with the mind-yogurt sauce, which was easy to pour on our plates. While I’m not crazy about either mint or yogurt, together they make a wonderful dippable combination that set off the chicken so well.

   My dining companion opted for the Norwegian salmon with citrus-herb pesto sauce, rice and asparagus, and I enjoyed the single garlic-and-spice pork chop (they are so enormous that I don’t know how anyone can eat two!) with garlic mashed potatoes and finely-diced red cabbage. The salmon dish was a hit, done exactly as desired, and the rice was a nice contrast. My guest loves asparagus and finished every last bit. The pork chop was at least 2.5″ thick yet tender and tasty all the way through. The mashed potatoes are also garlicky so if you don’t like garlic, I’d choose another entree. The cabbage is called “apple-braised” but the only flavor the apple imparts is the sweetness. It’s warm and very enjoyable; I do not like sauerkraut but this is nothing like it and changes one’s mind about the possibilities of cabbage. I could not finish everything so had it packed up (they use cardboard containers, not styrofoam) to enjoy tomorrow.

   We shared a molten chocolate cake for dessert, a popular option at restaurants these days, but Picasso’s treatment with their pungent raspberry drizzle makes for a wonderful contrast with the rich chocolate and real whipped cream. We did not have coffee or tea.

   The menu has Greek touches, such as the frequent use of feta cheese in both the appetizers and entrees. I have tried Greek food over the years but my palate just doesn’t respond, yet it took me 5 visits here to realize the Greek thread here at Picasso, because there is no dominance of any one “style” here. The owner and chef offer a nice variety of tastes.

   This was a busy night, and fair warning: when the wait staff is at full steam, they can be delayed between courses and from picking up used plates and glasses, and slow between leaving you the check and picking up your payment, for example. We wanted to move things along a little bit as we were tired after a long day but our waitress was usually too far away for us to flag down. She eventually caught up. A table busing helper is good at keeping up with your water and requests for more bread, etc. I still prefer having to wave down my waitperson than having the type of server who insists on repeatedly interrupting deep conversation with their too-perky “So how is everything?!” every few minutes.

   The rest rooms are handicapped accessible, new, tile-lined. But on this cold night, it felt like there was no heat in the women’s room. None! Please fix this, Picasso, as it can be mighty uncomfortable to “have a seat” when it’s 19 degrees outside.

   The whole restaurant is handicapped accessible, and indeed, a diner in a wheelchair seemed to have no trouble moving around Picasso.

   I would have awarded Picasso 5 stars except they break one of my Big ‘Don’t Do This!’ Rules for Restaurants: They use an evil-smelling spray on the table tops between seatings. The hostess and others spray, spray, spray, spray, spray and then spray some more, then swab the table with paper towels, so the whole area becomes overpowered by the chemical smell. This is a terrible practice that both good and bad restaurants seem to love. Think of this: there’s the owner/chef working hard in the kitchen to prepare divine food, with subtle scents and flavors, and it gets destroyed in the dining room but a fanaticism to sterilize. We were four feet away from a round table for six who’d just left, and the spray smell overcame our dessert flavors. Restaurants: Please stop this practice and find another way to clean the table tops! And don’t substitute the chemical with plain water, because diners like me will still be awaiting the chemical assault, in itself a major distraction from what should be an enjoyable meal.

   If you can ignore that awful practice, you’ll be very pleased with Picasso, and will come back with friends. Enjoy!

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