Baru Latino

The atmosphere of the restaurant is very warm and inviting. Along with the music, it made me feel like I’m on a vacation. The servers were friendly which is always a major plus for me.
We were here for dine out and had the following:
Chili Prawns — their house made sauce is delicious with the prawns. My favorite dish of the night.
Beef Tiradito — the beef was very thin and it’s not memorable like the chili prawns.
Paella — while it was good, I had better at another restaurant, so it didn’t particularly stand out for me.
Mango Coconut Panna Cotta — it was so good! I’m not a fan of heavy dessert so this was perfect for me. It was light and refreshing — a great way to end the meal.
For those who are going, I’d definitely recommend the chili prawns and panna cotta, but take note that portions are on the smaller side. Usually I’m quite full by the end of a three-​course meal, but I felt like I could eat more after finishing the dessert.

The best restaurant experience I’ve had in years! Went for Dine-​out and it was very lively. The staff was super fun and went above and beyond to get us sat quickly. I love how all the staff were not only helping us but helping each other and having a great time doing it! It really set the tone for a fun experience.
The Short Rib? Holy smokes SO GOOD! We really had an awesome time and would recommend this place to all!
Congrats to Baru and your staff! Nailed it!
Paddy Mahony

I dined here for Dine Out Vancouver, and I must say, each dish had very fresh-​tasting ingredients. However, the service was average. It still bugs me to this day that servers take away plates before all the diners at the table are finished. The ceviche appetiser was great, the paella lacked the same kick the ceviche had, and the dessert was alright. I left feeling full, not stuffed.

This review is for dine out 2016:
Overall, we found the experience mediocre. The portions were quite small (even for a $ 30 menu). We wanted to order more food off their regular menu, but they only have the Dine Out menu available during the event.
The beef carpaccio was good but there were only 2 pieces of thinly sliced beef on the plate, while the rest was all filler with salad and bread. We also tried the shrimp and halibut cerviche but it lacked seasoning.
The paella was excellent (one of the bests I’ve had so far). The slow braised short rib with the mole sauce was also really tasty. But both dishes left me wanting for more!
For drinks, I tried their Caesar. I was really excited for this because on their menu they mention it would be garnished with their house made «goodies», but it only came with 2 very thin pieces of asparagus — disappointing! In terms of flavour, the Caesar was quite standard and lacked spice. For my second drink, I tried the Latin Lover which was very sweet but very delicious.
After initially drooling over their Dine Out menu, I was really excited to try Baru. Unfortunately, the portions and unimpressive appetizers didn’t meet our expectations. I would still like to come back to try their regular menu to get the full experience.

Great find. Good food, great service. The steak chimichuri is an amazing dish. So good! The mussels are also delicious and popular. The grilled pineapple mojito is out of this world.
Such a great find, we’ll be sure to visit again, I must try that steak dish again.

It was good but not what I expected based on reviews and the menu
Super overpriced!
Nice ambience

This is a great place to eat everything we tried was excellent and the service was above and beyond. We did the chili prawns with flat bread which was very flavorful and balanced. The muscles were the best nice and big with a great flavored broth and excellent chorizo. Highly recommend this place to eat you will not be disappointed.

Absolutely incredible food! Amazing sangria. Had this tuna tatami steak like meal, with light vinegar sauce tossed with veggies. It was insanely delicious, and very satisfying. Second time had an incredible seasoned chicken dish. I adore Latin/​spanish food and this has that perfect favour to it.
The drinks they have during happy hour are also great. Had a wonderful guava margarita while passing by. Great ambience, wonderful music and delightful staff.
I am already craving it again.

Good, but not exceptional. Good lounge style for drinks.
Great ambience for this neighbourhood, but the food just didn’t have the WOW factor.

I just came back from Baru. i had the dine out 2015 menu and, as a latin person, I thought the food was pretty good and tasty!
We had Chili Prawns and Ceviche as appetizer. Both was good, but The ceviche was my favorite.
As entrée, we had Cartagena Crusted Halibut and Costillas de Res. This second one was actually amazing! First time we went to a restaurant that could prepare a very tender, soft and tasty beef. The mashed potato was pretty good too. Love it.
As dessert, we had the latin flan. They actually made exactly the recipe that we do in Brazil. Perfect!
The restaurant is very cozy, not hard to find parking and staff was very friendly. The only bad thing was that they were taking longer than the average to bring the food, but I won’t remove any star because I know how busy those places get during the Dine out festival. Also they didn’t give us a limit time to stay on the table like Chambar did.
We also got 10% off for the next time! I will definitely go back soon. :D

$ 28 Dine Out Vancouver 2015
Beef tiradito, seared beef carpaccio with chimichurri, greens, and yam hay GF 3.5÷5 — it wasn’t a difficult but it was just about right. The chef really liked to use black pepper on his food. For some reason my chimichurri was on the side and it made it better. I could taste more of the sauce and it went even better with my flatbread.
Ecadorian red ceviche, citrus marinated scallops, shrimp and octopus in a roasted red pepper and smoked tomato mojo GF ³⁄₅ — very crispy and sour red ceviche. Luckily the amount of onion used wasn’t too bad.
Paella Baru, Spanish chorizo, chicken, mussels, prawns, scallops and halibut, tossed with rice, fresh cilantro and smoky salsa GF 3.75÷5 — there was way too much black pepper. There is no way where you couldn’t tell the amount of black pepper used. Some of them came with a sauce while the others didn’t.
Costillas de res, slow braised short ribs on mashed potato with seasonal vegetables, fished with guava mojo GF ³⁄₅ — my friend enjoyed it but I found it a little too salty. I couldn’t remember any guava mojo in my bite.
Latin flan orange blossom with caramel GF ¹⁄₅ — all I could taste was condensed milk with a berry sauce and mango? sauce. There was no orange blossom nor caramel. At some point, I thought they gave me the wrong dessert. Normally I wouldn’t give it that low for a dessert.
Service 1.5÷5 — The comments were right: there was at least 30 minutes wait before each course. There were 1.5 people in the kitchen with 4 servers in this restaurant. The delay was definitely from the kitchen. We waited ½ hour before our server finally took our order. While waiting, someone asked if we could have some bread. She said she could give us plantain chips instead without mentioning anything about the price). We found out that it was $ 4 when the bill came. She also charged us 17% gratuity for 8 and above when there were only 7. She said it was based on the reservation not on the actual. Food was okay but the service and wait time were a little unreasonable.

I opted for the Ecuadorian Red Ceviche (with tomato mojo) for my starter because I love the sound of a shrimp, scallop and octopus medley. This appetizer was mostly filled with shrimp and scallop and had just a dash of octopus instead of a third (a missed promise). It was a refreshing start minus the lack of octopus since it’s chilled before serving.
The entrée I had was the Paella Baru. With a ton of my favourites (chorizo, chicken, mussels, prawns, scallops, and halibut) in the mix, I thought this was a great choice. The rice was warm, seasoned well, and tasted great with the seafood (mussels being my favourite combination). I didn’t find any halibut though which felt like another missed promise. I’m not sure if it was just my dish that was missing the halibut or if the kitchen just scoops out paella from a giant pan and my scoop just didn’t have any halibut.
Dessert was a traditional flan. This was super smooth and floppy like other flans I’ve had. I thought this was a little too rich on the cream but you don’t have any other choice on the set menu for desserts. This dessert would be good for someone who likes their pudding to be extra viscous.

The Chepen duck was amazing. The atmosphere was great for romance but also just a regular night out. Also tried the Equadorian red ceviche which was packed full of flavour, ask for the house hot sauce as well! Also had the baru tacos and it was ok but the halibut was a little bland and the mango on top is interesting but I personally am not into sweet and savoury being combined. Had a great time here :)

So I’m really giving a 2.5,
We were given a table in the corner at the window. It had a view of the side of the 7 – 11 and the Chevron station. Back inside, there was a party of around 20 people, about 3m to our right.
The food was very good. Everything was fresh, relatively authentic. Service was friendly. But around 30 minutes after we got there, the big table’s patrons got pretty ripped. They were super loud and we couldn’t really have a conversation.
I’m giving them 2.5 stars because if you want a big group, you need a private room or to hold a private event. But you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. It’s not fair to the rest of the patrons.

The food was easily 4 stars but the service was 1 star at the very most. We sat at the bar where they took our order about 15 minutes after closing our menu. After another 20 minutes when we asked how our order was coming along they responded w/​«what’s the rush, you just ordered a few minutes ago». I responded «I guess in Canada 20 minutes is considered a few!!» Since the food was taking forever, we decided to order dessert since we were starving. The bartender which was the bar manager practically refused to take our dessert order since the food was, supposedly, coming up –I told him I was taking it to go which was probably the only reason why he placed that order for us –wtf? Anyway, to make a long story short, the food & our dessert order arrived at the same time easily over an hour from when we first sat at the bar.
Although the food was great, nobody deserves to be stuck in a place for over 2 hours when they don’t want to or have other plans later that evening. (Note: This occurred in Sept 2013 –hopefully, they’ve changed their staff)

AMAZING!!!
My friend took me to Baru to the first time. Its a cute little restaurant with amazingly friendly staff. The staff were so polite and cool at the same time. The restaurant had an amazing vibe to it. We ordered the Halibut and the steak and also an order of muscles and also the shrimp to try out. I must say EVERYTHING WAS OUT OF THIS WORLS INCREDIBLE!!! and if i’m a really picky eater. I ordered the Halibut because I don’t eat red meat. I’m usually not a big fan of fish but the halibut was sooo good that I actually became a fan. Also the muscles were the best muscles ever.
So All together amazing vibe, amazing food. What more do you need?
Can’t wait to go back there very soon: D

Yummmmmmy!
My taste buds and I thank you!!!
I love Dine out Vancouver, because I get to try places like Baru Latino.
First I called to make reso and I know that during DOV it’s harder to get a table, they manage to get us in for 9pm, which was a little late for a Sunday dinner. The day of our reso around 7:50 I get a phone call and I was told that they can have a table available for us at 8:30, bonus!
We arrive and wow super cute place, a high five from a really cute host very welcoming and I loved the atmosphere, small, cozy, and cool. We were sat near the front window. The restaurant is busy but you can tell the rush was about to end.
We were given the DOV menu, but my husband and I already knew what we were going to have.
Appy: Beef Tiradito– sear beef carpaccio with chimichurri, greens and yam hay. Love the tender beef and it came with fresh flat bread and a small salad.
Main: Paella Baru– chorizo, chicken, mussels, prawns, scallops, halibut with rice. Thank goodness I listened to a Unilocaler review this was amazing! So much seafood and meat even with the DOV portion. The rice was done perfectly the dish was a symphony in my mouth. I wanted more and more.
Dessert: Latin Flan orange blossom with caramel was creamy but not too sweet it was a perfect end to a meal.
My husband choose Ecuadorian Red Ceviche and the same main and dessert as I did. The ceviche was amazing, I think I enjoyed it more than my own appy (dont tell my husband I hate to admit he choose something better than i did) so much flavor in this little dish.
The service was top notch, from the host to the server it was 5 stars all the way. Overall I love this place, and I don’t use the L word too often. I cant wait to come back again and again…

Let’s talk paella. Mmm mmm mm.
My first time here — dine out Vancouver 2014.
I ordered the beef tradito for my app. Delicious thin sliced beef, chimichurri. so many noms. Husband had the ceviche which was the perfect level of acid and salt and smokiness. I stole half of it, naturally.
Second course: paella. Perfectly cooked rice, delicious layers of flavour and texture. Chockful of clams, mussels, chorizo sausage, scallops, prawns… layers of peppers and onions, doused in a delicious perfectly balanced sauce that had a sharp hint of citrus, and finished off with fresh cilantro. It was hot, delicious, and I straight up literally cleaned my bowl.
Husband had plantain crusted halibut. Smoked tomatoes, and cassava and yam sticks. I loved the bite I had, though as a forewarning cassava is always an interesting texture.
Dessert was different but enjoyable. A «flan,» however not excessively sweet, and balanced by mango and blackberry coulis.
And they have jazz on Mondays.
And now I’m going to come back here again and again and again and get fat!
The end!

Dine Out 2014
Our first time to this restaurant, as it was already on my list, very happy that they participated in Dine Out.
We chose:
1^st course:
Beef Tiradito: Seared BEEF CARPACCIO with chimichurri, greens and yam hay
Ecuadorian Seafood Cerviche: Citrus marinated SCALLOPS, SHRIMP and OCTOPUS in a roasted red pepper and smoked tomato mojo, comes with a nice warm Fried Tostada.
2^nd Course:
Paella Baru: Spanish CHORIZO, CHICKEN, MUSSELS, PRAWNS, SCALLOPS and
HALIBUT tossed with rice, fresh cilantro and smoky salsa served with home made flatbread.
Cartagena Crusted Halibut: Plantain crusted HALIBUT with grilled green beans and roasted tomatoes, served on yam and cassava sticks, finished with a tamarind rum soy glaze, topped with yam hay
3^rd Course:
LATIN FLAN orange blossom with caramel — very nicely done with mango and berry compote
The menu looks incredible for $ 28; keep in mind, this is Dine Out size so the portion are slightly smaller; it was still filling and now we have a really good idea of what their food tastes like. We really enjoy the taste and presentation of the food.
Vibrant restaurant with open kitchen and stools at the bar/​kitchen area, funky décor, wonderful upbeat music
They also have a large selection of cocktails, offer by the glass and in a jug. There were several groups drinking Jugs of Mojitos and Margaritas around us.
The servers are all very friendly and fast, they keep your water glass fill without asking even though the restaurant was packed.
Free Underground Parking and entry is on West Broadway.
1 star off because our mains were served from a cold plate, would have been better if the plates were warmed.
Pictures are pink tinged since we were seated by the pink lighted wall.
We will definitely return to try out other items on their Menu, (i.e GF Fish and Chips Mondays)

Love love loved this place! After living in California I’ve come to notice the dearth of decent Latin cuisine options in Vancouver. Baru certainly surpasses «decent» and makes it into the «fantastic» category.
Started off the evening with a mojito, which was very good. Tried their dine out menu which featured the ceviche that all the Unilocalers rave about (for good reason), Paella which was choked with chorizo and seafood and had a lovely fiery kick, and Orange Flan which was a nice light way to end the meal.
Ambience is quite cute with lanterns and a very cozy atmosphere. This is a fantastic restaurant to take a date! Can’t wait to go back!