16 Aug Mastro Ciccio – Panini love in Bari
After arriving in Bari in May, after a long train ride from Pescara I reached my hotel and after a quick shower I wanted to go grab something to eat.
Because I wanted to visit the Old Town after, I picked the one location closest to my objective and gave it a go.
So after walking for 10-15 minutes from my hotel I reached Mastro Ciccio. Now, the place is hard to miss because it is pretty big and it is on Corso V. Emanuele 15.
From the start I must say that this is not a restaurant. It is something more like a fast-food with plenty of options (pizza, Panini, salads and other small fried dishes like arancini and panzerotti).
One other very important aspect (if you read my Puglia Downsides? Article) is the fact that this place has a fixed functioning time and you can always be sure it is open between those hours.
I ate there on the first evening of my trip and I have returned 2, 3 more times to grab a sandwich before wandering in the streets of Old Bari.
Bellow I will try to cover as much as possible from my experiences eating in this place.
- Location: central. The place is located on Corso V Emanuele close to Lungomare, Corso Cavour and the maze of streets of old Bari. You cannot miss it and it even has a small terrace outside to enjoy your meal while watching the locals walk by.
- Staff: even though it is a fast food the staff is really friendly and takes its time to explain and even advise you on what products you should try.
- Food: the paninis are great and I enjoyed 2 or 3 combinations I never ate before. I guess that by using local products they managed to get the taste so strong and good.
One word of advice: you have to be careful with the sandwiches because when heated some products may release water/sauces and you can get pretty nice stains on your clothes. Didn’t happen to me but a word of advice is needed.
Even though I enjoyed the paninis I was not impressed by the fried stuff. The arancini were…decent. I did not enjoyed them but I have a strong point of reference from a place in Catania where I ate the best arancini ever and for the panzerotti I will come back to the blog later with another article of a place in Bari where I ate some great panzerotti.
Overall a very nice place to eat and don’t think of it as a fast food type of restaurant but as a place to eat some great paninis and then head out to explore Bari.
The prices are decent and if you visit during the day the place is almost free so no need to worry about queues. At only one point, on one evening, did I catch a full house and I needed to take a ticket with a number and wait for my turn but the rest was smooth and quick as always,
As I said in the start of the post the fact that it is open always between the said hours is a great advantage in Bari.
Even though you might want to dine in another place you sometime can have the unpleasant surprise to find that location close so even more, this place comes in handy.
All in all a very enjoyable experience.