Barcola Bistro Closes for Mile End Makeover

Barcola Bistro, a relatively new restaurant and dark horse for best reviewed restaurant of the past year, will shut down this Wednesday and re-open on Thursday, March 19 with a new look. Owners Fabrizio Caprioli, Danielle Robichaud and Germain Robichaud made the announcement yesterday.

The Italian restaurant has garnered good critical buzz since it opened in Mile End a little over a year ago. Jean-Philippe Tastet wrote in Le Devoir in late January 2014 that "[l]'accueil est toujours sympathique et le menu aussi inspirant." Over in La Presse, Marie-Claude Lortie wrote last August that she had made "plusieurs découvertes chouettes cet été en préparant la mise à jour de mon guide de restaurants. Une de ces découvertes s'appelle Barcola." The praise was only slightly more muted from Sarah Musgrave in the Gazette: "Some unevenness aside, there’s a nice balance of serious and not too serious at Barcola. With some real quality ingredients, committed characters on the team and a cute space to work with, I’m genuinely curious about how it will shape up." ICYMI, this is what Barcola looks like now.

Barcola Bistro pre-makeover