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For 21 years, Baraonda Ristorante & Bar was a fixture at the corner of Peachtree and 3rd in Midtown. The lively vibe and blistered wood-fired pizzas made the Italian restaurant a favorite among Fox Theatre patrons and local residents, including Atlantan and film executive Courtney Bennett.
In 2021, Baraonda closed in Midtown after 21 years. Owners Costanzo Astarita and Mario Maccarrone wanted to downsize their Italian restaurant, opting to relocate it to a smaller space at the Adley City Springs apartment complex in Sandy Springs. Baraonda reopened a year later, and Bennett was among the restaurant’s longtime regulars who traveled from the city to embrace the new Sandy Springs location.
When Baraonda was in Midtown, Bennett would walk to the restaurant from his former home in Brookwood Hills to meet up with his twin brother who lived in the neighborhood. Sometimes he’d grab a late dinner at Baraonda after a show at the Fox.
“People like me were kind of shocked when Baraonda left Midtown,” said Bennett. “I thought the restaurant had permanently closed, but a friend told me it moved over to Sandy Springs, so I came to try it out.”
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Bennett now lives in Vinings, part of a broader trend that saw many intown residents moving to the suburbs following the COVID-19 pandemic. Astarita said with sluggish post-pandemic dining traffic and regulars moving away from the city in favor of the suburbs, it made sense to relocate Baraonda to Sandy Springs. He’s happy loyal customers like Bennett continued to dine at the restaurant after the move.
Consistent food and service and a communal atmosphere at Baraonda make Bennett a Wednesday night regular. He prefers to sit at the bar and share a bottle of half-priced wine with friends, while enjoying pasta like creamy penne norcina with Italian sausage, a dish inspired by Astarita’s Italian heritage.
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Moving Baraonda to Sandy Springs, however, did mean losing the wood-fired pizza oven and nixing pizza from the menu. There just wasn’t enough space to accommodate the oven at the new location. Instead, the restaurant serves Roman pinsas (flatbread) topped with cheeses and ingredients like prosciutto or a trio of Calabrese salami, Italian sausage, and ‘nduja spiked with Calabrese peppers.
Other dishes like lasagna and spaghetti bolognese—both with a hearty beef, veal, and pork ragu—riff on family recipes from Astarita’s childhood growing up on the island of Capri.
Two of Bennett’s favorite dishes at Baraonda include the veal parmesan and a dry-aged ribeye served with roasted fingerling potatoes and grilled broccolini.
“I really appreciate how they’ve grown the menu [in Sandy Springs]. It’s a nice, approachable Italian restaurant, where everyone can get something they like,” said Bennett.
Despite the relocation and changes to the menu, Baraonda keeps attracting a core group of regulars, from families with young children gathering for pasta dinners to people meeting up for a post-work happy hour over espresso martinis at the bar.
And, without even knowing it, Bennett became a regular at Bonu Taverna Italiana in St. Petersburg, a restaurant he dines at when visiting friends in Florida that just so happens to be owned by Maccarrone and his wife.
“As a restaurant owner, there’s nothing better than having regulars and knowing they’re following you for good food, good service, and a comfortable ambiance,” Astarita said.