Bistro La Baia — Philadelphia, PA

October 21, 2025

The Parm Boys Overall Score: 7.76 / 10

The Vibe

We walked into the dining room and realized we were the only ones in the restaurant. While having the entire place to ourselves was honestly pretty cool, it did leave us asking: where are your customers? The service was pure no-nonsense, making for a super relaxing experience. The host and kitchen staff clearly knew who we were—he wanted to impress the Parm Boys!

On the downside, the room temp was a major battle. I'm hot! Not sure if it was the wine or if they desperately need to crank up the AC in this spot, but we were looking around like: can we open a window? On a brighter note, they have a super clean bathroom—small, but very nice—and the desserts at the end of the night were absolutely fantastic.

The Parm

We decided to mix it up and go with a three-parm split on this run: the classic, a grilled chicken parm, and a pesto parm. The trio worked—who woulda thought? The standout was easily the pesto friggin' parm, baby! Talk to me nice, because that pesto absolutely slapped. They even offered a grilled chicken parm, which was a unique touch.

The biggest drawback to the setup was the plate logistics. We did a three-way split, and while they were all good, there is a major downside to not having your own full plate in front of you. That's not really the restaurant's fault, but it has to be noted. Also, while all three options were solid, none of them completely blew us away. There is definitely something to be said for a joint that bypasses the variety and just focuses on making one singular, elite parm.

The Highs and Lows

• The Positives:

  • The pesto parm was an absolute home run that completely slapped.

  • Unique menu flexibility with a grilled chicken parm option and a three-way split.

  • A wonderful mushroom appetizer and lovely polenta bruschetta.

  • Fantastic, top-tier desserts to close out the meal.

  • Super clean, well-maintained bathroom.

  • No-nonsense, highly relaxing service.

• The Negatives:

  • The dining room was way too warm and stuffy.

  • Splitting three ways meant missing out on the satisfaction of a dedicated, full plate.

  • The Caesar salad was basic, unimpressive, and highly average.

  • Avoid the olives on the apps—one of the starters had a weird olive flavor that didn't land.

  • While everything was good, no individual cutlet completely blew our minds.

Closing Thoughts

Bistro La Baia serves up a super relaxing, quiet atmosphere with some creative menu options. Getting to try a classic, a grilled, and a pesto parm side-by-side was a blast, and that pesto option is a certified winner. If they can get the AC running right, tighten up the Caesar salad, and elevate the standard red-sauce cutlet to match the high bar set by the pesto, this place has some serious potential.

Scoring

• Shizz's Score: 8.0/10

• Dave's Score: 7.7/10

• Matt's Score: 7.6/10