Had lunch here was fantastic! Staff really nice can’t fault the service is was excellent, as was the food will definitely return and would highly recommend.

It was a nice local place to taste some local/Italian cuisine. Quality of the food was great! Service, ok. Menu is only in the board! Ambient and mood, very cool!

We've had dinner at Il Ballo del Mattone several dozen times over the last nine years. As you might guess - it's a favorite of ours, despite the occasional off days. We love the funky decor and vibe, and have always enjoyed the owners -...a family of Italian immigrants, who celebrate their roots in their food, but with a fun, artsy twist. Perhaps the waiters can be a bit hit or miss, other reviewers have said this, but that's never stopped us from having a good to great meal, and enjoying the atmosphere dining al fresco on the sidewalk, under the restaurant's ample awning (all year round). Il Ballo actually has a couple of locations, we always go the smaller and more intimate Travestere, which is located on the corner of Gorriti and Ravignani. The main restaurant a couple of blocks over on Gorriti we avoid, because it gets quite crowded. Travestere is small and intimate, a great place to have a quiet dinner date. What brings us back are the excellent pastas - especially the handmade fusilli with either puttanesca or scaparo sauce. You would think, in a city with millions of residents who trace their roots back to Italy, that good pasta would be easy to find, all over the place - in our experience, this is just not so, and Il Ballo - over many many samplings, delivers homemade pastas a cut above any other pastas we have tried (over many years) in BA. I noticed that an Italian reviewer was not so impressed by the food, fair enough, but for us who live in BA and crave a good pasta, we find very satisfying food, here. There are some rough edges perhaps, the menu, as noted by many other reviewers, is simple and comes to you on a chalkboard brought by the waiter. We both speak Spanish, but I suspect that the waitstaff and management don't speak English so well, so you'll need some patience to get your orders right. And if they do drop the ball, overcook the pasta, or undercook your meat - just let them know, they'll make you a new plate, they really are there to deliver a good meal, and not just to take your money and send you on your way, unhappy. We used to live in the neighborhood, and the setting of both restaurants along Gorritti is great. Have dinner at Il Ballo, and afterward, there are tons of places to go for a drink all within a few blocks. In general, it's a safe and secure part of town and a fun place to go out for the evening.More