You can go to De Pijp for a while for all sorts of things, but a real Bologna bar was missing. Ilario changed that on March 26, 2026. On Eerste Sweelinckstraat, this aperitivo restaurant opened its doors, with a concept that is simple but well thought out: drinking takes center stage, food comes along naturally. Not as an afterthought, but as a logical follow-up to a good Negroni or Spritz.
The atmosphere is immediately clear. You sit at the bar or outside on the terrace, Italo Disco sounds in the background, and a plank of mortadella appears on the table. That mortadella, by the way, is not just any mortadella, but top quality. And the salumi is cut by hand, as is customary in Bologna. No bells and whistles, no frills. Just good stuff, well handled.
The heart of the menu is the lasagna. The recipe is straight out of Bologna, no adaptations, no modern nods to trends. That's how it was, that's how it will stay. That kind of choice says a lot about how Ilario works: rather one thing good than 10 things nice. The menu also consists of small sub-plates, shared plates that you can dive into in pairs or fours without it becoming a joint project.
In De Pijp, where hospitality spots sometimes feel like an assembly line, that's a difference that counts.
Ilario is open six days a week, resting on Mondays. The kitchen does not open until 5:30, which makes it immediately clear that this is not a lunch spot. On weekday evenings the doors close at one o'clock, on weekends at two. That gives the bar something of a true late-night destination, though it's not a nightclub. It's just a place where you won't be rushed out in half an hour. In De Pijp, where catering spots sometimes feel like an assembly line, that's a difference that counts. Drink first, food follows naturally, and you stay longer than you planned.