Antonio Parlapiano

Bar codex Antonio Parlapiano

When I’m behind the bar, my biggest fear is not being able to guess what the guest wants. In fact, when I fail at that, I get even more interested in them.

Treat all your guests as you would treat the most important people in your life.

You’ve got to constantly study and practice classic techniques in order to improve. But most of all, I love reading about the history of bartending. I’ve read a lot!

When you’re creating the concept for a drink, you need to be like an author or a poet: every word is important.

When I was a child I used to spend whole days with my grandparents in the field, and I learned how to behave with plants and animals. It was at that time that I began to discover aromas and tastes – and that helped me a lot in my work as a bartender.

Personally, I used to enter a lot of cocktail competition and had good results, but I’ve never considered them a way to judge a bartender’s professionalism.

I see a lot of startenders who grow their professional egos larger and larger, thinking that their skills depend on their pretentiousness and arrogance. But that’s not how it works.

I don’t like the attitude of wealth.

The perfect bartender is one who gives every guest their all, no matter their level of education or experience.

A bartender’s first rule: early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable.

As an educator in our industry, I really believe that every bartender should learn on a daily basis. Only then can every bartender become a good bartender.