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Ros’ Rating Food: 9 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 4 Value for Money: 4
After reading several good reviews of Cibo, I must say that our experience there was very disappointing.
We arrived at around 9:30pm to find a moderately busy restaurant. I felt the waitresses who welcomed us could have looked a little happier, but we got what we expected at least- the menu, bread and some rather delicious olives
Cibo certainly has an interesting look. It’s bizarre decor can’t fail to suprise you. The walls are adorned by classical paintings, embossed with the figures of statues. I also couldn’t help noticing that, if we had sat on a different table, one of us would have spent the meal with our head between a pair of stone breasts!
The quirkiness of the decor was amusing however and made a good talking point for the evening. Well, it would have done if you could have heard yourself. An immense racket was coming from a neighbouring table where a large raucous family was seated, apparently for a birthday. During our meal we all about this family and their friends. So did the rest of the diners. Sadly, the accoustics in Cibo were not helping at all.
To make matters worse, the service, stayed sullen and became very, very slow. It took far too much effort to get the waitresses’ attention. For some unknown reason, our bottle of wine (a rather nice Pinot Grigio) was kept at the bar during the meal which made the slow service all the more noticeable as we were waiting upwards of ten minutes to have our glasses refilled. It took about 15 minutes to get plates taken away and for the bill to arrive after it had been requested.
Luckily for Cibo, the food partially makes up for the serving staff and surroundings. My starter of duck ravioli was wonderful. The duck filling was deliciously rich and the porcini mushrooms it was served with were a perfect accompaniment. However, it was not a patch on Goon’s goat cheese mezzaluna, which was just bursting with fresh piquant flavours.
The mains also did not disappoint. I had decided to have the spaghetti with lobster in its own sauce. The lobster was delicious and I had a lot of fun dismantling it. Goon had fillet steak which was cooked perfectly to rare and was tender and delicious.
However we did both note that, in all three pasta dishes, the pasta was cooked much more al dente than I would have myself.
As a rare treat we decided to stay for dessert. It’s a shame it took so long for the menus to arrive. Goon’s white chocolate mousse was to die for. It had just the right density and was wonderfully creamy. My tiramisu was also good.
It’s a shame that the front of house of this restauant lets it down so much because the food here is fantastic. However, when you are paying £100 plus for a meal, you expect more than just good food. Maybe Claridges style pampering isn’t necessary but you’d expect to be shown SOME attention. We felt ignored throughout the meal. For this reason, I can’t recommend Cibo.
Ros’ Rating Food: 9 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 4 Value for Money: 4
After reading several good reviews of Cibo, I must say that our experience there was very disappointing.
We arrived at around 9:30pm to find a moderately busy restaurant. I felt the waitresses who welcomed us could have looked a little happier, but we got what we expected at least- the menu, bread and some rather delicious olives
Cibo certainly has an interesting look. It’s bizarre decor can’t fail to suprise you. The walls are adorned by classical paintings, embossed with the figures of statues. I also couldn’t help noticing that, if we had sat on a different table, one of us would have spent the meal with our head between a pair of stone breasts!
The quirkiness of the decor was amusing however and made a good talking point for the evening. Well, it would have done if you could have heard yourself. An immense racket was coming from a neighbouring table where a large raucous family was seated, apparently for a birthday. During our meal we all about this family and their friends. So did the rest of the diners. Sadly, the accoustics in Cibo were not helping at all.
To make matters worse, the service, stayed sullen and became very, very slow. It took far too much effort to get the waitresses’ attention. For some unknown reason, our bottle of wine (a rather nice Pinot Grigio) was kept at the bar during the meal which made the slow service all the more noticeable as we were waiting upwards of ten minutes to have our glasses refilled. It took about 15 minutes to get plates taken away and for the bill to arrive after it had been requested.
Luckily for Cibo, the food partially makes up for the serving staff and surroundings. My starter of duck ravioli was wonderful. The duck filling was deliciously rich and the porcini mushrooms it was served with were a perfect accompaniment. However, it was not a patch on Goon’s goat cheese mezzaluna, which was just bursting with fresh piquant flavours.
The mains also did not disappoint. I had decided to have the spaghetti with lobster in its own sauce. The lobster was delicious and I had a lot of fun dismantling it. Goon had fillet steak which was cooked perfectly to rare and was tender and delicious.
However we did both note that, in all three pasta dishes, the pasta was cooked much more al dente than I would have myself.
As a rare treat we decided to stay for dessert. It’s a shame it took so long for the menus to arrive. Goon’s white chocolate mousse was to die for. It had just the right density and was wonderfully creamy. My tiramisu was also good.
It’s a shame that the front of house of this restauant lets it down so much because the food here is fantastic. However, when you are paying £100 plus for a meal, you expect more than just good food. Maybe Claridges style pampering isn’t necessary but you’d expect to be shown SOME attention. We felt ignored throughout the meal. For this reason, I can’t recommend Cibo.
