Ciao! opened in 2011 on a site that had previously hosted Billy Bob Jack’s Barbecue and Watercress. Although in an area that was close to shopping and had little competition, the previous businesses struggled through indifferent food (Billy Bob Jacks) and a combination of underheating and lack of atmosphere (Watercress). The building underwent a major refit so the restaurant was much warmer in feel and a bar was added to help the buzz. The emphasis for food is now wood-fired pizzas and Tuscan pasta. The pizza preparation area is in full sight of the clientele with seats adjoining if you want to sit there. The powers behind Ciao! had previously established the Boatyard Grill several years earlier. They’d built The Boatyard into a consistently popular performer in an unfashionable location so this was a second attempt to do something similar, though the focus of the food is very different.
Fresh baked bread and rosemary, pepper and garlic dipping olive oil is delivered to the table when orders are taken. When eating alone, this was not always guaranteed to happen but the restaurant seems to have that under control nowadays.
Fresh baked bread and rosemary, pepper and garlic dipping olive oil is delivered to the table when orders are taken. When eating alone, this was not always guaranteed to happen but the restaurant seems to have that under control nowadays.
Ciao's Must-try Dishes
The Dirty Lorenzo is a tomato based pizza with salami and meatballs as the meat core, mozzarella cheese playing a bit part and pickled banana peppers providing some bite to the proceedings. Fresh basil tops things off. The pizza base is delicious.
The Stuffed Pizza is on the menu as an occasional lunch special.The usual fine dough is stuffed with pepperoni, salami, meatballs, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. The baked pizza is dusted with parmesan & chopped basil before serving. It comes with a side of pomodoro dipping sauce although this is largely irrelevant. This is a great winter lunch option providing a strong, satisfying mix of meaty flavours and plenty of oozy mozzarella.
The Bisteca Burger is based round an 8 oz grilled Angus beef patty. The cook patty is topped with Aged Cheddar and caramelized onions and served on a poppyseed roll. Well seasoned beef was cooked medium-rare and the wonderful melted cheese made this a rich pleasure. A thin layer of onions under the melted cheese didn't overwhelm the beef. The only downside was that this was served with a side of house fries that were very poor (see below).
Walk into any bar or grill in the US and if they have a salad option there's a good chance that it will be a Cobb salad. The usual ingredients are chicken, bacon, tomato, hard-boiled egg, avocado, tomato and Roquefort on mixed greens. It is very easy to make a bland Cobb salad. Ciao! list an Italian Cobb salad on their menu and it really is splendid. Huge chunks of roasted chicken breast are accompanied by salami, Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, artichokes and tomato with Gorgonzola chunks sprinkled on top. The lemon basil vinaigrette works really well with the other ingredients. This was a really pleasant surprise.
Recommended Dishes
A much more successful appetizer is the wood-fired chicken wings. These are topped with caramelised onions and provide a wonderful alternative to the wings served up in most restaurants. The chicken wings were lovely and moist and were really satisfying until we got to the large drumettes that turned out to be undercooked. These were taken away and returned to the table later but were so hot to the touch it suggested they’d been given a blast in the microwave to finish them off. Overall, the impression was of a great appetiser that suffered in the execution so probably worth trying again.
The Chicken Pazzo is a garlic based pizza with grilled chicken, tomato, broccoli, eggplant and shredded fresh basil. The cheese topping was a blend of mozzarella and asiago so the pizza had a very strong cheese taste. Tomato slices always act as a nice juicy counterpart to the other toppings and this was also true here. The chicken and broccoli worked well in this setting too. The only ingredient that added nothing was the eggplant but all in all this was a good pizza.
Another strong Ciao! salad is the Glazed Calamari. Mixed greens are topped sweet, garlic glazed calamari that has been deep-fried. Refreshing lemon-basil-vinaigrette adds a light element to the dish.
Acceptable but not great
An appetizer remembered as a family favourite has been the arancini, risotto fritters served with a marinara sauce and a pesto drizzle. There is a major flaw though, mozzarella is the cheese of choice so it only provides a minimal hint of cheese and as a result the full risotto ball is a stodgy, fairly tasteless affair. Compared to the smaller risotto balls from Murano these were severely lacking. Admittedly, as the only member of the family to benefit from the Murano experience, my view was the minority one.
Pasta is cooked well but the menu items I’ve tried are nothing to get excited about. The chicken cannelloni is a nicely sized portion although a dog's breakfast of a presentation. The cannelloni is stuffed with chicken and spinach and topped with a basic tomato sauce and a cream sauce. It's a reasonably nice lunch option if you want a no-frills meal. Penne Capri is cooked penne pasta tossed with shrimp, mozzarella, tomatoes and garlic. The dish is topped with fresh basil and the fried aubergine cubes. The aubergine was an expectedly nice addition but overall this was the type of dish that was great to begin with but by half to two third of the way through had worn off its welcome.
Dishes to Avoid
The lunchtime special is billed as the Executive lunch consisting of one of three main courses, with soup or salad for a special rate. The soup is minestrone which seems to be a tinned tomato based soup with vegetables and topped with pesto. I can make better minestrone than this. It was disappointing but not enough to prepare me for the Chicken Balsamico. This was a woefully misconceived dish to begin with but what were they thinking by presenting it on a 18” long dish? Buffet standard chicken breast was drizzled with a balsamic glaze and topped with cold grape tomatoes. I’ve never bought into the fad for topping warm focal point with cold garnish. The additional accompaniment was a flash-fried Tuscan potato salad with spinach. The potatoes had a good crunchy exterior and a properly fluffy interior, the spinach was fine but the dish carried one more lousy punch. A sun-dried tomato paste was scattered amongst the spinach leaves and was horribly salty. Even though the lunch deal was relatively cheap, once you discounted all the substandard components, it became an expensive portion of tasty fried potatoes.
In common with The Boatyard, the French fries at Ciao! are awful. They have to be processed starch that is cooked from frozen. They have a nice crunch but the consistency and taste bear no resemblance to a potato and I find it disappointing that a restaurant like Ciao! does not prepare French fries from potatoes to order
Overall Verdict
The menu at Ciao! on the whole provides a reasonable standard of food without really being exciting. However, there are some really nice dishes that give a worthy reward for trying different items.
The menu at Ciao! on the whole provides a reasonable standard of food without really being exciting. However, there are some really nice dishes that give a worthy reward for trying different items.