I went to Ciao Wine Bar for Winterlicious and I was really excited. Too bad I was extremely disappointed.
The only reason that I'm giving this place 3 stars instead of 1 is because of the AMAZING food.
My friend and I walked into Ciao and the atmosphere was pretty good. I like the whole dimmed-lighting feel. We were seated upstairs where we waited about 15 minutes for our waitress to finally acknowledge us. Strike 1.
She took our drink order, but took 15 minutes just to bring out some sangria. She also forgot to bring us bread (for a person who avidly works out, I think I deserved the carbs that day- apparently, she didn't seem to think so). When the sangria FINALLY came, she took our food orders. It took the appetizer half an hour to come out. Strike 2. I had the Pasta Fagoli which was this bean soup with tomatoes and pancetta. You couldn't see the pancetta, but it was definitely there and it added a great dimension to the soup. There was a smoky bacon flavour that would just hit you. Amazing.
Next, it took nearly another half hour for the main course to come out. Strike 3. I had the Chianti Braised Short Ribs with creamy gorgonzola polenta and crispy onions. Omg. That's all I can really say. The short ribs were falling apart because they were so tender. The gorgonzola was a great accent to the flavours of the short ribs. This was just perfect and it made the wait worth it.
Finally, after another 20 minutes, our desserts had been served. I had the Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with raspberry caramel. It was pretty good, but I was dying to have more. It was just like any other cheesecake to me-light texture though.
There were people sitting around my friend and I that were seated about half an hour after us, but received their desserts while we were only on our main course. The reason?: they were served by a different waitress. She pretty much threw away her chances of getting a good tip. My tip to her: get some hustle in your step like the rest of the waiters at Ciao! Prob won't be back. I'm tired of paying 4 star prices for 1 star service.