We have been to this restaurant before and honestly we had a better experience the first time. Â I had the baked ziti and unfortunately it was pretty clear that they had microwaved the meal from a previously prepped dish. Â No real issue with this, but there were cold spots still in the dish. Â
The boys shared a pizza and it was very tasty with no complaints. Â My wife had one of the specials in the form of a squash lasagna, which while fairly tasty, was a little dry. Â The atmosphere is festive and certainly has a Italian family restaurant feel to it with the owner making his rounds out in the dining area. Â We will most likely give this place another chance before writing it off.
Wood fired pizza made with freshly made ingredients - including dough and mozzarella. I love the Ciao Med pizza paired with a glass of red wine. Â The size of the pizzas were a bit off for us - not quite enough for 2, but more than enough for 1. Â If we share one pizza we will order an appetizer or have gelato (try the salted caramel flavor!). Â There is live music in the restaurant on select nights - its a bonus if you're in the house while the band is playing!
One note: Â they are only open until 8pm so plan accordingly (it would be great if the restaurant was open extended hours during the summer months)
Love Ciao! Â The staff are all very friendly and happy and the atmosphere is comfortable. Â I loved being able to see the chefs working in the open kitchen and the large pitcher of water that was brought for our table. Â We had the Moo Ciao pizza, which was fantastic, and a salad with gorgonzola dressing. Â The gorgonzola dressing was AMAZING. Â I took the leftover pizza home and my husband enjoyed it too, which is a big compliment considering it did not have meat on it. Â I really enjoyed lunch at Ciao and was very impressed with the service and quality of food. Â I will definitely be back!
Review Source:We only had coffee here, as it was the only place in town other than the Tyee that was serving coffee this particular afternoon. Â Normally I wouldn't even write a review, but after reading of some other folk having experienced rude treatment I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Â Hint, folks.....It says "espresso" on your window, so it's not completely delusional that someone would expect to obtain a latte at your place. Â Do NOT snort and laugh, and inform the customer that they will be getting coffee with cream. Â You are not a wildly successful establishment in a metropolitan area, you cannot afford to treat people like that. Â We won't be back, which is unfortunate as the menu looked tempting and the kitchen smelled wonderful.
Review Source:We'd planned a short trip to Whidbey, but after 3 hours at Deception Pass with only a few cheese sandwiches and grapes, the little natives were getting hungry. We stopped here on a total whim, since it had the right items listed on the windows: espresso - pizza. Bingo. We had one pie (the Ciao Down), which was quite tasty: they spice the red sauce a bit so it's yummy and unexpected. The kids (4 and 7) were dismayed that they had to roll up their slices: if you don't, all the toppings slide right off, since the crust is thin.
But... they inhaled two slices each. It was truly a very decent pizza. You can't beat the flavor of slightly fire-charred dough. Yum!
Finished the meal with two scoops of gelato from Gelatiamo (although the mint-chocolate chip could've been Dryers, the choco-hazelnut was lovely). Didn't try the coffee, but for a nice, tasty, fresh meal, I'll be up for coming here again.
I received a tip to check out this place from a friend after he raved about their Neapolitan Pizza. Â
Walking in the door, the entire cook staff greeted us. Â That was neat! Â We seated ourselves and after a couple of minutes had passed (truthfully, too long of a wait) a waitress finally came to the table asking for our drink orders. Â This is where I ran into my second issue (the first being we were sitting too long before a server helped us). Â Not all of the beverages (namely beer) is listed anywhere, but they do have beer there. Â Imported Italian beer. Â Had I had known, I would have ordered some. Â I only found out about the beer as I was walking out the door and noticed another patron with a tall glass of beer.
The waitress then took an exorbitant amount of time between bringing out the drinks and ordering our food. Â We ordered the garlic bread and the pesto pizza with garlic and tomato chunks. Â The garlic bread was made using the same dough as the pizza with whole chunks of garlic and topped with cheese. Â It was as delicious as it looks and sounds. Â It was enough to forget about the poor service. Â Then the pizza came out, and again it looked as delicious as it tasted. Â We normally do not finish off a pie in one sitting, but due to the taste and the size (it was about slightly smaller than a medium pizza) it went quickly, but it was filling. Â
I would recommend them again, but I'm assuming that they were short on help that day. Â Based on this, I will try them again, and recommend them to others. Â
I have nothing clever or witty to say about the place other than try it out. Â It's a brick-oven pizza place. Â The prices are surprisingly reasonable considering it's almost an upscale place. Â The manager/head chef was really, really nice.
You wont be disappointed with this local favorite! Stopped in for dinner, you could tell first thing by the aroma, that the food would be fantastic! My husband had the lasagna( mouth watering...flavor) , I had the "special " ..pizza, light crust, and white sauce...( I know others would have chosen the red sauce) but I did have a yummy glass of red wine too. Also the gelato was a great way to end our meal! Wait staff, super friendly, we look forward to coming back with friends. You won't be disappointed with this new local favorite!
Review Source:The basics? Food is OK, but there are problems.
If you have any special needs or request, they might not accommodate you. I'm not talking about the wait staff, it's the owner who can be inflexible.
Comped drinks for suffering some inconvenience? Make sure they're really comped, because they might show up in your bill.
Finally, if you make a reservation, I would recommend to make double sure they will honor it and will be open.
I had the good fortune to be introduced to Ciao this weekend because the band I play in had a gig there this past Saturday.
I struggled on an empty stomach for the 2 hours while we played because the smells wafting up to the 2nd floor, where we played, from the downstairs kitchen, were so delicious, redolent as they were of great Italian sections of cities like Boston's North End.
I'm surprised at the lower ratings of most of the reviews, and believe they stem from most of them being written in the first month or two of the restaurant's opening last year. Maybe they got off to a rocky start; if so, I'd say they've adjusted nicely.
I ate the spicy shrimp, the cioppino and a ceasar salad. My bandmates ate the pasta and meatballs
All in all, food was delicious and service was excellent and the atmosphere lively. I'm looking forward to going again with the family.
Now that the summer is upon us, the deck overlooking Penn Cove and Mt. Baker off in the distance will be the prime seating at sunset.
I'm so glad they've made it through the winter! Most of the reviews here are from last summer, during the busiest part of the season, and their first season at that. Since then, their pizzas have become more consistent, their service has improved, and they've done a lot to add ambience during the "grey" season. Live music on weekends with a warm fire burning has really enhanced the experience. Â While their mainstay is the pizza, the owner has made an effort to add an Italian comfort food option every night of the week. For us, two things stand out: first, it's the only place where I order plain pepperoni pizza (because it's actually real pepperoni), and second, it's the only pizza that my kids eat entirely, including all the crust.
Review Source:The pizza is amazing. Â I was surprised and blown away at the same time. Â The salad was super fresh and the creamy Gorgonzola and green goddess dressings were creamy goodness. Â The chef sat us upstairs with a beautiful view of Penn Cove. Â I am really surprised of the sub par reviews. Â We had the best meal we've had a restaurant in a long time. Â And the prices were cheap, comparative to what they would be in the city.
Review Source:It's all relative. Â Yes, by standards of Milano, Napoli, or even Seattle, Ciao would be considered at best an average pizza. Â But they are in Coupeville, and by comparison with what is normally found here (much less in the food wasteland that is Oak Harbor), we found it pretty damn good.
My pizza of choice, the Ciao Bello, was well made with a tasty crust, good ingredients (though the pepperoncini were an odd addition) and rucola, which everyone who knows Italian pizza knows enhances the dish. Â Bonus points for serving it with a decent set of cutlery. Â One improvement: pop some peppers in a bottle of olive oil and offer to guests who like a bit moister, hot pizza.
Unlike some of the other Yelpers, we experienced very fine service, including a warm goodbye from the guy who likely was the owner. Â Loved the fact that they had rigged up pizza boxes to serve as curtains.
We will go back, for the view, for the service, and for the food.
I am so glad for the Italian place on Whidbey! I had Good service while eating with my daughter, the food was good, Im really really glad they have Gelato, just like the Gelato that they have in ITALIA!!! However, I ordered the caprese.... and was excited to have the oven roasted tomatoes and the basil and fresh mozzarella... The tomatoes were not oven roasted, they were fresh sliced and served with a pesto sauce which was good but I really wanted the balsalmic and oil to go with that. I ordered the med pizza which was very scarce in toppings and was good but could have had a LOT more cheese on it. I wanted to try the pasta but the options were scarce and could have been described more. The gelato was amazing and Ill be back at least for that...
I really really really want this to succeed and I hope that the restaraunt's owners are reading these reviews and is paying attention to the suggestions. I SOOO SOOO want this to succeed!
This rating should really be 2 and a half stars.
A friend and I arrived at Ciao at 5PM yesterday. Â It was not crowded. Â We were greeted right away and shown to a table. Â We had a young waitress that was quite cheerful and very good at her job.
My friend ordered a cup of Tuscan zuppa which had to be sent back because it was not hot enough. Â I had a house salad with creamy-vin dressing which was quite good! Â We split a pizza which had those delicious imported Italian tomatoes as its base .. however it tasted as though it had no spices at all (not even salt) .. AND had the toughest crust that I've ever encountered.
We finished off with a hazelnut gelato and decaf coffee .. which were only OK.
The whole time that we were there, the crew were chatting with each other in the open kitchen area. Â The sound of it bounced off the ceiling, the floor and the walls .. making it extremely difficult for me .. to hear my friend OR to really relax during our meal.
Afterwards, I went upstairs to see their diningroom and outdoor deck. Â There were customers seated at 4 of the inside tables .. they were chatting, but I couldn't hear their conversations because the noise from downstairs was bouncing around the whole upstairs area!
The entire upstairs area has a great view of the shops and restaurants on Front Street .. as well as a sweeping view of Penn Cove and beyond.
This restaurant could really be wonderful if they would soften the sound AND make a few changes to items on their menu. Â Maybe a little Italian music?
I'll give them a couple of months to adjust .. and then give them another try.
They just opened recently and while what they are trying to accomplish will be AMAZING, today was just not that day. I had several pizzas and most were missing part of their toppings with no apologies from the kitchen. The pastas were also shy of ingredients. The server was remiss in her knowledge of what was to be served, but once they get it together this place will rock.
Review Source:I will admit I visited Ciao without first referencing their yelp. Â This was a mistake, as I ended up ordering the Spicy Sicilian Shrimp and experienced a similar moment of deflation as referenced in Erik A.'s review. Â They were good. However, 5 shrimp for $8 seemed ridiculous. Â I had no shame though, and sopped up every list bit of the spicy tomato soup type concoction in which they came. It was pretty tasty.
Ciao has a surprisingly wonderful view, specifically on the second floor. Â That second floor is a double edged sword though, because the kitchen is on the first floor, apparently as is the majority of the staff. Â Service was slow and I can imagine more than one pizza being dropped as the servers have to carry entrees up a significant amount of stairs. Â This would also lead me to believe there is no elevator and the second floor (and view) are not handicap accessible. Â Leave Grandma at home; she'd be confused anyway.
I ordered soup. Â I believe it was called Tuscan Zuppa. Â If you are a true foodie such as myself, you may notice that name might sounds oddly similar to an option at the dining establishment known as The Olive Garden. Â Hey, I've googled that recipe. Â I like it. Say what you will, but Olive Garden has good soup! However, it gave the feeling that Ciao is pretending to be an Italian restaurant.
I feel like I am being too hard on them. Â Bottom line: I really want to see Ciao succeed in Coupeville. Â They have reasonable prices and everything I sampled was pretty tasty. Â It is also unique in Coupeville; this isn't a historic reserve type place, but something you might find in a yuppie suburb. Â
At the very least, it is better than County Deli and offers options not normally found on Coupeville's Historic Waterfront.
It seems as though this place has garnered a bit of attention today. Overall, I feel as though there is some great potential, but somehow it's been lost in the execution.
Here's the story-- I drove past this place a few times before deciding to head in for a meal. Oddly enough, it was the five-star review (written by someone with one review, no connections and no profile picture) that kept me away. I understand businesses needing a positive online presence, but this sort of Yelp shadiness annoys me.
(update-- I've since noticed over a dozen flagged reviews since, many of which are four and five star. Creepy.)
Ciao has a lot to work with here: the space is great. Multiple levels ensure that you get to sit with the adults, rather than the whiny four year old who flings his marinara and meatballs with wild abandon. Of course, you may be one of those people who enjoy being assaulted by locally grown/grass fed beef. You may even think that this is adorable. In either case, Ciao will have a table for you. It will be far away from mine, but obviously we wouldn't have much to talk about anyway.
The staff genuinely seems to want the place to be a success, which says a lot about the management. I did notice that the servers were in over their heads, which resulted in our food taking a decent amount of time to show up. Of course, this could also be a reflection of the business sacrificing service (and their servers sanity) to tighten up their bottom line. I have no doubt that the servers on shift today could have coped magnificently with fewer tables, and look forward to returning at some point this fall when business dies down a bit.
As we waited for our food, I was happily entertained by the people around us, the parking lot below us and the idea that my dear, sweet better half was already gathering information for what promised to be an entertaining review. We generally have a deal which involves him writing the reviews for the places that I am 'meh' about, and my writing reviews for places that either blow my mind or make me want to shake my fist every time I drive past (here's looking at you, Jumbo Buffet).
So here it is-- the reason why I'm taking up minutes of your life and Yelps limited server capacity: I have a vision about a new direction for Ciao. Let's get some decent drinks, de-cutes-ify the menu a bit and keep the focus local. I would happily sit on the balcony, have a Bellini (or three), maybe even something to eat (just not the shrimp. Yes, I tried those today as well). I realize that this could mean added hassle in the way of a full-on liquor license, but Ciao could also have a section of the market that could keep it afloat during the winter months, when tourists are typically harder to come by. We need a cozy/lingering/decent food type of place on the island, and Ciao is almost there. Of course, the odd bit of live entertainment would be great as well.
Really two and a half stars, we got some really neat things about this place, and we also have some problems.
and who really cares about gluten free foods? Honestly? Two years from now we will have a brand new made up illness/diet obsession and gluten will be back on good terms with us.
Ok, so i mentioned that this place has some pretty neat things, we should talk about that first.
The building it is in is really well done, it is two floors with a large open entry section. You walk right in to the cooking area and sure enough there is a big stove that appears to be wood fueled. Â
We ate upstairs on the deck after a short wait, but the wait was worth it, it was a lovely day and quite nice to look down the hill and across the bay, really made me wonder how people in Kansas do it.
I ordered a pepperoni pizza, wanted to keep it simple, the pizza showed up and was quite good. Â I would come back here again in a heartbeat if they were having some kind of pizza/drinks happy hour.
The food is allegedly as locally sourced as possible, i guess this is a good thing, hippies are always telling me so.
Your placemat is also your menu, this was sort of neat because you got to check everything else out while you were there, sounds silly but i liked it.
The problems. Â The place was grossly understaffed in terms of servers. Â Kitchen staff were routinely running food out, instead of doing kitchen stuff. Maybe this is a management decision to save some bucks or maybe some of the help recently left, who knows. Â We had plenty of time to kill but all around us on the deck was a sea of yuppies bitching and grumbling about the poor service. Â I know that most of them were people from off island and who cares if they ever come back, but you are going to need the locals on your side if you expect to make it through winter aka "the other 10 months of the year". Â I see this a lot with places in cute little Coupeville. They spend money on everything but the help, which results in the food getting cold on the rack.
Some of the food (everything we ordered save for the pizza) was a bit bland and uninspired. Â We had the spicy prawns as an appetizer. My partner swears they are locally caught, they did not look that way to me, no biggs. Â The problem was that you get 5 medium sized prawns in what tasted like tomato soup with a dash of cayenne. Â It was a bit sad making to see showing up, and for the 8 dollar price tag it made my feathers droop a little. Â It was not BAD, however it was something easily duplicated at home.
On a strictly personal note: Â I know i complimented the menu situation prior, now i am going to go back on that and talk some crap about the menu. Â Look, look, look..... i know the word "ciao" is cute, it is maybe the cutest thing about italy, i mean ROME is not cute, it is super serious and full of way too many catholics, pompei is not cute, it is full of dudes who ended up having a rather rough day, the autostrada is not cute, they want eleventy billion dollars per KM of use, the carabinieri is not cute, they will shoot you in the face if you drive past one of them holding up a red lollipop. Â CIAO is cute, no doubt about it, and "ciao bella" just rolls off the tongue, you can do that cool flick thing with your tongue where you drag it over the roof of your mouth for the two Ls in "bella" and it sounds really cool, you almost sound like a native, just like that.
HOWEVER, do you guys know that almost everything on your menu has the word "ciao" incorporated in to it some how? Playing off the english meaning for the phonetic "chow", naturally. Â I showed up in a good mood on a sunny day and it's cuteness wore off almost instantly. Â How did such a menu make it through to print???? Â Menus like this always make me sad because it puts a clown's head on a place that in all other aspects is not trying to be super cute. Â But whatever.
I would (probably WILL) come back again for the pizza, it almost seems like this place was built around the idea of pizza and then the menu was fleshed out with a few other ideas and they ran with it. Â Everything else from the way they present the food (pale sandwich on a pale plate with no garnish) to their serving situation seems a bit rushed.
I hope you guys stick around because i could enjoy your pies, but i have my doubts about how winter will be if some things are not tightened up.
Oh, if you are going to ignore the idea of better/faster servers, some free wifi in there would be great, just sayin.
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