Ciao's Lounge

"Sangovese awesome! The ossobuco was very tender and perfectly prepared! All of my favorite scotch!"

Ciao's recently located to the heart of downtown South Bend and I really want to like them, but unfortunately, have had two not so great experiences.  

The most recent was a visit with a group of five girlfriends on a Wednesday evening prior to seeing a show at the Morris Performing Arts Center.  

We decided to sit at the bar in the lounge and we were warmly greeted by the bartender Bobbi (she was the only positive and the reason for two stars).  The Lounge may be the problem as I have heard positive feedback from several folks that sat in the dining room.

We ordered a couple of carafes of their house wine, which was ok, but definitely overpriced at $25.  We had the option of ordering off the regular dinner menu or the Lounge menu.  They are trying to build the Lounge business so we decided to try a variety of their small plate appetizers, all reasonable priced at $5 each.

We started with a couple orders of the arancini (2 per order).  Tip...order off the appetizer menu and get two for $5 since the dinner menu is the same size but $11 for three.  The arancini were just ok - the risotto was bland and mushy.  It was served with a side of marinara which was also bland tasted like it came straight out of a jar.  

With a group of five, we were able to try just about everything on the Lounge menu...all of which took forever to prepared and everything was cold by the time we received it.  The fried pasta was awful, like a bad scrambled eggs.  The fried ravioli was actually little tortellinis, deep fried and served on a skewer (cold and with the tasteless marinara).  The polpette, which took the longest to come out was actually served hot but was just a deep fried ball of mush.

Bobbi, the bartender, felt terrible and she was not at all surprised with our complaints.  She mentioned it to the owner who did come over and ask what was wrong, which one in the group proceeded to go down the list.  He didn't apologize and seemed to be indifferent.  The bartender did end up taking several things off our bills for us.

We were there for two hours and barely made it to the show in time (and keep in mind it was just wine and appetizers).

There was one positive on the food - the bread is really good and served with a nice olive oil for dipping.

I really hope this was just a fluke and the quality of food improves.

Ciao ristorante has returned. Now back in downtown is open in the old Noma and Agave location between Trios and Club Navarre. Street parking is difficult to find but the owners tell me valet parking is coming. Ciao is a beautiful atmosphere for a very romantic dinner. It just has a good feeling about being there. I looked over the menu and had a hard time choosing as everything look great but I was set on my line up. Tonight I dinned on the Citrus Cesar salad, Truffeled Quail eggs appetizer an Aranccini and the Pheasant Tortelli for the entree. The salad was very good and I love that there is a true taste of anchovies in the salad not over powering, but I knew they were there, just perfect. My appetizer came out and right away I could see the star ingredient of the appetizer was the many shavings of imported Italian black truffles on top of a perfectly cooked sunny side up quail egg stacked on a slice of mushroom resting on a crustini. There was no skimping on the the truffles, which Adele the owner and Chef has shipped overnight from Italy. Now out came my Tortelli, and for those who aren't familiar think of large round ravioli. The Torelli pasta was fluffy and delicious little pillows filled with pheasant meat and touch of parmigiano reggiano cheese and topped with diced portabella and porcini mushrooms in light wine cream sauce. The pheasant was not masked and was the prevalent flavor it was outstanding. I went in the kitchen with Adele and watch as they hand made all their pasta and filled ravioli. Each entree is made to order. Nothing pre-made. I really loved this pasta and it so difficult to find fresh made pasta in this area. And to look at the semolina flour and egg go to the finished pasta and then to pan was fantastic. I am happy to see someone putting forth the passion and effort to keep this tradition and taste alive in our world of frozen foods and dried pasta, no comparison by the way. Desert was a combination of two Panna Cottas, one vanilla topped with chocolate hazelnut fudge (ok it was Nutella but I like Nutella and was it "F*ing" GOOD!) and another paying homage to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday was Pumpkin Panna Cotta flecked with pumpkin and spice and I think had a bit of ricotta or mascarpone cheese, just fantastic. I will tell you Adele's pastries are so great I could write a whole article about those alone. For those who didn't know Ciao came to South Bend from Naples and opened Ciao Italian Bakery were she made some of the best bread and pastries rivaling those found in the famous pasticcerias of Sicily. If you leaving her place with out trying a few of her pastries you will be sadly missing out. It will be like going to Rome and not seeing the Coliseum. I have been eating her sweets for years and I still miss Ciao Bakery but you can still taste them here and you better! Adele's passion for cooking led her and husband Angelo to open her restaurant. Ciao is not inexpensive, entrees are mostly in the $20-$30 range, but I can tell for this price I saw she uses only the best ingredients and EVERYTHING is homemade and that my friends is Priceless!