cibus

italian night at ristorante cibus caffe

when: 6:30pm, tuesday
wait: none
customer service: A 1/2+
food rating: A

right in a nook within northpark mall and across from la duni. when you first look at cibus it’s brightly decorated with orange colors and beckons you with the tasty looking gelato and desserts in the window. past the initial sitting area for dessert and chatting is the dining area. really nice booths, and they have a huge area for outdoor seating. we sat at the bar where the bartenders were very attentive and friendly. they have a great selection of beers – and their happy hour (4-7pm, and 9pm-close) is great – $3 for anything! they were immediately ready to move us to a table when we were done at the bar. nice!

the ambiance is like upscale casual. they’ve got comfy chairs, the place is very clean – white and orange. they have these chandeliers that are sooo incredibly gaudy. but i liked the colors. they have a private room with glass doors so i can imagine it’d be a really nice place to have a calm, fun sunday brunch (which they also serve)! windows along one side of the wall, so the sun shine definitely adds to the happiness of the place.

customer service was great. our waiter (manuel? i don’t remember!) was great. they were so sweet because of some girl issues we were having, and they sensed that we were all in serious conversation and gave us these pink lemonade martinis on the house. it was a wonderful gesture and very much appreciated. he came by just enough to check on us and was quick to offer suggestions on the menu when asked.

what we got: home made foccacia, tagliolini, eggplant zucchini parmigiana, and wild mushroom risotto.

foccacia was tasty, but then again – it’s foccacia! great serving size for $5. tagliolini was delicious. i love the noodles. it was creamy, but not extremely so. yum! eggplant zucchini was good. if you like the thick, cheesy texture (plus eggplant of course), it’s a great dish for you. it was heavy for me, but i usually like lighter foods when it comes to italian. wild mushroom risotta i enjoyed as well. i wouldn’t have called it ‘wild mushroom’ as it only consisted of champignon mushrooms, but it had a good taste as well. fresh parmesan cheese thinly sliced on top. i’m a big fan of risotto, and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

for dessert: limoncello panna cotta and gelato – mango, tiramisu and dulce de leche.

i had never had an eggless custard before, so the panna cotta was very different. it kind of tasted like… heavy cream turned into jello/pudding. mixed with strawberries it wasn’t bad, but it took some time to get used to the taste. the gelato is pretty creamy – and 3 servings was a good amount. we couldn’t even finish it! can’t compare it much to anything else – i haven’t had gelato too much so i can’t remember. but it would be a refreshing snack on a hot day.

summary – would go again, especially for happy hour. apparently the pizza is really good, so i would recommend you try that at happy hour. enjoy!