Frankly, I was feeling a little apprehensive trying out Cibo. We don't eat out cheap, Allan and I, but we were deathly scared of eating food that is served for chi-chi looks rather than substance. I was scared to pay Php250++ for a plate of ten strands of pasta, or Php400++ for pizza that tastes only a notch higher from Greenwich. We would rather pay a little bit more as long as we are going to stuff ourselves silly.
Before I move forward, let me tell you that Cibo did not disappoint in the size department. They mean it when they say La Famiglia. We went in and the interiors were really sleek and modern, the waiters pretty damned good looking. Right away the asked for the size of our party and gave us a nice corner couch.
We set the spending limit to Php1000. And we agreed to skip the mains first and go to what we feel is essential Italian fare---pizza and pasta. We started with tomato soup. Point towards Cibo: the waiters were pretty knowledgeable about the menu. They offered to split the single order of soup into two (yes, please) and right away served water (cold, with ice, glasses so clear and clean). Soon after, the soup was served. It wasn't even 10 minutes I think.
This was good, but not great. I like my soup chunky, but this was a little bit too much so. And the bowl was too hot. I don't like that. The bowl should be warm, but seriously, I couldn't touch this one. I still say that Napoli is still by favorite place for tomato soup. For Php175, it's ok. Just ok.
Next up was the pasta. The whole meal was served completely in about 15 minutes. Well, that is good...but I'd prefer for them to serve the next orders when they see we're already about to finish the last one. But then again, they serve when it's cooked and hot, so that's fine.
We got La Foresta (you can correct me here). Pasta with olive oil, slab bacon and black olives and tomato. Another photo at the very top of this entry. Gaita Fores really taught her staff well. The pasta was al dente. Just perfect. Nothing more than al dente. We loved this pasta and finished the entire La Famiglia order pretty quickly. It was a little bit salty, but then again I like salty, so I didn't mind. Could have used more tomatoes. We didn't eat the complimentary heart shaped bread because we didn't load up too much. We took the three pieces home. I've never been to Cibo before so I'm not sure if they really do the heart-shaped bread thing or maybe it's just for valentines.
Another note on service, although different servers attended to our table, they were not annoying and simply refilled the water glasses pretty efficiently. We never even had to ask for a refill. They just magically appeared with a pitcher.
Finally, we got salami pizza.
It's served with arugula leaves on top. A nice touch. I do like some vegetables in my pizza. The arugula was a great way to offset the fattiness of the pizza. I have to say that the crust of this pizza is great. It's chewy and crispy all at the same time. It's also thin, but not paper thin. It was good. I still think that the pasta was the star, but this is a pretty good runner up.
Another note on service: I was looking for chili flakes/oil for my pizza and sort of looked over the condiments area to see if I can get any there. The waiter saw me looking and automatically brought over chili oil and chili flakes to our table.
Over all? Around 7/10 for the food and value for money. It was good, but it is still a little expensive. But then again, this is a nicer restaurant. We might go back, say, on a good payday and try out more of their food. Service and ambiance is definitely a 9.5. You do not see such efficient staff everyday.
No comments:
Post a Comment