“They dim the lights so you can’t see the grease on their food,” and “if the food is overpriced, they’re trying to hide the fact that [the food] has no flavor to begin with,” were merely two of the sarcastic quips given to Dylan Myler ’20, Eric Rosenblum ’20, Justin Heitzman ’20 and myself by Jefferson Sheng ’20, specifically responding to my earnest desire to write a restaurant review about our dinner experience at 2 Hickory Hollow Lane’s Ciao Wood-fired Pizza and Pasta.
But some background information first. The vicinity of Ciao to my house makes it an easy restaurant to get to, and it’s a common place for me to hang out and eat dinner with some old friends before watching a movie or something due to its satisfying incredibly professional atmosphere and mediocre “authentic” Italian food. Yet as I walked through the doors of the acclaimed local restaurant, I knew that all past experiences and preconceived opinions were to be thrown away in order to truly get an honest opinion and review of what the Ithaca Voice once called “one of Ithaca’s best Italian restaurants.”
There was a waiting line at first; the restaurant was always packed on weekend nights, leaving us occupied at the front of the restaurant with its complementary wrapped mints, toothpicks, and business cards. It wasn’t long until we were rushed into our booth and free to order from the simplistic but neat menu, which was one page long. Rosenblum had a Sprite, Heitzman and I Cokes, and Myler and Sheng waters as beverages. For food, Rosenblum ordered a pepperoni pizza with no basil, Heitzman a Turkey Bravo Panini with French fries, I a well-done Caprese Burger, also with fries, Myler a Pesto Rigatoni, and finally Sheng a Pizza Bianco. While waiting, we talked about America’s political landscape, school, Ciao, memes, Michelin-star winning masterchef Gordon Ramsay, and depressing poetry, until six minutes and five seconds after we ordered, when fresh complimentary bread with olive oil came to us. I abstained from consuming. Heitzman described the bread as average, while the highlight was the extremely flavorful garlic-roasted olive oil. Meaningless conversation continued until 23 minutes after ordering, when our food was at last delivered.
I wrote down in my notebook the thoughts and critiques of us hungry patrons, which were surprisingly mixed for such an esteemed eating establishment. Rosenblum was outraged that his pizza contained basil even though specifically asked for none, and when the waitress administered parmesan cheese to his pizza, she clumped all the powdered cheese into one area. Myler was unexpectedly happy with his pasta. My burger was dreadfully underseasoned, slightly soggy on the bottom bun, and messy with arugula leaves all over my plate when I picked it up to eat. Heitzman, however, enjoyed his panini, and was impressed with the aioli that was a condiment for both the panini and his French fries. Sheng appreciated his fresh tomato slices and spinach as toppings, in addition to the very delicious and gooey layer of cheese, but despised the fact that the pizza was extremely greasy.
When asked individually what they would rate their food out of five stars, Myler concluded a reasonable 3.8 stars on his meal, Rosenblum 3.7 stars, Sheng 2.5 stars, and Heitzman 4.5 stars, while I personally decided that the food was a decent 3 stars. This came to an average of 3.5 stars for the experience, based on our dinner quality (we concluded that service was fine and didn’t need a review). We paid for dinner, stole some more mints, and left for the mall.