I visited Casa Ciro at lunchtime and had pronto pasta , it included a small bowl of pasta, garlic bread and a small glass of white wine. The waiter was a little familiar for my liking but after all it was only £4.95 all in. I can recommend this restaurant for a lunch time snack.
squirrel
The restaurant was buzzing even at 6pm when we arrived for the earlybird special 2 course deal - lovely staff, a good selection to choose from and swift service. Great atmosphere. We'll come back!
Toneski
Our first visit to Casa Ciro in Worthing.
Having read an Internet review about Casa Ciro, we booked a day in advance. Even this was not early enough as they only had early or late bookings available - we chose the late booking at 9:30. A sign of a good restaurant - we thought.
Having been told that there was an upstairs bar, we arrived early for a pre-meal drink - only to discover that while they indeed had a bar - it was just that - a bar. No seating - just a bar. Indeed - if they had put seats at the bar, we would have been towering over other diners. To say that it was packed would be accurate. We should have listened to the alarm bells a little better, because there were at least 5 large parties over the 2 dinning area's. This seemed to be indicative of a restaurant that is perhaps more concerned with profit than the comfort of its clientele.
We were given a small table, which I would call sufficient for 2, though they had 4 chairs placed at it. There were 3 in our party. We were placed next to a birthday party of approx. 15 people. They were loud. Indeed the whole place was loud but they were very loud. Not really a problem - perhaps it was birthday night, though this was not explained to us at time of booking.
Our order consisted of 2 appetisers (which the 3 of us were to share), 3 starters and 3 mains.
I don't know about you, but every Italian restaurant I have ever been in usually has bread/butter available at the table from the outset. This was not the case. We had to ask for it (while we were waiting for our meal). This made it a chargable item. Not a big gripe, but as it was a chargeable item, you would expect something better than little plastic tubs of butter(3 of) and soggy, chewwy bread (possibly from the local supermarket that very morning). If your going to charge for something, it would be nice to make it worth the money - you know - put a little effort into it. It could have been some nice homemade bread - but it was generic "french" breadstick and plastic butter.
After 15 minutes (for bread sticks and olives - really?), the 2 appetisers arrived - plus the 3 starters. We instantly ran out of table space to put all the dishes, so we returned 2 of the starters to the kitchen - while we tucked into the appetisers and pate starter. I would like to say at this point, that our waitress seemed slightly miffed to have to return the starters - almost to the point of implying that as we had ordered this food, it was our mistake that it had arrived at the same time. We had to really push the point that the extra plates held in her hands were just not going to fit on the 2.5-3 foot square table that was currently seating 3 people. I'd also just like to point out that Aperitivo means Aperitif - ie appetiser - pre starter - something to get your appetite going. Not something to eat as a side dish to the starter.
The Olives were very good, but the bread sticks had been turned into bread rounds (approx 2" across) - and were so hard that I think I chipped the enamel off one of my teeth. I would advise any future diners with dentures or weak jaw muscles not to attempt the bread rounds. Should any jewelers dine here - collect the bread rounds and use them as a base to cut diamonds with. They were that hard. Really!
The chicken and green peppercorn pate had no peppercorns. They hadn't fallen out - they just wern't there. Perhaps an adjustment of the menu would be in order. It did look amazingly pretty though with basalmic vinegar decoration, lettuce and pate. And tasted very nice for a chicken liver pate.
We enquired of a waitress if our 2 remaining starters (garlic butter king prawns & calamari - both seafood) had been put under the hot plate while we consumed our appetisers. Time frame of approx 10-15 minutes. We were assured that this was definitely NOT the case, and that the starters were freshly cooked. This was not the case. As seafood, these dishes should have been piping hot. They were not. Indeed the garlic butter had started to solidify around the prawns (we also found no hint of garlic in the garlic butter - we used the garlic mayonaise from the calimari), and the calamari was tepid ("chewy and greasy"). I would say that while the seafood wasn't at a dangerous temperature, it was only just safe.
After the starters, we requested a 5 minute break between courses. However, we had obviously confused a timed order system - whereby, each course is cooked to a timescale. By sending 2 starters back (due to insufficient table space/appetisers go before starters - not as well as), everything was now out of sync and sitting waiting on a hot plate/under a hot light. The main course arrived. We had tuna steak in pepper sauce, a duet of grilled salmon and sea bass with lobster sauce and a spaghetti carbonara. How was it? - Well, the spaghetti was the worse - it had started to congeal in the heat whilst left standing. The Tuna steaks were different colours - the top being much darker than the underside - a good indication that it had been dried out by the heat, the salmon and sea bass had this dry brownness to them that made them very un-appetising. We were so hungry by this point that we ate what we could of them - but left most of the rest as inedible. On a plus point, the vegtables were nice.
Summary: The entire meal came to just over £80. Normally a reasonable amount to pay for 3 dining out of an evening - it wasn't a special occasion, just a nice meal out. Its just that we didn't get meal worth £80. If it was earlier/we wern't so hungry, we would have bounced the whole lot back to the kitchen as un-acceptable. Overall - I wish we had gone elsewhere. Perhaps we picked a bad night, but first impressions always count. Its not too much to ask for a restaurant to get things right. Unfortunatly, there were so many errors that I feel the whole Casa Ciro experience was a failure. We wont be returning - obviously.
