Cicco Zetland — Restaurant in Sydney

Cicco in Zetland has long been a family run venture, owned by Tony Pacitto, who ran Cafe Vité. His son Alex has taken over the business and re-opened it as an Italian cafe restaurant with breakfast and brunch options and evening shared dishes. Taking his favourite influences from Italy and incorporating them with fresh Australian produce and proteins to produce a super tasty and very approachable menu. We love the name, and the story behind it, for Cicciotto essentially translates to “chubby boy”, encompassing what Alex recalls of childhood memories and food.

With everything made in store except 1 bread variety (the Sonoma miche), you’ll find a range of panini, home made egg pasta, wood fired pizza and decadent desserts, everything is unbelievably delicious and so perfect to share over a few spritzers.

Sit alfresco under the fairy lights and enjoy a refreshing drink or aperitivo, whether it be a Bellini, spritz, negroni or campari or a wine from their extensive drink list. Inside, the venue is spacious with exposed brick, open plan kitchen, visible wood fired pizza oven and expansive bar. It’s certainly the kind of place for a group catch up and would be appropriate for larger celebrations.

Food wise, it’s a great option to bring with antipasto, as our dining party devoured a colourful antipasti platter featuring marinated vegetables and pickles, salami, mortadella, and a creamy burrata. We enjoyed this with their made house focaccia and plump marinated olives. In addition, for the entrees, their version of Bruschetta on miche sourdough was nice and crispy, topped with fresh cherry tomatoes, onion and balsamic. Another stunning dish was their Eye fillet tartare, perfectly marinated and presented like a work of art.

When you’re looking to decide on a main, you’ll find plenty of Italian favourites from their wonderful wood fired pizza that you can watch the dough being rolled, smeared with a red or white base and topped with your favourite ingredients. We shared a classic Margherita; San marzano tomato, fior di latte, basil, oregano as well as the most amazing Mushroom & ricotta calzone which oozed with the cheesy filling.

Pasta wise, these are outstanding and absolute must orders. Their version of the cacio e pepe orecchiette, cheesy and served with pepper, pecorino and guanciale. In addition, their marinara linguine is one of the best we’ve tried.

You can’t stop here, for dessert is a must. You can’t go wrong with a cannoli and the ones here are dainty, crispy and just as you expect with the creamy ricotta filling, crispy shell and topped with pistachios.

They also do a mighty fine lemon tart, the biscuit base served with a runny lemon filling, cream and fresh fruit. This will see you keep putting that spoon back in for more.

Not only does Cicco do a great dinner, but we’ve also tried their all day brekkie/brunch menu with your brekkie classics and also Italian paninis. We enjoyed their chicken schnitzel sandwich on miche sourdough and of course one of their in house roasted coffees; who can go past the traditional espresso! We love that the outdoor area is puppy friendly too.

The staff with their Italian heritage made us feel welcome and come with a depth of knowledge of Italian food and make for a great...

We returned to Cicco’s after an incredible experience the first time a few months back, where the food and service were impeccable. Despite hearing that management has changed since our first visit, we were still hopeful. The two of us walked in on a Wednesday evening without a booking before 7pm with ample seating still available and it wasn’t that busy. We stood by the door for a while without being noticed by 2 working staffs on the floor until the bartender asked us to sit anywhere we’d like so we picked an indoor table and sat ourselves. We sat down for 5 minutes where the staff helped all other tables around us but didn’t notice that we were sat without menus nor any water. The same staff then proceeded to sit a table on either side of us and offer menus and water to each while still ignoring us. We waited for a while without being able to make eye contact with anyone working to the point that our neighboring table offered us their menus and I had to go up to the bar to ask for some water. Then, a staff finally came to take our orders after another 10 mins. We then waited to witness every table that ordered after us being served their drinks/cocktails whilst we were still waiting. I then went up to the bar for the second time to check up on our 2 drinks (a beer and a wine), only to be faced with a confused staff unsure of our order. We were about to leave due to the confusion over whether or not we had placed an order when the drinks were brought out but the red wine was served as a white wine instead so I had to send it back. After another 10 mins, the food came and I asked for my ordered red wine which took another wait. I ordered the prawn pasta, whilst the texture was al dente, it was probably over-salted by 3 times the required amount and overpowered any redeeming quality with the actual dish. My partner ordered the Diavola pizza which was as good as any good pizza in a poor service restuarant can be. At this point, we just wanted to leave ASAP so we finished what we could, paid and left. Overall, a hugely disappointing experience and we will not be back. Whilst I love supporting our local restaurants and I also understand one can be short staffed at times, all it took was some acknowledgment of the situation and of us and we’d be understanding, but there was hardly any service to speak of nor any level of attentiveness. It’s hard to imagine what the attentiveness would be like if it were an actual busy night of the week....

My only experience with the restaurant so do read other reviews. I was going to order an online take away gluten free pizza which has a $5 extra charge bringing total to $34. At checkout the online site asked for card details which I wasn't comfortable to have to give out, no other payment options with nothing offering to pay on pick up. So I decided to call direct to place my order so I could pay on pick up. They told me 10 mins for pick up on a Sunday eve 7pm, which I was happy about.

I arrived 15 mins later. No one acknowledged me, mostly empty restaurant btw, and after a minute a waiter approached and I said I was there for pick up. They went to the pizza maker and motioned to me that its not ready. I went to the bar/cashier area to pay while waiting. Man confirmed my order and the eftpos machine said $37.50. I nearly paid but realised the price should have been $34 as per online. He proceeded to argue with me despite me pointing it out. I said thats the price, wasn't willing to make it $34 but then I showed him my still open tab with the checkout price. He took a pic of it and asked where I got that, I said his website! He still didnt want to change the price! So I said I could easily just input it into the online system and get the pizza for $34 so why make me do that, but I could and solve it but prefer not to have to give my card details. He finally but begrudgingly agreed.

My pizza still wasn't ready, 20 mins past the time they said it would be. Turns out this guy I was dealing with was the manager. He came to me and explained something about eftpos fee surcharges on weekend being the reason it was more. I told him that I'm sorry for any losses for him but that as a customer I only want to pay for an already pricey $34 gf pizza and not get any closer to $40 a pizza, I wouldn't have ordered it at that price and besides the online price never showed a surcharge. It was a miserable experience for him and me which could have been avoided by working with me rather than against me. The pizza wasn't good and the experience guaranteed I wasn't going back to try it or something else off the menu again. I'm sorry for the bad review but this is genuinely my...