Cedro Scratch Italian & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Austin

My parents frequent Cedro since its opening and rave about it as their local Italian restaurant, so I made a reservation for my daughter's graduation. The host was very nice to accommodate us and we were looking forward to a great dinner.

The restaurant is small and can get hot quickly. My mother has a medical condition, and is recovering from surgery, so I asked the staff for a fan to make sure that her vertigo was ok. The waitress understood and asked.

Everything was copacetic until one particular wait staff made a point to make it seem that we were being unreasonable. His tone was ungracious and he and I went back and forth in front of my family, at a time of our celebration. I explained that sarcasm is used for people you're familiar with. He insisted that he wasn't being sarcastic, so I asked him what he was being. He didn't have an answer for that.

I'm watching my mother sweat and grow faint, and I knew if I asked this man to open the door for our sake he would have refused, so I asked him if it is against code to prop the patio door open for a breeze. He couldn't deny that and we finally had comfort.

This man was terse and we had to ask for the basics--water with ice and straws, plates for our appetizers, the balsamic and oil for our bread--the standard service. We're reasonable people, but it was clear that he was not happy with my calling out his terseness, our requests, and quite frankly, our very presence.

Over time we shared with the wait staff that we're familiar with Cedro since their opening, and ordered an overpriced bottle of wine. A bottle of Mionetto Prosecco is $40 at Cedro. It sells for $12 across the parking lot at HEB. I ordered a bottle of the Viberti La Gemella ($50+ at Cedro, $14 at HEB).

The industry standard is 200-300% retail markup. Rare and speciality wines can be priced as high as 400%. Cedro’s charges rare wine pricing for bottom grade selections you find at the grocery store. The wine bar had no wine pairings with the meal; no sommelier. My point is that he served us snobbery without the class.

Despite, and perhaps in spite of it all, my family and I had a great time celebrating my daughter. We ate and laughed and ignored his appalling disdain. The waitresses were apologetic. No need for them to apologize--they were kind.

As the dinner progressed something changed in this man to coddle my mother and my disabled brother. He insisted my daughter and brother have desserts. "Free!" He made a point to tell us. We don't need free. We were happy to spend $400-500, plus tip--but we decided we would not invest that money in Cedro, so we kept it conservative to around $250-300. I'm not sure of the exact amount because my father paid for the meal with his Platinum AMEX.

The waitress took our family picture and it started raining when we left. The man followed us out--I don't know why--and we waited for my dad to bring the car around. We're trying to stay pleasant with this rude guy and I mentioned how we like cars and how my father would pull up in his new BMW so my disabled brother and mother wouldn't walk far.

"Oh, a standard X5?" He was determined to keep us humbled. It's an X7 that was imported last year and car enthusiasts have asked my father to participate in local car shows. My mother and I just looked at each other. I mentioned how I didn't want my mom to get wet. He asked if we wanted an umbrella. My mother refused, and I know it's because she didn't want to be around this man anymore, but I insisted because she needs help.

And that's how our dinner ended. Oh, and did I mention that we are C-suite Black professionals? That detail is not lost on me.

My parents’ love for authentic Italian food came from their many travels and they wanted to experience it at Cedro's. I think instead we'll go back to Juliet, or Vespaio--restaurants that are pricer, but have well garnered their prestige.

Last point--the restrooms are nasty, stinky, and smelly. Where’s the...

I was really looking forward to going to Cedro. This restaurant is not cheap and they claim that they do everything from scratch so I was expecting the food to be delicious. The pizza I ordered tasted like the lean cuisine frozen pizza. I told one of the employees to please take the pizza because I didn’t like it and the table we were sitting at was small. He asked me if I wanted to speak to the manager and I said no. However the manager came out and I explained to him the pizza tasted bad. He apologized and said he would make this right for me and for me to pick another item from the menu. I told him that was not necessary but he was insisting and insisting. So I ordered the seafood risotto and it was alright. I was disappointed when they charged me the full price of the seafood risotto which was $28 when the pizza, I originally ordered was $17. Keep in mind, the least expensive thing on the menu was the pizza.I don’t understand how that is making it right for the customer!? I didn’t want to order another dish in the first place. I was just giving them honest feedback. I am not saying I wanted a free meal but they should have just charged me the price of the pizza since that’s the dish I wanted and it tasted bad and the manager insisted on me ordering another dish, even though I didn’t want too! I would not recommend this place because the food does not taste good and it’s pricey. However, my waiters were great, so no complaints there!!

Reply to management: It’s ok, that’s your view of “making it right for the customer” and that’s fine, it’s your business. Just please next time don’t insist for someone to order something else if they tell you No. Just be respectful and take the No.

Also I didn’t enjoy the risotto as you mentioned. I had a few bites and took most of it in a to go box because I wanted to be polite. When I like food, I finish it, so please don’t write as if I ate the whole dish because...

I was born and raised in an Italian family...so, OK, I have my biases. Cedro boasts to be a scratch Italian eating establishment. I have to disagree.

No Italian meal starts without some form of bread on the table. You have to 'order' it here. When it arrives, it ain't Italian bread. It's some sort of light weight toasted white bread dress up in cheese and toasted. WHAT?

That food...I ordered the Bolognese Pasta Dish.

OK, the pasta...they didn't put enough salt in the pasta water at the beginning of the process to begin with. So, it was kinda flavorless in my opinion, then add to that, it wasn't exactly al dente....it was sort of undercooked on the inside and overly mushy on the outside. My guess is they crowded the water pot. Grandma would have slapped her forehead and rolled her eyes. Moddonna!!

The Bolognese....textually, I would describe less as a meat sauce and more as a soupy mixture of ingredients. I'm assuming there was some meat it there. What was in there I would describe as sparse.

Overall, the dish had way too much sauce vs. pasta. Flavorless soupy 'meat' sauce poured over but not clinging to badly cooked pasta.

$23 plus $6 for the 'bread'....wow! Forget a side salad, would've been another$7. No thanks.

I'll give the place decent stars on atmosphere. It was busy and lively. That's what one would expect in this type of genre.

Overall, pricey not so good food in a busy rub elbows lively place. If you're looking for that atmosphere, I recommend to go there. If you're looking for good Italian fare..well,...