Tesoro — Restaurant in Carrboro

This was a fantastic experience dining. We were greeted by the host warmly and our experience with our server was stellar. We were pleased to see a small and manageable menu. This is always a good sign for us since this lets us know that cooks are not spread too thin across multiple dishes. This normally leads to increased overall proficiency and quality of dishes. Some patrons may see a limited menu as a negative, but not us.

While small, we found the place to be pleasantly cozy inside. There isn’t a theme or busy décor on the walls which was fine for us. There is more of a focus on food.

There is no complimentary bread here like in chain restaurants. They do offer a decent selection of small plates that can sub as appetizers. We ordered focaccia for about $6 with deliciously creamy whipped butter smothered in oil. The focaccia itself is amazing and the best I have ever had. It had a nice crisp crust with a spongy interior.

The main courses were amazing. We ordered the Linguine and Mafalde dishes. The pasta in both dishes was pleasantly tender and not overcooked. The dishes were topped off with crunchy breadcrumbs that added another layer to the experience, giving a nice crunch to every bite. The Maflade’s pork was seasoned to perfection while being covered in rich cheese. The Linguine’s anchovy wasn’t overpowering while allowing the garlic and lemon to come through.

The wine by the glass list is a tad on the small size but seemed to be curated to offer excellent choices from bubbly to reds. Beer choices could be improved upon. Only lagers and IPAs are currently available. I feel a stout would have paired well with the meaty Mafalde dish.

We ended the night with two desserts. We tried both the olive cake and bread pudding. They were both delicious and generously portioned. The cake was moist and drizzled with a pomegranate topping. The bread pudding seemed to use the house made focaccia as a base and covered in what seemed like a toasted caramel drizzle. Neither was overly rich, which made the dishes even more pleasing to us.

We will be coming here...

Tesoro was a wonderful experience. About 1 month ago, I emailed the restaurant to set up a surprise birthday dinner for my boyfriend. The owner, David, was quick to respond and provided me with great suggestions/options for the perfect dinner menu. I have been looking forward to this dinner for several weeks, and let's just say it was absolutely PERFECT.

We started with the bread and whipped butter/olive oil. The bread was soft/warm and paired well with the soft butter which had just the right amount of salt. The salad had the perfect amount of dressing/cheese and came towered high. It was a great appetizer to share between 2 people. These two starters were paired with the Le Ballon Rose- a great light wine to start with.

For the main course, we shared 3 pasta entrees. Bucatini w/ Pecorino, Black Pepper, Grana Padano: This is the best cacio de pepe dish I have EVER had. The pasta was cooked al dente and the dish was so creamy. Aglio e Olio: Such a simple and light dish that had the perfect amount of kick to it with the chilli flakes. The taste of garlic was perfectly spread through the dish and was not overbearing. Gnocchi w/ Roasted Pepper + Lamb Ragu: I am vegetarian, so I did not try this dish, but my boyfriend was blown away. He has never had gnocchi before and he said the pasta just melted into his mouth.

The main courses paired perfectly with the Dolcetto d'Alba red wine.

Lastly, for dessert we shared the Honey and Fior di Latte Ice Cream. Both were absolutely amazing, but if we had to pick, we could probably eat an entire pint of the honey ice cream!

The customer service and ambience are perfect in this 18-seat restaurant. Sitting at the countertop and getting to see the fresh ingredients being used is truly its own experience.

Thank you Tesoro!! We...

We all have seen some nasty restaurant reviews...well this is certainly one of those. The night started off nicely, good ambiance, friendly waitress, but then our dining experience took a turn for the worse. The entire dining experience was ruined by -- ready for it…… salt. I kindly asked our waitress for some salt/red pepper for our pasta as soon as it came out. After 3 minutes of no salt, I saw the waitress huddling with the chefs and continuously glaring over in our direction. After looking over at our table 5-6 times, the waitress finally comes back and says “the chef says he cannot give you guys salt”. Astonished from what we just heard, we asked to speak to the chef. He aggressively marched to our table with our receipt and proceeded to tell us that his food “did not need salt”. I politely mentioned that it was poor customer service and he immediately dismissed our opinion. He continued to argue how he tasted it before, how he stands by his dishes, and how the customer isn’t always right. This felt like a lecture from an angry mother who is yelling at their kid for staying up too late on a weekday. As a new restaurant, having stellar customer service is vital and what I received was the worst customer service Ive ever experienced. WORST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE...