Diomede’s Restaurant — Restaurant in Chichester

My wife has been here a couple times, but I had never been. We arrived just after 4:00 on a Saturday. They had just opened. We sat at the end of the bar.

We were quickly greeted by the bartender Jess. She delivered menus and explained the specials to us. My wife got a Misguided Angel and I got a Stella Artios. Both were served in frosty glasses.

We decided on the Mozzarella Sticks for an app. They were delivered with some bread, seasoned EVOO and marinara. Most of the Mozzarella Sticks I get I would consider to be breaded. These were not breaded, but more battered than breaded. The Mozzarella sticks are honestly some of the best I’ve had. They were cooked to perfection and extremely tasty.

For mains, my wife ordered a large Pepperoni Pizza with no sauce. I told the Bartender that I was having whatever she recommended, and my wife, as usual, added “Don’t tell him!”. She asked if I had any allergies, to which I replied no.

The mains took a while to come out, but the Bartender continued to check in on us and apologized for the delay. In the mean time she switched over to White Russians, while I stuck with the Stella’s.

My wife’s Pizza came out just like she asked and was excellent.

I received the Chicken Parmesan. The Bartender said that it was the most popular thing on the menu, so it had to be a good bet. The Chicken Parm was GIANT. ENORMOUS, but also quite good. The chicken itself had a nice crispy crust. The sauce was delicious, and the pasta underneath was well seasoned and well cooked. I would have been fine with it being a touch less cooked, but it certainly wasn’t over (I just prefer it a touch more al dente). I was able to eat about half of it before having to ask for a box.

My wife asked the Bartender to pick out a to go dessert for her, but not to tell her what it was. The bartender’s reply was “This is a fun game!”. She returned a few minutes later with a dessert packaged to go home. My wife tried to cheat and take a look at what was on the check, so that she knew what she was getting, but the Bartender actually entered “Surprise Dessert” on the check so my wife was unable to cheat.

The dessert was Cannolis with Chocolate Chips, which my wife claimed...

I was unbelievably impressed mostly by the food. Had the seafood ravioli and meatball for appetizers they were stellar. Five adults all ordered different pasta dishes every single one of them was excellent. Kitchen did not have a problem making the chicken alfredo into a shrimp alfredo, the chicken marsala was better than I have ever tasted anywhere else earthy and glorious. The surprise was the complimentary bruschetta which was fabulous. (They should offer as a appetizer, I could have eaten a full size plate).I have to say I have not been this impressed with the food quality of a restaurant anywhere in the Lakes Region area. I am not a tourist I am a local and we strive to find places to eat where we don't have buyers remorse because we can make it better in our own kitchens. The only criticism I have was not in the politeness or the attentiveness of our servers but the server we had who explained she had only been working there 2 months did not know the menu yet. The menu does not come with any description of what is in the dish. We had to Google some of the pastas to find out what they were. The waitress basically stated she did not know and then waited there while we Googled it. This was a little frustrating as I am used to being able to go into a restaurant asking what a dish is and the waitress can rattle off a description. I don't speak Italian, to my own regret and like I said, I had to disseminate what was in the dish. This will never stop me from going to this restaurant due to the fact that I have not tasted food at such high quality in this area. I can only hope...

My Husband and I stopped into Diomede's this morning for brunch. First time we've been. The food was decent - no major concerns there really. But it was anything like over the top or extravagant by any means. Decent amount of choices and with brunch, they offered a complimentary beverage- we chose mimosas - those were good too. The server was very good pleasant and attentive. Where the problem lies is with the bill. Upon receiving it we were quite shocked with the prices. We were sitting in a room with a few other parties whom also must have been there first time too cause they were just as shocked as we were upon reviewing the bill! For my husband and I to eat the bill was $60 so $30 each for brunch! The other ridiculous thing on our bill was the added gratuity that's already included into your bill. So they added a $12 tip onto our bill. So in total with tax the bill was $77.... Needless to say - we won't be returning.

In regard to the atmosphere- the place is very dark and dingy - the walls are a maron/cranberry type color and the curtains were a dingy off white color - which mind you all the curtains were closed so it just added to the diginess of it all. My thought is - if you are going to charge upscale prices- you should probably elevate your place a bit more. Again the servers were great but the prices and the atmosphere don't...