Cucciolo Osteria Durham — Restaurant in Durham

Since you “appreciate” the 1 star reviews so much, I thought I’d add another one!

This is by far the most unprofessional, rude, and disrespectful restaurant I have ever visited in Durham. My friend has a service dog. When we showed up for our reservation, a member of the waitstaff told us in an incredibly rude tone that the service dog was not allowed. We explained to him that according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, restaurants must accommodate service dogs. When we informed him of this law, he told us that is his policy to not allow service dogs. He told us that every once in a while, he makes exceptions for seeing-eye dogs, but even then, he tries not to. I'm sorry, what? So even though my friend had a legitimate service dog, along with all the proper verification, the service dog was denied entry because it was not a seeing-eye dog. Consider also that he said he tries, as much as possible, to turn away seeing-eye dogs too! For the sake of your own safety, I advise all people with disabilities to think critically about the staff's attitude before dining here. It is, frankly, disgusting.

Throughout the entire encounter, including during and after the dinner, he was extremely rude to us, not even apologizing for this illegal policy. He even shouted a rude comment at us as we were leaving the restaurant. As a group of young women, we felt extremely targeted and unsafe throughout the evening.

The man was wearing a purple shirt and had hair in a ponytail. I hope, for the sake of this restaurant and its owners, that this man did not hold a leadership position on the staff, as I cannot imagine any self-respecting establishment rewarding such abhorrent, ableist behavior.

I would link to the federal and state law on service dogs in restaurants, which clearly states that restaurants must accommodate service dogs, but Google reviews do not support urls. Please, do yourself a favor and educate yourself on the disability laws of our nation before denying patrons their civil rights.

If the man had been accommodating or professional or respectful, perhaps my party would not have felt inclined to leave negative reviews. I cannot emphasize enough how truly unprofessional the service was.

UPDATE upon response from the owner:

Thanks for your response. Copy-and-pasting the same reply to each member of our party (and not even remembering to change the name) is so classy! Really shows that you care.

I highly doubt that you are "always welcoming" of service dogs if your employee told us, point blank, that it his policy to try to NEVER allow service dogs. This is what your employee said when we told him that under federal and state law, restaurants cannot turn away service dogs: "I don't care. I never allow service dogs. Sometimes I make an exception for some seeing-eye dogs, but even then, I try not to." Does this sound like a welcoming environment to you?

If your employee's initial explanation had been conducted with the same professionalism as your response to my review, perhaps we could have all had a more enjoyable evening. But regardless of the limitations of the situation, the absolute rudeness with which we were treated should never be allowed. Even when we first spoke to him, the gentleman did not even have a neutral tone - he was aggressive and rude from our first conversation. The glares thrown our way throughout our dinner didn't help, either. And the final cherry on top - shouting "Appreciate the one star review" at our party as we left the restaurant - is unbelievably unprofessional. Let me be clear: We did nothing except arrive at the restaurant with a service dog, inform the gentleman of the federal and state laws, and then leave a review on a public forum. None of this warrants the hostility we were treated with from the moment we arrived until the moment we left.

To anyone who might be reading this: I know that individuals with service dogs are a minority. But whether you have a service dog or not, do you really want to patronize an establishment that abides by such petty and...

My boyfriend and I had a really bad experience here last night. We've been here before and usually we love Cucciolo, and it was one of our favorite restaurants in Durham. But yesterday was really bad and has made us question when/if we will go back.

So we had reservations at 5:45 and were sat at our table. The host was nice, but as soon as we were sat, the vibes from our server were off. When she walked up to our table, there was no smile, no friendly greeting, just a "I'm your server, can I start you off with tap or bottled water" and immediately walked away. Now, my boyfriend and I have both worked in the service industry, so I like to give servers some grace. I didn't say anything about it at first and just brushed it off, thinking that maybe she just had an RBF and I was reading too much into it. It wasn't until halfway into our meal, after we had received our appetizers, that my boyfriend mentioned that he didn't like our server and I agreed. Outside of just generally being cold, she was pretty inattentive. It took a minute for us to get our starting drinks (not cocktails, just had to be poured) and there were points when we needed something and hadn't seen our server in 20 minutes.

I can't really be sure of this, but we suspect that we were treated this way partially because of how we looked. Admittedly, we were pretty underdressed for this restaurant. We were both wearing jeans and my boyfriend had a tshirt on. However, we didn't look sloppy--we looked presentable. Our suspicions were confirmed, in our eyes, when we saw other tables being served by the same woman and her tone and demeanor were completely different. It wasn't until my boyfriend and I had racked up a bill (over $200) that we both noticed that she seemed to treat us a little better. I know this is a nicer restaurant, but if there's no dress code, you can't treat some people better than others based off appearances.

The rest of the meal didn't get much better. After we finished our appetizers, our entrees came out on the colder side of lukewarm, and we just knew that they had been sitting in the window for a minute. We had put all of our food in at the beginning of the meal because we trusted our server to course our meal based on our eating speed, and we know that nicer restaurants appreciate knowing early what all we'll order. But it seemed that they didn't account for how long it would take us to finish our three appetizers. Maybe if the server had been around or checking on us, she would have been able to better gauge our meal progression.

Anyways, the pasta that I had ordered had a piece of plastic in it. When we told our server, she didn't even apologize which I feel like is standard in the industry. She thanked us for letting her know and took it to her manager. The manager did come over and was very nice. He apologized and explained what happened which we appreciated. He comped it off our bill and remade it for us. However, at that point, we didn't feel very welcome and just took the rest of our food to go. The worst part is that because we were two of the only people of color in the restaurant, we tipped 20% for what we felt was poor service. We didn’t want to confirm whatever our server thought of us when we walked in and allow them to perpetuate a narrative of poc being bad customers. We didn’t make a scene and handled everything as gracefully as possible. But I feel like what happened wasn’t ok which is why I’ve written...

I was in town for a friend’s wedding last weekend, but wanted to have a meal here after hearing about Cucciolo from ppl I know and reading about its selection as a “best of the best” in the Durham magazine in my hotel room.

I walked in on Saturday about 10 mins before last orders are taken. The party behind me said the kitchen closes at 10 pm, and it was 9:45. I was seated immediately by the host, Sarafino, and he was attentive and kind.

I sat at the bar, and the bar tender/server Allison was informative, answered my questions about portion sizes and helped me choose a salad and a pasta dish. She poured me some sparkling water and I began sipping and rehydrating (which I needed from time spent in the sun that day). She brought me some bread to start, served with a pool of delicious olive oil and a pile of grated Parmesan and cracked black pepper. The olive oil was so fresh and grassy! I felt like I could sip it in a glass; it was so good.

The Italian salad was so yummy and was a generous portion. It looked delicious covered in a generous dusting of shaved cheese, like freshly fallen snow. The flavors were well balanced, I especially enjoyed the slices of fennel, crunchy and earthy. With each bite, I could taste each ingredient individually and taste how they meld together and the dressing provided a little bit of sweetness and highlighted the fresh ingredients. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had the Cacio e Pepe, and it was perfectly done. The pasta was al dente, the saltiness of the cheese was prominent without being overwhelming. The pepper added just enough sharpness to balance the richness of the sauce. It’s a simple dish but executed impeccably.

I was so full that I wasn’t sure if I could finish the last few bites of the pasta, but the host came over and asked if I’m interested in dessert. I started to say no, but wanted to hear what they had. He mentioned a seasonal panna cotta. And I LOVE panna cotta. He described a peach compote, and peaches are in season. I couldn’t resist. I’m so glad I had dessert. The panna cotta was divine. The panna cotta was silky and creamy, just slightly sweet and it just slipped down my throat, bite after bite. The peach compote wasn’t overly sugary and the natural sugars were allowed to shine. It was garnished with mint and a sprinkled topping that added little bits of flavor contrasts. I wish I knew what that topping was.

I’m not usually one to dine at nice restaurants alone, but I’m so glad I went. The staff were all friendly, the host and the servers came to check in with me periodically but still let me scarf down the delicious food. They made sure I wasn’t bored or stuck staring at my phone.

Cucciolo is just really great ppl serving really good food in a modern space. I apparently went on the night of their first year anniversary celebration in the private dining room and I’m excited for this gem in Durham’s restaurant scene! I can’t wait to return when I’m...