CACi Wood-Fired Sicilian Grill — Restaurant in Eagle

First time here, liked it a lot. Family friendly. We'll be back.

• Updated review 7/17/22 Taking my rating down a star (and I really debated subtracting two).

Well, we did go back, though we picked the worst night possible to do so. The hostess/server indicated that their internet had gone down, which was causing havoc with the timing of tickets. Okay, I've worked in the industry, and I understand.

After being seated, we waited good 10 minutes before getting any attention from our server. We ordered drinks and indicated that we'd be ready to order entrees (and no apps) right away due to the issues they were having and the fact that we had an infant and a 6 year-old with us at the table. After a rather lengthy delay the drinks came and we ordered, starting with the ciabatta bread & oil because, well, small children who were clearly present and hungry. Half an hour later I had to flag our server (who hadn't been seen since placing our order) to inquire about the bread. Not our entrees, mind you, but just the bread and oil. Our server had it on the table in a minute, so I'm not really clear where the execution issues lay on that one. But waiting 1/2 hour for 4 pieces of (admittedly delicious) ciabatta is a total fail, especially when considering the makeup of our table.

After the bread, we had another (rather) lengthy pause in our service, resulting in empty drinks and uncleared plates. While we were waiting for our dinner, not one but two tables that had been seated ahead of us were past their appetizers and into their entrees, and we watched them enjoy their food.

During all of this we had ample time to hear/overhear some of what was going on around us, and apparently the owner had come in due to the internet/timing issues and was busy expediting orders. I was watching him and waiting to see where our food was (now a full hour and 30 minutes into our experience). I saw him receive the exact items we had ordered, and then proceeded to watch them sit under the heat lamps. For a good 10 minutes. Sure enough, they were what our server eventually picked up and delivered. While that's unacceptable for any dish in any restaurant (I wouldn't accept that at McDonald's!), the fact that the bucatini is a shrimp and fish dish really toughened up the shrimp and dried out the fish. Despite all of this, the food was still...good.

What really chapped my hide and why I've bothered to write so extensively is that throughout all of this, we received ONE very weak, "sorry about the issues tonight". No other consideration for anything. No recognition that they totally dropped the ball on service. Having software issues with your POS is one thing, but these were service failures. Management needs to do better, and recognize when things are off the rails and communicate with the customer and own it. Start to finish was just over 2 hours for 3 entrees and drinks. Did I mention that we had a baby and a young child with us? Totally unacceptable.

The most ironic part of all of this: we had promised my 6 year-old that we would go to Caci after he went through COVID (his choice of venue, by the way). I wanted to teach him that it's how we react to bad situations that determine our success or failure in life. I had no idea that I would be able to reinforce that lesson by the dismal experience that we had due to an internet issue. Some of the staff seemed to step up and perform, but sadly we didn't experience that whatsoever.

Caci is super local to us and was on its way to a neighborhood favorite, and at some point we may be back, but we sure won't be recommending to our friends or taking out-of-town guests there as we had planned after our last visit. And that's a bummer...

Almost there. This place had been recommended by a few people, so my family and I decided to give it a try. It’s a nice atmosphere and nice background music. Good Italian wine selection and everything on the menu looked good. Had a new server who was on her 3rd day and wasn’t very versed in the menu items. It was okay though, everyone has to start somewhere. She was friendly and was willing to figure out the questions we needed. My wife ordered a Caesar salad to start, but was kind of small for $9. If I had ordered that as my only item I would have been disappointed in the portion size. She ordered the pepperoni pizza and my daughter and I ordered the Short Rib Bolognese. I was a bit surprised at how long the food took, aside from the salad which was prompt. The server who dropped off the salad didn’t ask if we needed pepper or salt, which it definitely needed both. The Caesar was good though after proper seasoning. The entrees took a while, which I chopped up to the pizza. I imagine a pizza in a wood fired oven, must take a while, so no faults there. Just be warned, if you do order a pizza there, it’s gonna be a while. The pizza had great flavor, but seemed like it needed a few minutes more as it was slightly soggy still. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be like that or not, but I would have liked it a bit more crispy. The pizza sauce was good and the pepperoni was what you’d expect from any other pepperoni pizza. Not to fault it, but with all the other fancy pizza toppings on the menu, I guess I expected the pepperoni to be the star of the pie. Now I know a true Italian bolognese is onion and carrot cooked down for a few hours, so it has a thick like consistency. For the record I was not expecting a red sauce like a few people think when they hear bolognese. What arrived was not what I was expecting. It was soupy, which was odd. The pappardelle pasta was over cooked. That might have been what made the dish soupy. Possibly the cook didn’t drain the pasta well. The short rib in the dish was tasty, but the whole dish needed more seasoning. Basic seasoning; salt and pepper. The server came back shortly to ask how everything was and if we needed anything. We asked for parmesan cheese which helped the seasoning immensely. It was just kind of underwhelming. It didn’t feel like a $18 dish. When you add “short rib” to the name of your dish, I think fall apart unctuous deliciously fatty meat. My daughter commented that it was like beef noodle soup. I wanted to like it, but probably wouldn’t order it again. We were finished with our meal around 8:05 and were wondering what kind of desserts the place had. I’m a sucker for tiramisu. At about 8:20 we still hadn’t seen our server. Well, my wife did. She was sitting at a back table eating with the rest of the staff. I don’t have issues with servers eating on shift. It’s a tough job and can drain you. However, I wouldn’t neglect your tables when you need to take a break and eat. Have someone watch your section. It was a school night and we needed to get home, so decided against dessert. It was just kind of a shame, because it seems like the restaurant is almost there. Almost to a point where I would recommend it. I wanted to try other things on the menu, but not sure we’ll be back. Full disclosure: I have been in the restaurant industry for 22 years and love to take my family out to dinner, so please take this review as advise on what your restaurant...

Wow, stopped in only because it was close to our final destination, and what a lucky landing!

Excellent service, and I believe they have one of the best selections in the area, not too much, but with a unique variety. The pizzas are nice sized to share, however in our group, two pizzas were completely eaten by a 10 and 12 year old if that helps you guage. Prices might seem higher for a "seat yourself" atmosphere however I felt they were appropriate for the excellent selection and delicious food...I wish I had taken better pics!

The pizza crust was amazing, crisp but with good chew, the kind of crust you have to tear at to release your slice from the pie, and it is sourdough, so you know that lends to the perfect texture. The Nonna sauce was delicious, honestly I would go back just for the sauce ;) We got The Farmhouse, which my 12 year old raved over, no skimping on the arugula.

The Tuscana soup was perfectly spicy, however when it came down to it, I wasn't a fan of the texture of the sausage... like it was overly ground, but again the flavors of the soup were delicious. Also their version of Muffalata salad was more suited to a tapenade for bruschetta if you ask me, none of the familiar chunky textures and variety of olives I've come to expect in Muffalata, it was more of a puree/spread of kalamata olives, etc. Tasty, but not enough to fill a sandwich on it's own, and if there were artichoke in it, the Kalamata completely overwhelmed it.

We are gonna go back and try the pizza with the confit duck! And another Margherita so my youngest can go crazy on that Nonna sauce again :)

One thing....The menu description, which is apparently delivered if you answer "no" to the question, "have you been here before", is overwhelming, to be honest...We really could have done without the wait staff going into a diatribe about what each item is, a bit of an assumption that one is culinarily inept and took up a lot of time, so that would be the only thing I would change. Oh, and the half dead Christmas decor, it takes away from the...