CIBO Italian Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Florida

I cannot begin to fully encapsulate how much this place glows with hospitality. The hostess who held the door for me, the bus boy Reese who was practically bursting with charisma, and my server Wayne, who somehow always knew exactly what I needed before I even did; all of them acted as if they had watched me grow up and had known me for years. Wayne thoroughly explained the menu and how meticulously crafted each recipe was, and went over his personal favorites. I went with the soup of the day ($6) and a Wayne-recommended spaghetti and meatballs ($16). Have I had better food somewhere else? Probably. Do I remember the name of any of the staff, or that the bus boy wants to be an EMT, or that the owner's mom and the owner make the ravioli themselves every morning? No. CIBO's strong suit is their exemplary service which left a memorable impression on me (although the food was still pretty good). The staff members repeatedly stopped to make conversation with all of the guests, as if they were also patrons sitting at the table waiting to eat. The family next to me had 4 different employees stop and chat, so I eventually asked if they came here often and they told me "every week!"

I was at CIBO for a little over 30 minutes, but I left with a full belly, a smile and an feeling of coziness that I wanted to share with everyone I saw. My total came out to $23.43, plus a $10 tip (I only wish I could have left Wayne and Reese a larger one). I'm writing this review in their parking lot because I immediately had to let everyone know how phenomenal of a staff CIBO has employed. I was only in Ft. Myers on a business trip, but I'll make sure to recommend CIBO to my colleagues and stop by the next time...

As former local restaurant owners, l/we met some our previous customers here for an evening out & knowing an exceptional dinner experience. We were originally sat in the center of the dining area & asked to be moved over in the corner so we could hear each other’s conversation ( we’re not all hard of hearing it was just too loud in the center of the dining area, lol ) we were able to move but informed we needed to be done by 8pm (no problem). Drinks & wine served, appetizers ordered & delivered, perfect! Entree’s served fabulous I had the Veal Chop, my husband had the Pork Chop, our friends had the Veal Marsala & Lamb Chops! Perfect 👍! It was getting to be 7:30 pm, and they cleared our plates away & packed up our to go dinners, and asked about dessert. We looked at the menu & truly we didn’t have any room, but it looked & sounded delicious. So now it’s about 7:45, and a woman came up to the table & blatantly said there’s a high top in the bar area you can go to for your desserts & coffee drinks! We looked at each other and said that we were getting ready to get up, as we had just paid the check. Not for anything but the next time you address a table please check with your server first to see what the status is of his/ or her table… because the way you handled it was not necessarily the right way in all of our eyes! We knew what time we needed to vacate the table & we were right on target. Again when addressing a customer there’s a right way & a wrong way, and the way you handled it was definitely the WRONG way! 😞 Too bad as otherwise it was a perfect & exceptional dining evening and service was spot on! Just wanted to share...

My situation is unique so therefore it does not relate to everyone else. I’m sure dining inside the atmosphere is beautiful. There’s music playing the lighting is great. It’s decorated nice. The hostess is always friendly. My order is always on time so I can’t complain about those things.. moving onto the food. The meatballs are actually very good and they do give you an ample amount of sauce they give you fresh bread with like an olive spread kind of like a Kalamata spread and also butter the things I get here for my son are chicken Parmesan and the meatballs I think each and every time I go back it’s gonna be different but it’s not. I do not know why they are so skimpy on the sauce. If you look at the pictures, there is zero sauce. I am going to add a photo shortly to show you that the only way you can actually ever eat to go is to provide your own silverware since they do not even offer plastic silverware, which is absurd as every other restaurant in this country gives you silverware with to go food and stop at Publix and get yourself a jar of your favorite marinara sauce. Also, they serve it with angel hair, but my son cannot chew it so I asked them to swap it out for rigatoni several times they charge me an extra fee just to swap out box pasta luckily today fortunately they did not but the moment I opened the bag and saw the sauce I am now on my way to pick up a six dollar jar of pasta sauce just so my son can have his dinner. This place has been here for years, so my opinion only matters to me, but there are plenty of places to spend your money and I eat out three times a day at this point I’m checking this one...