Civile Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in Metuchen

I found this place on the NET! A cute, quaint, cozy little place, with so much charm and etiquette. I took my daughter there for her Halloween Birthday dinner, and we both were so intrigued with each bite of every dish we had. For an appetizer, we had the crostini with the dried figs and crispy pancetta - delish! Then, we followed with the superb meatballs. The meatballs were the best we ever had. We were a bit worried that a meatball with raisins may be a bit weird, but after tasting the succulent morsels, we never even noticed a raisin in the meatballs. They were soft, not filled with tons of breadcrumbs, and were just a delightful dish! My entree was the pork shank and the mushroom/spinach risotta. I never liked mushrooms before, but this dish all paired together very well. The pork was so tender, it fell off the bone. We couldn't eat the full entree in one sitting, so it was a delight the day after. To finalize the wonderful meal, we had the Mascarpone Cheesecake, and the Chocolate Ganache cake. These two desserts were the best that we had ever had anywhere, and we eat out a lot!!! The Cheesecake was so velvety, almost like a panna cotta, and the Chocolate Ganache was so rich in flavor, it was just too good to put the fork down!!!! And the finale, was when we brought our own wine to the venue. The owner was so kind. Without us even requesting it, he brought us over a wine/champagne bucket filled with ice to keep our sparking wine cold. It was the best night EVER!!! I'll go back and try everything on the MENU, FOR SURE!!!! They get a 5...

I would definitely recommend this restaurant!!! They were very accommodating and friendly for special requests. Generally the restaurant is open at 5 on Sundays but I asked what the earliest time they had was for a group of 16. And they opened at 4 ! He said we have no problem opening early since there was no party beforehand. They even decorated the tray of desserts with the 1st birthday party decor I gave them. We did family style for $30 a person but it’s not like maggianos when they keep bringing out more food. They only brought out their portions for 16 and then they move on to the next course. So when I asked them for another plate of chicken parm they didn’t charge us which was nice. We all brought our own wine and I recommend finishing off the wine or ask them to keep the corks because we had a lot of wine opened and needed to ask for corks back in the end. And then the food...... I would say the food was ok to good. There was nothing I would say that stood out as amazing. I don’t understand smothering the calamari app in balsamic that was too much and not my cup of tea. I feel like everything we had was cooked well nothing terrible happened. I think the meatball app was good and a stand out. The ambience was great and thats what really made our 1st birthday dinner of 16 people special. We had...

First, let me start off by saying that the food at Civile is fabulous. After that, we have problems. Understanding that Civile is a small establishment, I am bothered by the unprofessionalism put forth by a restaurant that takes such pride in their food. I called to take out food on a Sunday. When calling the person answers by saying and I quote, "yeah, what can I do for ya?" Really? This was after calling once with no answer the first time. Then he tells me that they are not set up for take out dinners tonight because its restaurant week in town. Again, really? I just ordered from another restaurant in town with no problem. If this was a first time having technical issues with civile I probably wouldnt be doing this right now but, on more then one occasion my wife and I were turned away because the place was rented out. Again, I understand that the place is small and they are left with few options but they need to expand or move to a larger place or at the very least accomodate families who want to go out to eat but are turned away because you have a party. It makes people's business feel unappreciated. I almost always have to have a back up plan because We have been let down so much we dont want to be left figuring out what to eat. Civile just needs to get their...