Bar Cicchetti — Restaurant in Oklahoma City

My last experience here was really lacking, which was a real shame since I had suggested it as the venue for a dinner out with friends. We were a table of 6, with 4 having arrived early and sat at the downstairs bar while waiting for our reserved time. That was a great start to the evening as that bartender was phenomenal! The dinner service itself is when it went a little downhill. We were sat upstairs, the only people there for quite some time. At first, things were going well. We were able to order a round of drinks and get our appetizer orders in. When the appetizers arrived, we were missing one. We gave it a little time to see if it would come, but no such luck. Our waitress was by the register talking to other staff, so we attempted to flag her down. It took several minutes of signaling to get her attention so we could inform her that we had an appetizer MIA. She admitted to forgetting to ring it in, no biggie. We got that resolved and all was well. My appetizer, the wagyu and peppers, was not good. The steak was extremely tough and chewy. Again, not a big deal, it was just an appetizer and it was edible. Then our mains arrived. A member of our party ordered the wagyu, but it was again, really chewy and overall felt like a very low grade cut. We did really love the house sauces that came with it though! I ordered the blackened chicken pasta, which is typically phenomenal but my pasta was overdone and a tad mushy. Through dinner, our waitress never checked in on us unless we were able to catch a passing glance by waiving her down. Definitely some missed opportunities for additional cocktail orders! The bartender that was upstairs was excellent though as he helped my husband navigate some of the whiskey options. I understand that it could have been an off night in the kitchen, but our entire group noticed the blatant lack of service we received. Our waitress was very kind, but not customer focused which left us fairly disappointed...

4.7 stars. First time but definitely not the last! Stopped in to watch Monday Night Football with some co-workers. There were many seating options so we set up at some high tops. The team of bartenders took care of us throughout the meal and gave us many solid recommendations.

Tuna Carpaccio ($17) was the first dish. Outstanding! We should’ve ordered another one of these as it really was a hit. Thinly sliced pieces of tuna with sea salt, greens, and drizzles of sauce. This is a must!

Slow-braised Pork Ribs ($16) was course #2. Four large ribs that were finger licking good with a sweet layer of sauce, lightly crusted and nearly falling off the bone. This is another one to order too.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Wings ($14) was the 3rd dish and unfortunately, this was a miss. The wings themselves were small and underwhelming while over cooked too. We felt this was an easy one to not recommend.

By this point, we were all starting to slow down a bit as the drinks were kicking in as well. A single of Tito’s ($9) in a mule (+$3), Michelob Ultra ($7), Turkish Fig Old Fashioned ($12), and a large rock (+$2) single of Buffalo Trace ($8) was our beverage lineup.

After a breather came the Wagyu Beef and Pepper Skewers ($18). Full of flavor and well portioned, only recommendation would be to lessen the time on the grill as the beef was a tad tough.

We should’ve stopped at this point, but with enticing desserts, we took the bartender’s recommendation for the Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding ($10) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This sucker was just right. Not overly sweet with robust cinnamon flavor throughout every bite, we were unable to finish it because of its size!

All said and done, Bar Cicchetti was wonderful. Definitely will be coming back on the next OKC...

Original review: Nice atmosphere, love the upstairs lounge. Quality unique cocktails using Oklahoma spirits.

Updated review after having dinner downstairs: we had problems from the start. We had reservations for Friday evening and asked to sit upstairs. The staff had to run around for a while and discuss if it was possible, and when they finally figured out that someone was actually assigned to the upstairs section, we were still sat downstairs. We were in a table in the back, and the back door kept being opened up every 1-2 minutes by staff going in and out. It was 15 degrees outside, so every time the door opened we were hit with cold air and lots of cigarette smoke. Not an ideal dining environment. Our server put on very loud music, and was singing along, which was nice for her but I couldn’t hear my partner who I was there with just trying to have dinner. The atmosphere felt like a dive bar with “fancy” accoutrements. I guess someone else complained because the music was eventually turned down to normal levels. These are notes on the food:

Crispy Cauliflower - very tasty seasoning and lovely crispy outside, however, because you deep fried entire huge sections of cauliflower, the thicker sections were undercooked and unseasoned on the inside. It was clumsily topped with a whole fried green onion. Garnishing a fried item with another fried item was a strange choice, and the onion was difficult to cut and eat with the rest of the dish. The aioli was perfect, and the sweet and spicy sauce was good but needed to be blended up more since it had some awkward big pepper chunks in it.

Green Salad with Wagyu steak was excellent.

Mahi Mahi was a bit bland but the garlicky couscous it was served on...