Cicala at the Divine Lorraine — Restaurant in Philadelphia

The atmosphere here is amazing. The place is just gorgeous. The service was very slow. We didn't get our appetizers for an HOUR. Granted, it was a late Mother's Day Brunch, but the place was quiet. By the time our food came, only one other table was still seated. My daughter ordered Spaghetti al cacio e pepe, and my son ordered spaghetti alla carbonara. Both came out as rigatoni! I told the food runner that these were the wrong dishes. He left and came back and said no, these are correct. I was so confused. He said, "I think we ran out of spaghetti." Really? I was still unconvinced. When our server came back, I asked again. She looked at me and had no idea. I don't know what happened before our party sat, but she seemed really frazzled. Does this make sense? I asked for plain pasta in butter for my youngest son and plain pasta in gravy for my younger daughter. They brought out what looked like a fettuccine noodle for that, but for the two people who ordered dishes containing the word "spaghetti" in the title, you thought to substitute rigatoni? Why not put the rigatoni for the butter and gravy plates? Why not come to us and say I am sorry we are out of spaghetti. Do you want another dish? Can I make it with a different pasta? How do you run out of spaghetti?! They still had dinner service to get through. So were they saving the spaghetti for dinner service and just thought- to hell with this 3 pm brunch? Let's give them whatever we can to get them out to prep for dinner. They were the ones who scheduled my party of 7 at 3 pm. Anyway, the apps were excellent. The two small rigatoni dishes could have been better. My Shackshuke was pretty spicy despite this not being noted on the menu. Unless it as in Italian and I missed it. The gnocchi was good. They brought out cannoli at the end as a Mother's Day treat. That was really yummy. I did mention the slow service, the server looking upset, and the pasta swap with the manager. Regarding the slow service, he said, "Well, she wasn't cooking the food," regarding the pasta, he said, "Well, she didn't know." Regarding the pasta he said, "Everything is home made here." I felt terrible just telling the manager because I am not that kind of person. I felt bad for our server. She looked so overwhelmed. What good did it do telling him because he didn't seem to care. A simple apology and what I can do to make it right would have helped. I hyped this place up to my family (and justified the price point to myself) for three weeks to get here and be treated...

What an embarrassing excuse for a restaurant. I booked my reservation through Resy Global Access through Amex. Familiar with the history of the building and the supposed fame of the proprietors, I expected a warm and welcoming environment along with delicious food. Unfortunately, we never found out.

First of all, the fact that reservations were freely available, at every interval on a Saturday night, should have let us know this would be a poor choice.

Upon arrival at the front door, several staff members walked by as they traversed between the twin restaurants spanning the lobby. Only the 4th employee to pass offered to open the locked door which is to be accessed via buzzer.

Once we entered the dining room the hostess graciously greeted us, checked our costs, and sat our table at 8:55 in advance of our 9:30 reservation. The dining room was about 1/3 full, so they had plenty of room.

Everyone has different standards regarding service, and slow service happens on occasion. However it is usually easy to tell whether an establishment is hospitable or not. After sitting for a while, we began to feel uneasy and unwelcome. Servers traversed back and forth never a hello, a look, nor a nod in our direction. No water glasses filled, no energy pointed in our direction.

Watched the owners stand at one table providing them with personalized service, while they and the staff ignored our table for sure.

After waiting an appropriate amount of time, without being acknowledged, we decided to exit scene, and spend our time and resource with proprietors who value other humans and their business.

The hostess was extremely apologetic. My partner asked to speak with the owners who were standing within earshot. They could not be bothered to speak with us.

After leaving we read the many, many reviews cataloging how these folks operate. Not sure if there are particular groups of people this establishment chooses to disenfranchise or if the proprietors are bad hosts to any and all. What I do know is that they are not worth your time or money.

They do not know much about...

The two chef/owners, met and fell in love while working at another restaurant.

Then they married and opened Cicala .

Well, that is two loves, The third love was being with my wife On her 80 th Birthday day at Cicala, for the inaugural wine tasting event.

We were seated at a red banquette, right under their family pictures.

This was very special to me because my Dad always said that family was everything.

The event started promptly , we were introduced to Antonio , The grandson of the founder of Argiolas wines.

We sampled 5 wines, Two whites and 3 red's

Each wine was paired with different courses.

I enjoyed all the wines, but I only buy white wine, so that everyone does not drink my red wine.

As for the red wines, the monica was very good, I aerated it a little and it tasted like a whiskey.

The riserva was better, but by then, I was in heaven.

The last wine the "tremontis" was out of this world!

Found it on the Internet, 30% alcohol.

I believe it is a desert wine. It was the best wine I have ever drank.

I could not stop shaking my head in disbelief that it was so good.

It even beat the brunello by campogiovani That I brought back from Italy in 2000.

Well, the sommelier sure knew his wines And was very personable.

The cost at 95 dollars each for the wine tasting was actually underpriced because of the quality of the wines And the food.

Also, I really enjoyed the pin wheel pastry with the glass of tremontis.

Chef Cicala and Pastry Chef Cicala Are very nice, affable people.

I heard they do tours to Italy and would recommend going with them.

Finally, I will remember the night of March 3rd, 2000, at Cicala , with my rib on her birthday, for the...