Ciao Popolo — Restaurant in Rockingham

As ever, the staff and atmosphere are exceptional.

A friend and I celebrated her birthday. We had reservations and were accommodated perfectly.

I enjoyed a very nice martini, my friend, a cranberry spritzer.

On to dinner. Very pleasant salads, the pear, which is always a hit, and, a Caesar. The portions are large and both salads decent. For some reason, perhaps my own mood, I didn’t feel wowed from the beginning.

For entres, my friend had pasta with a ragu of wild mushrooms. She said she was expecting a “creamy” sauce, and was disappointed. I tried the halibut, served over cioppino. This dish was not to my liking. (The first dish I haven’t enjoyed here.). I enjoy cioppino with a lush sauce, and plenty of it, for sopping a crusty bread. Not enough sauce. The dish was under-pinned with greens (I’m not sure what kind.). The greens were whole and wound, and placed under the mussels, etc., not quite cooked, and in my opinion should have been cut. It felt like an attempt to puff up the portion, rather then an addition to a great cioppino. The halibut, which was placed atop the dish was over cooked and the portion underwhelming. Wasn’t a hit on any level for me.

At the end we tried to enjoy a birthday “lava cake”. Not so great either - over cooked, and no creamy chocolate lava pouring out. Two chocolate lovers didn’t finish a chocolate dessert. This was a miss as well.

Popolos is too expensive, and my expectations are too high, to have them not deliver. I am very happy it was the last night for this summer menu!

Again, Popolos staff is always first rate, and normally their...

We live locally and want this restaurant to be our favorite restaurant, we want to love it and support it. But they don’t make it easy. We went on Friday night, last night, for dinner before the movie in town. The woman who greets people at the door wouldn’t look up from what she was doing, she seemed to be compiling instructions for an imminent rocket launching, and another man who walked over to confer with her - either a waiter, or owner, or other staff - didn’t ever look at us or greet us - no smile or welcome acknowledgment that we existed … finally the hostess looked up at us and said only: do you have a reservation. Nothing else. We didn’t, & she only said: it’s a 30 min wait. She didn’t offer seat at the bar, no thank you for coming, no encouragement to make a reservation next time, nothing, seemed no one working at the restaurant could care less whether we are going to come back, couldn’t care less that we thought about this restaurant for our night out. It’s really too sad that customers aren’t cared about. We just smiled and left. The restaurant we went to nearby was total opposite - hostess had huge smile when we entered, and asked if we had reservation and then helped us make it work for a lovely dinner. All the other staff had welcoming smiles for us and everyone else who entered, reservation or not....

We were greeted by the proprietor and servers upon entering. The interior decor was welcoming and beautifully furnished. The menu was not overwhelming, focused toward dishes that could be vegetarian and/or adorned with a selection of protein. The serving size was enough to feel satisfied and asking yourself "should you have more?" Every bite of our meal was delicious. The subtle flavors that provided undertones to the sauces were always there to finish the swallow and encourage the diner to have one more bite. " Is that lemon zest? Is that a cardamom or quite possibly star anise?" Questions that only a person could ask their partner at the table, our chef remained marvelous and aloof. Yuri our server was delightful, affable and fabulous.

Thank you for being open on a Thursday, we had heard some local reviewer couldn't stomach the view from your terrace, but the interior was perfect. Look forward to what comes next as the space develops and becomes the vision Ciao Popolo intends...