il Cigno Italiano — Restaurant in Swansboro

Alittle pricy for the type of food and drinks they served us. I don’t know if the chef was off cuz it was Monday ya know? or the bartender didn’t have it all going on? but the drinks were not that good..but one drink had WAY to much bitters in it. and my mock tail was kook aid…. I mean I know it’s a mock tail but it literally tasted like my younger kids koolaid. Nothing mixed at all for 8$ and it needed some fizz… I felt embarrassed to ask for something else cuz it’s a mock tail so I just drank it and moved on. The food felt like they microwaved it when we got it & Pasta was over cooked on mine. The deviled eggs were cute but for the price again, I felt like over priced. Wasn’t expecting what I read on the menu, for the price, verse what we got… it didn’t add up to what was given. It was nice that we got 4 eggs though. But maybe some people like it like that. didn’t even want to attempt dessert… maybe it’s because of how it started out… host stand and how off putting we felt when we got there that made it not as fun and depressing but we made it work and tried to enjoy the whole dinner. Waitress was nice but disappeared for longer than expected for just pepper and cheese… Host stand was off putting, 3 ladies and only one greeted us, they told us we didn’t have to have a reservation over the phone but acted like we needed one to have a “nice table” when we arrived. They acted like we shouldn’t have come at all and scrambled like who wants them when finding us a table on they chart. It was very saddening and disheartens me to want to come back. I get that it was a Monday, it was around 6/7 in the evening and dress code was lower than what we expected, but we are disappointed. The overall place is cute and quaint, we have wanted to come here for years after driving by it so many times for church and the beach but thought it would be like a fancier experience…. We finally said why not when we had need for a place for our anniversary dinner… I feel alittle betrayed by the outside look and the inside experience. At least the motts/tomato & bread was good (which is always a good snackie) and the beef stew part on my...

We had a party of six and made a reservation for 6:30. We arrived early and not all of our party had arrived so we sat on the lovely front porch and watched the world go by. When the rest of our party arrived we went in and we’re seated immediately at a table for eight which allowed us to spread out a little and be very comfortable. We ordered a bottle of the white Moscato, and a mock tale along with an appetizer of brechetta and caprice salad. Both came out quickly and were delicious. The brechetta had more cheese than tomato topping, but was still very good. Caprice salad was a little sparse on the basil, but also delicious with the heirloom Cherry tomato combination in some flavorful olive oil. For dinner I got the red snapper special. The fish had some sort of coating that yielded nice crisp sections with delicate tender fish just beneath. The red pepper risotto was creamy and smooth and the other side was difficult to describe. It was some sort of vegetable sautéed till tender and then in a cream sauce. It was good, but not just certain what it was- and I didn’t ask. My daughter (the birthday girl) had the pork tenderloin special and she said it was very tender and delicious. The sides paired nicely and the flavor combinations were very pleasing. The Purple Punch mock tail was also very good. My other dining partners had a variety of pasta dishes and everyone commented how delicious they were. The Chicken Parmesan was enormous- 2 well fried chicken breasts- more than enough to split or take home. The atmosphere was rather loud when we got there- because there were quite a lot of people dining, but by the time we left the crowed had thinned out a little and it was very pleasant. The service was top notch! Our server was very attentive even though they were busy and we wanted for nothing. One of my dining partners told the server that it was my daughter’s birthday and they brought her a tiramisu and the entire restaurant sang to her. Very fun!

We will definitely be back! Very...

I have never been more disappointed with a restaurant in my life. My family of four decided to go out for a nice dinner this evening. When we arrived we noticed the “featured entrees” and my parents both decided to order the grouper over cous cous. As we waited for our meal, our waitress Alicia was busy bartending rather than tending to her tables. My mom had to, at one point, get up and go find her to get drink refills + bread because we had sat without any service for 20 minutes. When our meals came out after waiting 45 minutes, both of my parents meals (grouper over cous cous) came out as a plate of grouper and CLAMS over a bed of LINGUINI. The board of featured entrees was completely incorrect. We sent the meals back and asked our waitress and the hostess to speak to a manager/ owner. The only manager tonight was Ryan, the owners son. When he came over and my extremely unhappy parents explained to him what had been happening, all Ryan could say was “ok” and continue to apologize. At one point he had mentioned that either the board was incorrect, or my parents ordered the wrong thing. EXCUSE ME? I work as a hostess in the restaurant industry, and this is not how you approach this situation. He proceeded to laugh when we told him about our poor service and incorrect orders. He also disregarded our disdain to being “6 people short” and “very busy”. I guess my eyes must have deceived me when I saw multiple other tables eating and enjoying their service and food around me. Ryan then asked my mother “what would you have me do”? Opposed to taking action himself and covering our meal, we had to TELL him what to do. Along with his poor managing skills, Ryan had the most sarcastic and disgusting tone when talking to my family. Happy to say we will never be coming...