Ciccino's Pizzeria & Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Waterloo

Ok this place was sub-par right from the moment we walked in.

We waited 5-10 mins to get seated at a table with no one in line. Several employees saw us and none came over to seat us at a table.

We asked for water at least 3x and finally I had to track down the waitress who was standing around in the bar area to get us our water.

We ordered two salads, one with Caesar salad dressing and a balsamic, our salads were delivered without the Caesar’s salad dressing and a balsamic that was very bland, tasting mostly of olive oil and mixing it did no good.

I have reviewed restaurants around the world and am always fair and truthful in my reviews.

The Trio Italiano left a lot to be desired and I left most of it on my plate. The sauce tasted like Sysco canned Imperial Marinara sauce with some added spices. It did not taste like an authentic Italian sauce to me, actually it tasted more like a pizza sauce with its more thicker paste-like consistency vs an Italian marinara sauce that tends to be chunkier and more flavorful. I asked the owner if the sauce contained added sugar and he said yes, while a small amount of sugar helps to reduce acidity in “lesser quality” tomatoes, most traditional sauces do not add sugar. I left most of this dish on my plate untouched. It also came with meatballs that were clearly frozen and from Sysco as well. You can always tell frozen meatballs because they are all exactly the same size, shape and texture. Home-made meatballs are much more tender, never exactly the same size and have a better consistency.

My wife had the Chicken Rustica, and the chicken was way too overcooked. Granted it was cooked in a saucepan but that still doesn’t mean it should be cooked over 165F. This chicken was so dried out that the sauce covering it didn’t help much to add moisture. She couldn’t eat it.

We had drinks as well and they were no better than the food.

My wife started with a Lemon Drop martini which is traditionally made with vodka, triple sec, lemon juice, simple syrup and sugar to line the glass rim. This was made with vodka and citron with no other ingredients. It was horrible. So we replaced it with a margarita. It was also incorrectly prepared.

The manager came to our table, probably because the waitress overheard our comments about the food. We explained that we didn’t like the food or the drinks. After which the owner came by. His name is Sal. He was very polite as we explained what we didn’t like about the service, drinks and food. He offered to Comp us for the food and we refused, it’s not about a free meal. Our reviews are honest, factual and unbiased. If we like the food we always say that we like it and give the reasons why we like it, if we don’t like the food we are not afraid to say so and our followers on Google Maps appreciate that.

This place appears to be more of a pizzeria that serves Italian dishes rather than an Italian restaurant that serves pizza, big difference.

The owner said that his restaurant is “Fast casual, not a 5 Star Italian eatery”. I’ve been to some exceptional Fast Casual Italian restaurants like Brooklyn’s Best in Vegas that was exceptional in every way, this was not near that quality. Fast casual does not mean Less Quality. We all still pay good money for our food, fast casual or not.

If I were the owner I would re-evaluate the sauce. I understand that it is his mom’s recipe from Sicily but it doesn’t remind me much of my grandma’s sauce recipe, also from Sicily. For Rustica use meat thermometer on the sautéed chicken, it should be 165F, just because it’s sautéed doesn’t mean it can’t be checked for temperature.

I was impressed with one thing only, the amount of items on the menu.

Could this have been an “off day” for the cooks and wait staff, perhaps. He did say that they were very busy, but if that’s the case you are understaffed.

Could this place be better?

Absolutely, with some changes like better service, better “mise en place” prior to opening so the food is not overcooked when it gets busy and...

I have been ordering from Ciccinos for years and have usually always had great service and food. I will not be ordering from them ever again after what happened today. I ordered an extra large pizza online. I usually order online because it is easier than trying to place a phone order because the lines are always busy and they put you on hold for a while. I understand it’s busy and order online to avoid that. The pizza came he opened the box and the entire pizza was slid to one side more than half of the pizza is ruined and folded up. It looked like half of a pizza. I called asked to please speak to a manager. Sal answered and I explained what happened. He said ok you can either keep the pizza or throw it out and I will send you another one. I took a picture of the pizza so no one would think I was lying as proof of the $42 messed up pizza. Again I was not angry just let them know and he offered to make it right no big deal. The delivery driver comes back after about an hour with a new pizza. I said hi you can just leave it on the table (I didn’t want my dog getting out) he says no I need the other pizza back. I said he told me to keep or throw away the other pizza and he was sending me a new one. The delivery driver acted mad and was not nice to me acted like I was lying or something. I have no reason to lie and I was going off of what I was told on the phone by the owner. I told him to forget about it and take it back. I’m not arguing about a mistake that was not mine. I’m not arguing about food that was paid for and not delivered properly maybe by this same driver who knows maybe the driver was angry at me for having called I’m not sure nor do I care at this point I’ve had it with the whole nightmare. What I do know is I won’t ever be ordering from Ciccinos again after this nightmare. Edit to add I did call back the owner now states he did not tell me to keep or throw away the pizza be he would send me a new one. Ok man so nice now accuse me of lying basically sure. Who would think ordering a pizza would be this much a problem 🙄 I straight up said listen what do you think I’m lying I took a picture of the pizza in the condition we received it in I have no reason to lie about it nor would I lie about it. And not once did he even attempt to apologize until I finally said it does not matter I won’t ever come there again I will not be ever ordering from Ciccinos again so don’t worry about it. Then says to me do you want me to credit your account. Again NO I will NOT ever order from or come there again. We usually order from there one or two times a week. And most orders we make are...

2-8-25 update went here again today. Food was ok. Service was horrible. Had to acquire our own box and bill. Then go to register to pay. Our waitress said I will get you a box. Then never showed back up.Took off a star because of service......They have ample parking on the side of the building. This place smelled so good when we walked in. It's very nice on the inside aswell. So many things on the menu sounded good. I saw several pizza they made and they looked delicious. We ordered several different slices of pizza and some garlic knots. Everything looked and tasted really good when it came out. Will definitely be here again. I wanna try the seafood Alfredo. I recommend giving this place a try. They have indoor and outdoor seating. They Also have a small bar you can sit at...Went here again today for Fathers day. We got the ciccinos past belly, pasta ciccinos,chicken tenders& seafood Alfredo& buffalo chicken panini.The pastas are amazing. The Alfredo is some of the best I've had around. The ciccinos pasta belly was pretty tasty. The pasta ciccinos is so delicious. Highly recommend all of the pasta dishes we tried. Especially the Alfredo. The chicken wing panini was not impressive, they also forgot the cheese. I don't recommend the chicken wing panini. No big deal everything else was spot on. 6-26 stopped in for pizza and ordered calamari. The calamari was cooked good.....Went here again today. Ordered the pasta ciccinos again and a sausage and pepper pasta. Both were delicious. They seem to have consistently...