Ciro Food And Drink — Restaurant in Wilmington

We entered ciro with very high hopes. As in, we sat down, were greeted by the owner, and I said, "I really feel like this will become one of our places." I say this to preface that we really loved the concept and presentation of the restaurant publicly, and this review is meant to be entirely constructive.

Ultimately, what we experienced was a restaurant that seems caught between wanting to be a high end dining experience, certainly the price of one, and an ambiance and meal that was more in line with a local gastropub, and one that needs to work on its menu at that.

We had the five course vegetarian tasting and supplemented with the shrimp. The food itself was lackluster, none of the ingredients were transformed by the cooking approach or combinations. Each dish was essentially the ingredients thrown together on a plate, only sometimes presented well. The chef seemed to be standing around staring at diners the whole time, so I assume everything is pre-made. We also were very suspicious the shrimp must have been frozen from a bag. If not, I'd get in touch with the "farm to table" supplier immediately if I were the owner, as I've never seen fresh shrimp so small and sad looking. The cocktails lacked any particular appeal, and the wine we wanted was not available.

The ambiance of the restaurant is a run down dive bar with the accessories of a fine dining experience. Half the bulbs in the chandelier lights are out, there are boxes and cobwebs everywhere, and the staff is dressed as if they are going to a pajama party. There is actually a kayak in storage in the bathroom?? I am all about laid back and dive bar type places, but for the presentation they're going for, this was all way out of step with the branding they've chosen.

Overall, Ciro seems to have too lofty of ambitions for what they are able to deliver. If I were the owner, I would revisit the branding and consider becoming a local gastropub. Ditch the tasting menus, and narrow your focus in the main dishes, to try to do something really special on a few things, rather than disappointing on all things. We need more fun and tasty places to go in wilmington, sadly Ciro failed to impress but shows potential if they're willing to adapt to the reality of what they're...

This was the worst experience I have ever had Dining out! I need start with that I have NEVER left a bad review about a restaurant and I travel the US weekly eating out 3-5 times a week. This review is so others do not have to experience what we did.

Checking in: When checking in to the restaurant for our reservation at 7:15 we waited at the hostess area for about 5 minutes before someone from CIRO walked by and said just wait here and we will be with you in a few minutes. Few minutes later someone checked us in and we sat down at our table at 7:20. The restaurant smelled incredible. We were instantly excited to dine.

The first waitress asked us for still or sparkling water and we chose still with lemon slices. We sat for a few minutes reviewing the menu and chose the 6 course tasting menu with the 6 wines to pair. A different waiter arrived and took our order at 7:30. We sat and waited for the food and wine, the waiter filled our glasses a few times with water so we asked for additional lemons. We find out they are now out of lemons. Not a problem, we sat and talked awhile longer and then realize it is 8:05 and we have not been served our first course. At 8:10 the first waitress came to our table and asks us if we are ready to order, this is where it all went downhill. I said to her, we ordered about 50 minutes ago and haven’t received our food. She said ok and walked away. 8:15pm food comes to our table from a different server and they set it down. The food is instantly picked up and told this isn’t yours. It goes to a table that sat down 10 minutes before the food was served to them. I find the waiter who took out order and tell him. He doesn’t apologize but says, “I’ll have food out to you in 2 minutes”. And he comes back in 5 minutes with our first glass of wine. 15 minutes later I get up and find a manger, who is in the front at the bar and said he will look into, he did not stop making drinks for 10min so we walked out....

An above average food experience with many decent plates. We ordered the escargots, the lobster risotto, the bone marrow and the fig-pork belly pizza.

The risotto was good, a bit down on the lobster since it was cut in really small pieces. This led some of the pieces to be a bit overdone and chewy, but I enjoyed the dish overall.

The bone marrow was tasty, but some of the wild mushrooms were soggy some others weren't. Maybe a better side for this dish would be good since the bread and the wild mushrooms was not enough for a dish that is already tiny in food content (more of an appetizer really)

The escargots were great, not chewey at all, flavorful, but similarly accompanied with toasted bread.

The pizza was disappointing. The pork belly was basically bacon, cut tiny tiny pieces, which really added no flavor. If this is a dish that the pork belly is the star, then it is a failure. The pizza was overloaded with some "micro" greens on top, not sure why so much greens were needed. The fig and the cheese, I think it was ricotta, tried to add to each other's flavor profile. The figs though werent sweet enough and the cheese wasn't tart enough, like some varieties of goat cheese, to create that flavor play. The result was ok at best, not a very successful dish.

The dining space needs work, it is small and relatively unappealing to support this "fine dining" menu. The service is on the friendly side, not at all on par with a gourmet...