Mr. Guido Says: ***
Mrs. Guido Says: ***
Mrs. Guido's 2 Cents:
Let me start out by saying that this was the most ridiculous dining experience of my life. Words cannot truly describe what this restaurant is like, but I'll try my best. We decided to try Ciao Baby because I had heard very good things about it from work colleagues, friends, and family, so I figured that they couldn't all steer us wrong. Oh, but alas. Upon arrival, we had a long wait for a table, which gave us plenty of time to soak in our surroundings. Besides being surrounded by typical Commack women, the atmosphere was enough to make me go into a fit. The dark, crowded interior, was stuffed to the gills with stereotypical Italian memorabilia. We had the yankees playing on one TV, the Godfather on another, Sinatra blasting through the speakers, and a Martini Bar straight out of a Vegas Rat Pack show. Maronne a mia. I mean, I'm Mrs. Guido for pete's sake, and I went into sensory overload. When we finally were seated, it was at a tiny two-top that was literally on top of the table next to us. The dining room is absolutely crammed, and you find yourself basically sitting on the lap of the person at the table next to you. When our waiter arrived, I knew we were doomed. Johnny Goumba, at your service. Now, I don't know if this guy was for real, or if he was getting into character a little too much, but either way, ridiculous. "What can I do yas for" is not, i repeat NOT, an acceptable way to introduce yourself to a table. Nor is it to constantly be crouching near my lap, or putting your arm around the back of my chair, or to be in my personal space at all. Shudder. We were under the impression that Ciao Baby was a family style restaurant, which is why we went in the first place. Apparently, this is not the case. The portions are large enough to share, we were told, but there is a sharing charge. Either we were misinformed, or this recently came into practice, either way, we were upset to find that out, because the menu is very expensive. We started out with the fresh mozzarella appetizer, which was very large, I'll give it that much. Since we were splitting a meal, we had to concur on the choice. we opted for the chicken scarpariello, which is not something I would have entertained on my own, but decided why not. Since it did not come with pasta and we were unsure of what to expect, we also ordered a bowl of pasta in garlic and oil. When the food arrived, it was massive, but I'm fairly sure they charged us for 2 sharing charges since we were sharing 2 meals, as opposed to counting it as we were each eating 1 dish per person. rip off. Johnny Goumba asked us if we needed any grated cheese, and we said no thank you, to which he got very defensive, jumped back, threw up his arms, and said "just askin, just askin." At this point, my patience was wearing extremely thin with him, the restaurant, and anything that would get in my way. The food was edible, I'll give it that. It wasn't great, especially considering the price, but it was still passable. We decided against dessert, mainly because we just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. This certainly was an experience, comical at best, traumatizing at worst. I would never go back for dinner, but maybe if I'm in particularly rare form I'll go for lunch with my girlfriends to just sit back and laugh.
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