Ciao

My husband & I came here on Valentine’s Day.
My husband had Cornish hen and I ordered squid ink pasta, both dishes were very delicious, wine (la VoLTE) was amazing, lemon cello dessert was great.
The most beautiful Italian restaurant in cape girardeau, well decorate and well set up.
We were glad we chose this restaurant to celebrate our special day.

This is by far my favorite place in town! From the wines to appetizers to the main course, dessert and a nice expresso, I love everything! The ambience, service, hospitality everything is par excellence! I would go back even after I’ve eaten a full meal!

My experience there was awful. I spent over $ 100 on a meal for two and we left hungry. I ordered the medallion steak and after an extensive wait (45 – 60 min), it tasted fishy. I won’t be going back, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

We travel and eat out a lot and seek out the best restaurants in every area. We read and rely the reviews to help with our choices. At best this is a three star and that is a stretch. Staff was nice, wine was good but at best food was average.

Gabriele and his staff are top notch! I love everything on the menu, esp the lamb shank and branzino. Terrific wine selection, beautiful setting, spectular service!

I was at the restaurant for a special occasion. The service was superb The steak melted in your mouth. It was great

My brother had his wedding reception here. They closed the restaurant and we have been treated like royalty. I cannot give this place enough praise. All the food was fresh and seasoned just right. I tasted my brother’s pasta and it was cooked just right. The wine is perfect. Gabrielle has been an excellent host. My husband had the filet and it melted in his mouth. My sea bass was so tender. I cannot wait to come back to visit Jane and Ed and come back and try some of the other dishes. Thanks Ciao for making my brother’s wedding memorable

Stopped on the way from Nashville to St. Louis. Love the atmosphere. Shaved truffles in several entrees. Good wine. Friendly service. Sea bass was good. Spaghetti with mama meatballs were also good. Would definately go back.

We have ate there twice now and absolutely love it. Not real kid friendly so I wouldn’t recommend brining young children.

Excellent Italian, great atmosphere. Skip Olive Garden and come here instead. You won’t be disappointed.

Honestly, for Cape Girardeau to have such a fantastic restaurant is truly a privilege. It’s nice and exclusive enough to not be played out, but not too pricy to attract those that are willing to try a new local offering.
I read a few of the early reviews and as with any restaurant that is new, there are kinks to work out. When my wife and I went a couple weeks back, the quality of service, cuisine, and banter with the host and waiter were absolutely great. I want to give the highest compliments to the owner of this restaurant. She works hard at all of her places, Saffron, Phở 8, and now, Ciao. Her staff are always willing to go the extra mile.
My wife and I had the beef carpacio and escargot to start, I had the sea bass and my wife had the beef spezzatino, and a shared plate of tiramisu to finish off the night. I wish the sea bass wasn’t a fillet, although I can understand *most* palates in the area can’t appreciate a whole fish with the head on (so much more flavor!).
My wife’s beef spezzatino was definitely on point, in terms of overall tenderness, flavor, and quantity. The beef carpaccio was quite all right as well. The elements of the salad definitely complement each other, i.e. crunchy walnut, tart pear, savory feta, lemon capers and dressing all played well together. Thinly sliced beef round out the bottom of the plate.
Escargot came fresh out of the oven, PIPING HOT. I love that. We initially hit the dish full-​on, but the savoriness was a bit much (butter and cheese! YUM!), but the lemon definitely helped cut down on that and balanced out the dish quite nicely.
Last, but certainly not least, came the tiramisu done the right way. The last time I had tiramisu this good was on the other side of the world, where the chef was Italian in Malaysia cooking up legit-​honest and simple meals.
I absolutely loved how the menu wasn’t a huge smörgåsbord of cliché items. The menu is short, sweet, and to the point. This gives the chefs a chance to get really good and keep a close eye on easily replicable quality day in, day out.
Service was very quick as well. Bread was on the table maybe two minutes after our waters were put down on the table and the waiter took our order. The longest appetizer took 15 minutes and that was due to the escargot coming out of the oven. By the time we finished our salad, escargot, and a few pieces of bread (~25−30 minutes), the main dishes came out.
They definitely have it figured out at Ciao. I just wish that the local people would stop it with the chain restaurants and expand their culinary horizons.
Tip:
You can use OpenTable to make reservations here!
Listen to the specials… those are the fresh items that the chef has on tap!

I’m a chef from NYC who has been coming to Cape for the past few months on business and it’s been a real treat to find Ciao. It’s very straight forward Italian food that hasn’t disappointed me. I brought a number of my coworkers for dinner a few times and I make it there for dinner at least once while I’m in town.
The staff is very friendly and their service is excellent. Over all I’ve been very happy with my meals here. The price point is decent, the wine list accessible, and the ambiance is comfortable. I can honestly recommend Ciao for anyone Looking for a good Italian dinner.

Hubby and i love this restaurant, not only because its so close to our house but the foods are great! It is a great news that they now open for lunch! The lunch menu is fantastico and absolutely come with great price! So yesterday we had big luncheon for going away party, we had a great time. Everyone loved their foods although one of the vegetarian fritata was bit runny! But my italian crepes was super Delicious, and i also had my fave salad at all time Insalata di Rucola (neve fail to please me) The service was SUPERB. Gabrielle– the manager was very helpful in organizing the luncheon and im very thankful that he managed to make it possible for all of us to have their Signature Tiramisu! And our Waiter, Darren, really did an awesome job yesterday. He was Very attentive, patient and accomodating! All in all i was very happy for my decision to bring all the ladies to Ciao!!!

Understanding that this place just opened and our first time was on Valentine’s Day, I can only give this place 3 starts. We had the carpaccio at $ 10 it was delicious. My martini was not good enough to order another. BF got a bottle of wine, of which he said was tasty and worth the price. We had seen the lamb someone else had ordered and BF wanted that immediately but the waiter spoke of the Beef Osso Bucco which he ordered and he was disappointed. I had the Cornish Hen, it was dry and I wasn’t able to eat it all. Funny enough the «seasonal vegetables» was literally 2 asparagus spears and a couple of under-​cooked carrots. But I really liked the Osso Bucco. I will give this place a second chance on a not so crazy night.

I love seeing new and upcoming restaurants coming to Cape. However, Ciao didn’t really deliver on my first experience there. First, the food is not as good as the prices indicate they would be. Our food was cold, and the extras we ordered came out sporadically rather than all at once. Also, it took about 45 minutes from the time we ordered until the food came out, which doesn’t make sense considering the menu is limited (which is okay) and there aren’t very many seats in the place. The atmosphere inside is great if you are toward the front of the place, but not if you’re near the kitchen where the lighting is horrible. It wasn’t so bad that we won’t try again, but we were very disappointed.

We (the wife and I) wanted to try a new spot in the area. Ciao had gotten a couple of great reviews on here, so we gave it a whirl. It gets 5 stars for atmosphere and service, but a 4 for easiness to locate — drove by twice before we found it (hint: it’s in the ground floor of the Banterra Bank building across from the Osage Center). The wine was stupendous, and the food — while good — was not on par with the prices in our opinion. My wife had the lasagna, which she said was too strong with the spinach and mushroom flavor (also, it didn’t have any red sauce — a different recipie than she was used to). I had the special — a noodle and mushroom concoction that, while good, was also a little too strong on the mushroom flavor.
I had the escargot as an appetizer and was not disappointed. My wife had the parmesan flatbread that she found delicious.
It wasn’t until near the end of the meal did they discover we hadn’t been served any bread, but it was understandable seeing how we sat at the bar and had several gentlemen checking in us throughout the evening (they were all awesome!). The bread is the best kept secret here in my opinion — it is tremendous — and I am not usually all that interested in such.
Finally, they ran out of Tiramisu, which I should have ordered when we sat down, but that is my fault. (The strawberry cheesecake was a good substitute though…)
All in all, we had a great experience, but if we ever go back, we will most likely concentrate on the wine and appetizers. This will be plenty to fill us up unless we are starving.
If the prices came down, maybe somewhere in the 10−15% range, or if the food improved in a couple of areas, I would give it 5 stars across the board. Although, in all honesty, my criticism may be from an overdeveloped group of taste buds that can’t appreciate cuisine that is faithful to its Italian roots.
Would definitely recommend reservations and a little thicker wallet than usual to all my friends and family, but it is definitely worth a try.

Very nice and healthy Italian food. It’s difficult to find such good food in Cape area. Recommend to try

Delicious, authentic Italian restaurant. The meatballs, which are the chef’s mothers recipe, are delicious as a starter. The pastry is also very good. For an entrée the fettuccine is my favorite. However I’ve samples the lasagna and Cornish hen, both of which are very good. Their tiramisu is the best I’ve ever had! All in all, a great experience. Gabriel is actually from Italy and has a vast background in the restaurant business and it shows!