Cafe Tiramisu

Best Italian food! The chicken saltimbocca is the best I’ve ever had! Eggplant parm is amazing too! I. From upstate NY and have missed authentic Italian and This restaurant has satisfied that! Denise

I’ve lived in Raleigh for 14 years now and found this gem around year 2. When people ask me of my favorite restaurant in Raleigh, this is what I always say. The food is always great but I love the bar. Tammy is one of the best bar tenders in town and when you show up the second time, she’ll practically have your drink waiting on you. She’ll be sure and introduce you to everyone else that is at the bar and make you feel at home. The chef, Paulo is also a great person to know. He has stories to tell for days if you’re at the bar towards the end of the night when it slows down. The lasagna is one of my favorites that I’ve ever had. Also, it is so rare to have a server staff that stays around like these folks have. Most of the servers have been there for over 10 years or more. If you haven’t tried it be sure to make a reservation but get there a little early to have a cocktail and say hello to Tammy!

The food was good, but I have never been treated so rudely! We met friends here for dinner, And after finishing dinner, dessert & coffee, one of the waitresses (not our waiter) came over & informed us that the next party was ready to be seated. She stated that the hostess was too shy to come over & sent her instead. We literally had just received & paid the bill. Yes, we were chatting while we waited for our waiter to deliver the check to the table, but were not just hanging out after we paid. Although the food was good, there are many restaurants where our patronage would be appreciated. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone because of the way we were treated. Also, we were told that the tables were double booked, «which they do all the time», maybe this is not such a great practice if you have to push people out the door! Unbelievably bad customer service, ruined the entire experience & our evening!

Doesn’t look like much from the outside but it’s nice inside and the food is amazing.

Café Tiramisu never disappoints.

Café Tiramisu is pretty average when compared to restaurants in the DC area, so perhaps I’m being a tough judge by not giving it a 4. My main qualm was that the veal tasted more like pork. Even my uncle had the same comment. The veal was tough and chewy, not tender and thin like it usually is at other places.
I was impressed that they make their own spinach pasta in house; however, they overcooked it. If it had been al dente, I might have given 4 stars. The food just seemed more Americanized than what I’m used to when it comes to Italian cuisine. However, about half of my family enjoyed the meal and the other half said it was just eh, so overall no one hated it. My Italian grandfather was in the group of people who enjoyed the meal. But he likes to eat mushy food covered in sauce.

Have eaten here several times and we love it! Have always had good service, and fresh incredibly good food! One of our «go to» restaurants when we want to impress out of town guests

Saw this place on Unilocal and thought we would give it try. We were not disappointed.. The atmosphere was awesome. Great for a date night or family. My wife thought it was amazing but a little pricy. Our entrees were about 17.00 a piece. Not that’s not that cheap but considering that u can go to olive garden and easily drop about the same amount for frozen food and premade sauces. This place was amazing the food was homemade and very rich. We are going back this weekend.

Excellent, friendly service. Amazing spinach fettuccine! Willing to make to order chicken Alfredo that was not on the menu. Great little place

We are fussy when it comes to good food and this place is consistently great. They have a mature, friendly staff; great wine; and amazing food. Everything we’ve had (which is most of the menu) is delicious but our favorites are chicken parm with the homemade spinach fettuccine alfredo and the lasagna. The alfredo lightly coats the fettuccine. Lasagna takes about 45 mins but is worth the wait. It’s light and balanced with all the classic deliciousness of lasagna. It’s not just a cheesy, heavy mess like you typically get. The fried oysters are great as well as the veggie ravioli for an appetizer. Desserts are equally impressive and I’m a cake snob. They are home made and beyond good, all of them. The tiramisu is the best I’ve had, coconut cake is awesome (and I am not a big coconut fan), and the nutella pie was decadently devine. We love this place and can’t say enough good things about it!

Loved it! I had the veal parm and the pasta and marinara sauce on top was amazing. I devoured this meal. We started with the stuffed clams which were a little spicy. I wasn’t expecting that but again the plate was cleaned quickly. Added some lemondrops to go a long with that which hit the spot.
My wife had the gnocchi which we both loved. It had really good flavors and the garlic was just right on it. I want to go back and try some of other other veal plates like the veal tortellini.
The location can get a little loud inside though since it’s small. Make sure you are entering through the correct door though. There is a pub right next to it and it can get a little confusing as to which door to go in through.
The service was a little slow but that may be the pace there.

Wow! I echo all of the reviews that call this a «hidden gem.» After so many superb reviews on Unilocal for Café Tiramisu, I almost expected to be disappointed, but everything about Café Tiramisu lived up to the hype.
Like just about every other upscale Italian restaurant in the Triangle, it’s tucked into a strip mall – but you forget about that once you’re inside. The place is certainly tiny – room for about 40 in the dining room and maybe another ten at the bar. Because of that, the bar has a lively dining scene – definitely casual and intimate. The whole place was dimly lit, but inviting. I believe that in nice weather there’s additional seating on a patio. I sat at the bar, and the bar service was a little iffy (although there was one bartender to serve drinks to the whole restaurant and wait on a couple of couples – so I don’t blame the restaurant). I could also tell that a lot of people there were regulars – especially at the bar – which is a good sign!
I ordered a medium-​bodied red and liked the bartender’s choice (it was a nice pour – another benefit of sitting at the bar). I was immediately enticed by the chicken special: grilled chicken baked with spinach, eggplant, prosciutto, provolone, and shrimp in a spicy tomato cream sauce and served with a side of house-​made spinach linguine in a light alfredo sauce. I ordered it, without checking on the price, and it ended up coming to $ 23, only a few dollars over most of their other entrees! I was so impressed (I expected it to be around $ 30, given how some other area Italian restaurants price-​gouge a bit with their specials).
The meal started – even at the bar – with bread. It was warm, crispy on the outside and soft in the center, and served with olive oil with herbs (I want to say crushed fresh basil) in it. It was very tasty. Then, my entrée. It was huge – there was a lot of chicken. The tomato broth/​sauce it was served in was wonderful. The chicken was just a tad dry, but other than that the dish was great. The real knockout winner of the night, however, was the fresh spinach linguine. It is the best pasta I have tasted in my entire life (and yes, I’ve been to Italy and had Italian in New York). I could tell it was homemade because it was unevenly shaped and because it just tasted fresh – so fresh that it almost melted in my mouth. Also, the alfredo sauce was very, very light, so it didn’t overpower the pasta at all (honestly, I could barely tell it was there). I am normally not a fan of ordering pasta at restaurants because it’s such a high-​markup item, but just a plate of this pasta would definitely be worth it.
And, I had the self restraint to save half of my entrée so I could order the famous tiramisu for dessert. I love tiramisu and I was definitely glad I ordered it (and it was definitely enough to share, so I took home half of that too). It was really really creamy and mascarpone-​y, and served with chocolate syrup on the plate that added more of the chocolate flavor to the dish. Honestly – heavenly!
A meal for two with two entrees, two glasses of wine, and sharing an appetizer and a dessert would come to about $ 100, including tax and tip. From my experience, it’s worth every penny.

Best Italian food outside of NYC! The best Italian food in Raleigh! All of the
Food is amazing! I won’t go anywhere else now. I’ve been searching for good Italian and I’ve tried Bella Monica (terrible), gravy (Horrific!) Plus they have half off wine Wednesday!

Two friends were visiting from out of state, and I’ve read that Café Tiramisu is a nice Italian place to eat, so we gave it a try.
We ordered the Pollo Ripieno, Wild Mushroom Chicken and the Lasagna, all were great, along with the desserts we ordered.
The service was also excellent, I’d recommend giving it a try, especially if you want nice homemade Italian food. We will certainly visit again!

I’ve been here twice and was not impressed with either visit.
The first visit was about six months ago. My girlfriends and I sat out on the patio. I ordered a salad and a lemon drink. I do not remember the name, but it was on their little drink menu. It was so sour that I could not drink it. When it was time to order our entrees, I explained to the waitress that my large salad was enough for me to eat and that I was vegan. All entrees at this restaurant are meat based. I have had gastric bypass and don’t order much food but the waitress seemed concerned and pressured me into ordering an entrée. She offered me a tofu dish that was not on the menu. Tofu, if prepared and cooked correctly, can be wonderful. The «dish» they served me was a block of tofu with grill marks on it. It was disgusting. The ceiling fan outside made the patio too cold and several guests complained, but the fan was apparently broken and could not be turned off.
My second visit was just last weekend. This time my girlfriends and I sat inside. As someone who has had gastric bypass, I am super sensitive to alcohol and a single beverage is more than enough to get me inebriated. I asked the waiter for «something fruity». He brought me a large, green drink. It was delicious. I drank the whole thing on an empty stomach while waiting for my salad and did not even feel my face warm up. There was no alcohol in it. That is very disappointing as the drink cost almost $ 9. I ordered a salad that was supposed to feature walnuts and pecans. There were three tiny pieces of nuts in the huge salad. This time the waiter did not pressure me into ordering an entrée when I said that the salad was enough food for me. When it came time for desserts, I wanted to have a cup of coffee to sip on as my friends ate their sweets. The waiter informed me that they do not keep soy or almond milk on hand. This meant I had to sit there with nothing to eat or drink while my girlfriends ate their slices of cake.

A perfect gem. If you were in Milan you couldn’t have matched the 1. Superb Service 2. Delicious food 3. Comfortable ambiance and 4. Wonderful wine list.
And those are only four items, I could go on and on. All this for a reasonable price with a restaurant that hasn’t rested on their laurels. It is a fine example of Northern Italian fare. Fresh, local ingredients with flair and the portions were very ample.
The Lobster bisque was perfect as was the veal piccata. The gnocchi were homemade and (potato) not semolina. There is a difference!
I would give them 10 stars if I could. We look forward to going back on a nice afternoon to enjoy the small, pretty patio.
Thank goodness for Café Tiramisu. Raleigh should be proud.

Our friends had been talking about Café Tiramisu for quite a while and yesterday we finally went with them. Reservations are mandatory on a Saturday night — I called Friday and my choices were 6pm and after 9:30… so we picked 6pm.
When we arrived it was obvious why reservations were hard to come by — this place is tiny. Maybe 12 tables (I didn’t count though). There’s a nice bar, too.
We were seated promptly and dove into the menu — quite a good selection of Italian favorites. I ordered Carpaccio (always a must in a new Italian place for me) for my appetizer. It was good. Other folks on my table had the Lobster Bisque — very good — and a Salad. For the main course I got the Osso Buco which came highly recommended by our friends. It came with Spinach Fettucini and was good but for my taste needed just a little bit of salt added. Other folks had the Mahi Mahi special (good but the risotto that came with the fish was too rich for our friend’s taste) and the Mussels (good, too, in a really good sauce).
For dessert I got a Canneloni (about the usual) while our friends had the Tiramisu (highly recommended) and the Mango Sorbet (best part of our friend’s meal according to her).
The wine list is extensive with a really good selection throughout all price regions. Lots of affordable bottles of wine but also some available to splurge on if you so desire.
Service was good — our waiter was attentive and always there when we needed him.
Would I go back? Sure! Did it make my list of must eat at places? Not quite.

Finally made it here, and finally got to use the Groupon I’d bought a long time ago. Armed with $ 60 of credit that I’d paid $ 30 for, we ventured forth via the 6:30 reservation I made earlier this afternoon. After a very tough work week, both of us were truly in need of a real meal. And Café Tiramisu gave us not only a real meal, but a really GOOD real meal!
May I just say that I hope you appreciate the food porn, as this is not the easiest setting to get such? This is a TINY (capacity 49) restaurant. You need a reservation! You also need to know you will be close to folks around you (husband got bumped badly repeatedly with a table sitting nearby), and you will have to squeeze by folks to get to a rest room. That being said, you can also look at is as COZY. So, I can now understand why there are only a couple food porn pics for this place so far, and why you should really appreciate the ones I am now posting.
Server: Richard… awesome! Friendly, knowledgeable, sense of humor… loved him!
Having perused the menu online before going, I had some idea of what I would be ordering, but Richard changed that by reciting daily specials. We started with the special oyster appetizer: fried oysters with a light lemon cream sauce. It was 6 perfectly fried succulent oysters that were light and delicate with just a touch of sauce so they were rich, but not overly so. Husband said he’d give them 6 stars.
Before that, the BREAD. Seriously some of the best bread I’ve ever had. So light, yet crusty and flaky. How did they do that? (I asked, you’re welcome) Neomonde. Ahhh, that makes perfect sense. And the dipping oil was so fresh and flavorful. It was green, yet didn’t taste like basil. Parsley? If so, a very flavorful parsley.
We shared a Caeser salad next. This would be our only mild disappointment of the night. Kudos for them dividing it for us on separate plates, but while the lettuce was nice and green and cool, it was mostly devoid of flavor. Very light dressing, croutons uninspiring and no detectable parmesan. No biggee, just won’t do that again here.
By the way, chardonnay lovers… Sonoma Cutrer for $ 8.95 a glass. ’nuff said.
For our mains, Husband went with the veal parmesan. I opted for the special of the day (without asking how much… armed with Groupons one can be brave, ya know?): it was a large shrimp baked in garlic special with spinach fettucine and a white clam sauce. Sold! (price unknown, care to guess?)
Both entrees were very very good. We would give them each 4-​stars. Husband thought his veal parmesan was excellent, but the pasta part just okay (he’s used to mine, sorry Café Tiramisu… but I don’t cook veal, so he could really appreciate that). My meal was very good also… three giant shrimp, two of which were good, and one was outstanding, loved the homemade pasta cooked to perfect al dente, and the white clam sauce was perfect. Clams were not in their shells, but that was a plus as they didn’t get in the way, and were so TENDER (rare for clams) and fresh-​tasting. It was the perfect amount of food. Not too crazy big, yet filling. We tried hard to be brave and not lick plates.
Dessert: Hearing the folks behind me talk about a dessert drink, I had to order one. It was an espresso one, with vanilla liquor and all kinds of creamy rich delicious goodness. Husband had the tiramisu which might just be his all time fave, and he’s a tiramisu expert. I tasted it and have to agree, it was excellent.
Atmosphere is very happy. People are laughing, and having a good time. You see great looking food on other tables, and the smells are amazing. Small, Intimate and very recommended. Just make reservations or you won’t get in, cause it is SMALL.
So, did you guess how much? (neither did I) Drumroll, please…
My special-I-don’t-care-how-much-entrée turned out to be $ 22.95. Value for experience… INvaluable…and just what I needed after an especially tough week at work.

Went here with a Groupon, pretty delicious but probably not worth the high price — good Italian food but nothing to rave about. We may have made the mistake of ordering too many veal dishes, because their veal chips & saltimbocca (pasta w/​veal, prosciutto & provolone) were nothing extraordinary and actually a bit bland (but that may be the case w/​most veal dishes). The saltimbocca did not seem to have genuine Italian prosciutto or provolone either, like I had in Cinelli’s in Durham. Same case w/​the pork loin chop, which didn’t contain much prosciutto inside. Average desserts as well.
What was really the highlight of the dinner was their spinach linguine that came with the saltimbocca, which was ridiculously delicious. Great service as well, but otherwise not quite worth it. My boyfriend liked it though, so it may just be a matter of personal taste.

Notes to self: Make reservations several days in advance for the next time I want to bring my bride here. When most people make a point of suggesting the place is small, believe them. Don’t wait until the day before my Groupon or Living Social deal expires to use it.
We showed up ½ hour prior to our reservation time and they were actually ready for us. We quickly ordered a ½ bottle of Sterling Cabernet and perused the menu for awhile before deciding on our meals.
The Italian style strip steak was really not much to write home about. The green beans, however, were perfectly crisp and tasted like they were fresh out of the garden! I did sample my bride’s Italian style stuffed chicken and I was wishing I’d ordered what SHE had!
Service was also good, not perfect, but good, nonetheless.