CiBo Ristorante Italiano

I had a perfect dining experience here on a Friday night. We arrived for our 7 pm reservations, were greeted by a friendly hostess and seated promptly. The service was perfect and the food was amazing! We had the sautéed PEI mussels, tomato & fennel arancini and eggplant caponata for the table as appetizers — every dish was hit! Everyone was happy with their entrees as well. I will definitely come back and would not hesitate to recommend this restaurant to friends and family!

My wife and I tried to go out for Center City Restaurant Week without a reservation. Dumb. Cibo didn’t look too crowded as we walked along the street after being rejected by a couple other places. We walked right to the hostess and put our name in with her but ultimately chose to stay at the bar after immediately getting some seats there.
The entertainment in this place is great. All of the staff take turns singing and playing the piano all night. It’s great. We ordered from the prix fixe, four course menu. I got a simple pasta dish and my wife ordered the sea bass. We waited about an hour for our food to arrive from the kitchen, both were very acceptable dishes but instead of sea bass, my wife was given tuna. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it was a bait and switch. Who knows. We waited a while for the food so we just ate it as it was pretty good.
Take what you will from this review. There were mistakes made, but the ambiance, waitstaff, and our overall experience were pretty average.

I went with my sister on a «sister-​date/​ladies night» and had a great time! I used a
certificate and booked a reservation with Open Table. It took us a while to find parking lot parking since it was a Saturday night, but we found it virtually around the corner (make sure to validate ticket with Cibo before leaving). We had to walk in a maze of sorts, to get to the restaurant since there were so much construction around. When we arrived, the host was very nice and there were no problems with the reservation. Immediately, we were seated upstairs way in the corner, next to the Employees Only door, which was a bit weird. We did have a view of the live performances by the waitresses (good performances by the way) but had to maneuver our chairs to get a full live view. There was a flat screen on the mezzanine level with a camera view of the performances, but I felt we still sat a little too far from it.
Our waiter was really cool although he seemed a bit busy with a lot of tables. It was a packed house that night. We asked to see the dessert menu and he brought us a tray of cakes to choose from. We expected an actual menu with prices on it to figure out what we would want. At the time, the size of the cakes and the prices he told us weren’t the best value for us, so we declined. The poor guy was so overworked, he showed us the dessert tray twice just 10 minutes later! He caught on and we all laughed about it, no pressure.
Food: Very good! No apps or desserts ordered, just entrees. We had the Chicken Pollo Marsala and mashed potatoes. The chicken was juicy, tender and flavorful, especially with the marsala sauce. The potatoes were the right amount of garlic-​y if you know what I mean. We were taken aback when the paper menu had a different price than the
menu (about a $ 4 difference, but maybe the site didn’t update the prices?). My sister had a glass of Pinot Grigio and didn’t like it. She said it was «too strong and too dry.»
Overall, I’d go again, just may not be my first choice.

New Chef, New Food ! Chef Thomas has a great new menu and the staff was great. If you haven’t been there in the last week or so, I suggest you give it another try, good stuff

I ordered the Steak, and it was absolutely delicious,.it was cooked prefect. loved the atmosphere, the piano player was great and your waiter or waitress goes up and sings. I would recommend this resturaunt to anyone who likes good food, music and drinks. you can’t go wrong on anything you order. the lighting inside was so beautiful, lots of colors. nice long bar with these blue lights wrapping around it, which we thought was really neat. another great thing was, there is a parking garage right on the corner of 12^th and
don’t have to walk far to get their. very convenaunt.

I am not really sure how this restaurant has such high reviews… my date and I came here expecting great Italian food and we got probably the most disappointing meal I have had in a while.
I ordered the seafood risotto and my date ordered the gnocchi bolognese — pretty simple, no?
When the food arrived, I could immediately tell it was microwaved. Y’know when you have pasta and sauce leftovers and you microwave it and you get that oily grease that kind of puddles a bit? That was in my risotto — honestly, if it tasted good I wouldn’t really care but they gave me 2 shrimp and 2 scallops and the scallops were ¹⁄₃ of actual scallops (can you say rip off?). It wasn’t seasoned at all and the shrimp had NO flavor. How is that even possible?
I tried the gnocchi and my date was equally disappointed. They used NO salt in the dish at all and the sauce tasted like nothing as well as the actual pasta. I am not chef but I can cook better — I use spices and salt and pepper in my tomato sauce, I mean come on…
As far as ambience, this place is confused. I can’t even explain it but it doesn’t flow.
For the price it is NOT worth it and with all the amazing restaurants Philly has to offer I am shocked this place has high ratings and is still open. If this place was in NYC they would be closed already and would last maybe a year.
However, I will say that the owners/​staff are incredibly friendly and really sweet and I feel bad because if their chef was better and the food was better I think they would be making a lot more money.

Shrimp bisque (soup du jour) was nice — not too thick and with a smooth taste/​texture.
My salmon was prepared well and my dinner partner enjoyed the seafood medley.
Followed the entrees with a carrot — cheese cake which was also good.
Good portion sizes and pleasant service.
We also beat the crowd which we noticed came in droves prior to nearby shows.

My husband and I ate here on a Monday evening because we had a gift certificate to use. We were the only people dining at the restaurant at that time, although there were a few people at the bar. I have no complaints about the server — she was very kind and engaging. We didn’t see any of the musical performances, so I can’t comment on that. Our food was just fine. It was nothing to write home about, and in my opinion over-​priced for what we received. I’m assuming that this is one of those places where you pay a bit of a premium for the experience. However, there was no entertainment while we were there and I felt that our entrees were just so-​so. Also, the entire restaurant was pervaded by a not-​so-​faint scent of cigarette smoke, which struck me as very odd. I could not figure out where it was coming from, but it never really went away the entire time we were there.

First of all the whole staff are professional singers and perform during dinner! The dining room is beautiful. I had the tortellini soup and the lamb chops, both were awesome. The prices were normal for Italian. I’ll definitely be back :)

Giving this a one star cause before I even had a chance to go in I was walking up the street having a smoke and stopped to see if they had the Phils game on at the bar before I would go in, so while I was looking at the bar TV finishing my smoke some broad at the bar was actually shooing me away. I noticed this she made it obvious by moving toward me and continuing shooing at me. I was in such shock. I made a hand gesture at her with my smoke and said are you kiddin me? She shood me off AGAIN! Maybe if I had a chance to go in and have a drink, maybe I could say different but I would be surprise at this point.

Wow! Never have I ever waited so long for food! We were a group of twenty and we were literally the only people in the restaurant beside two people on a date. This was absolutely crazy! Slow!

Fun experience with a piano player the whole time and the wait staff taking turns singing. Apparently they make new waiters audition by singing before hiring.
Food was pretty good, not amazing for the cost.
Our waiter (Brian) was very personable and friendly.
If you’re homophobic you should probably stay away as the place is right off the ‘gay district’.

My fiancé and I were starving and didn’t know what we wanted to eat. We were downtown for a workshop so I suggested Italian. I remember walking past Cibo in the past and thinking «hmmm I’m going to try this place one day»…Well looks like March 24^th 2015 was the day! We were greeted right away and told that all of their staff must be able to sing… we were seated in front of the stage and entertained by the talent :-) Our Server Brian was so friendly and great. The food VERY VERY good! We got the chicken parm, mashed potatoes, veggies and the «crazy» salad. We walked out VERY (3^rd time is a charm) happy.

This place is awesome. All of the front staff are professional singers and the take turns at the mike. Food is fantastic as well. And service is 5 star. The amazing people who sing are also taking orders with the same passion.

We came here for a friend’s birthday dinner with a group of 18 and was pleasantly delighted to have the entire upper balcony for our party. For drinks, we thoroughly enjoyed the Judy Garland and the Marilyn Monroe cocktails, which were fruity and colorful. The fried calamari appetizer was crisp, light and generously portioned, easily shared among 3 – 4 friends. The pasta entrees were all superb, especially the gnocchi and the seafood pasta con pesce. Finally, the raspberry cheesecake deserves a hearty shout out!
What also added to the charm of this restaurant are the musically talented waitstaff, who took turns giving live performances of classic oldie songs in the downstairs lobby. Definitely was blown away by some of the vocals, very memorable night!

There is not much better in life than taking a chance on something new and then realizing you made an awesome decision! CIBO was just that for me!
I took my wife, daughter and her boyfriend to CIBO for Valentine’s Day and it was just great. A finely tuned piano sits in the center of a theater like dining room. The pianist plays songs from all decades and sings along. As your waitress finishes taking your order she jumps on stage and begins singing as well!!! THAT’S RIGHT!!! The entire staff sings. They take turns throughout dinner jumping up on stage and blowing you away with their talent. Just makes the entire atmosphere rise to another level of fun, especially for groups of friends or family. If you like to sing along and give plenty of encouragement, this is your place.
This hoopla did however raise concerns for me about the food. I mean, is all of this pomp n circumstance really just to help in not noticing the marginal cuisine? NOT AT ALL, even the food was amazing. Fried goat cheese over arugula with a blueberry reduction for an app, chicken Milanese, penne vodka, shrimp scampi, it was all amazing.
Get to CIBO as soon as possible, heck, invite me, I can’t wait to go back!

Went here with my wife and parents for my birthday and we were not disappointed. We ordered 2 appetizers; the fried calamari and clams casino. The calamari was up there with the best I have ever had. Nice and crispy and unbelievably tender. The clam casino were also very good. We ordered salads and all were very good. I had the tomato and mozzarella and the Buffalo Mozzarella was amazing.
For our meals, my parents ordered the Veal Saltimbocca and Lamb chops. Both were very good. My wife got the gnocchi which is «made on premise» and it was absolutely phenomenal. My main course was the lobster and shrimp in spicy marinara. The shrimp were huge and the lobster was delicious, but the sauce left a lot to be desired.
Although my main course was not as good as I hoped, I will definitely be returning here hopefully in the near future. If I had ordered the gnocchi or the lamb, my meal would have been near perfect.

What a fun experience from start to finish! The bar area is stylish and modern. Highly recommend going ahead of your reservation and having a drink. We were seated right on time and loved our banquette with a perfect view of the piano player and stage. The live music was entertaining without being intrusive or overpowering.
The apps (mussels, rice balls and grilled calamari) were delicious. The main courses were good, but had to ask for sides of pasta. You would think Fra Diablo would come with pasta, right?
We heard from other reviews that the service was just okay, but we had an amazing waitress that knew the menu, laughed along with our conversation, and even gave complimentary limoncello as an after-​dinner treat.
All said, we completely enjoyed the dining experience.

I had dinner here last night and the food was great. The music was very nice and our server was good. People have complained that it’s expensive but maybe they don’t expect a premium for the entertainment. Yes, I could get pasta cheaper anywhere else but to have beautiful piano playing and singing waiters is worth the extra cost.
I had the Caprese salad and the pasta primavera. My friend had the pasta with artichokes dish and enjoyed that. The only problem I had was that originally I wanted Chicken parm with pasta but it was a $ 5 extra charge to sub pasta for the potato and veggies it normally comes with. I probably would have given 5 stars if they didn’t have that policy.

Recommended by the Marriott, where my parents were staying… dad was looking for a good Italian restaurant.
The ambiance in Cibo was great, especially the live music with the rotating servers singing! The food was standard Italian, but I don’t think it was really anything special. Our server was not helpful at all when asking suggestions about wines and dishes. It would’ve been helpful to note that any dish not listed as pasta does not come with pasta. Most Italian restaurants, you assume pasta is the side. Not a big deal, I loved the sides, but it would’ve been nice to know ahead of time.
A few minutes into our meal, my dad found a hair in his side dish and immediately brought it to the attention of our server. All the server did was take it away and offer him something else, to which my dad told him he had lost his appetite. And that was it, no further conversation about it whatsoever… no apology from a manager, nothing else to make it better… it was either get another meal or you’re SOL for having a hair in your food.
My food was great, as was my stepmom’s. I know stuff happens and sometimes you get a hair. The whole thing just seemed awkward and handled incorrectly. The food was good enough, but I probably won’t be back due to the whole experience.