Restaurant Cinelli

2 out of 5 stars

I was craving Italian and had high hopes of finding a good Italian place close to home. We’ve hit up Celebration a few times trying out restaurants and decided to try out Cinelli. I didn’t enjoy our experience. The specials menu sounded fantastic – we ordered a portabello mushroom appetizer which was covered in goat cheese and basil, breaded and deep fried and then drizzled with quite a bit of basalmic vinegar. The concept was good but way too much cheese was used, and we hadn’t counted on it being fried, it was too rich.

Our meals turned out similarly. I ordered off the specials menu, what was called the cigar. Chicken rolled with fontina and asparagus and prosciutto. I didn’t realize then that the rolled chicken would then be battered and deep fried. The cigar sat on a plate of pasta with oyster mushrooms… but there were so many mushrooms I didn’t know what to do with myself. The whole platter made me somewhat sick to my stomach because it was so overabundant and filled with cheese and grease. And it was $26! Husband’s chicken francese was battered and deep fried, it more resembled fish and chips than a francese.

The service was incredibly slow. When we were able to get our waitress’ attention, she promptly walked away and ignored our requests, so we had to ask three times for straws, sweetener, bread, etc. The hostess and manager (it seemed that’s what he was) seemed like they were trying to help but would awkwardly ask if a table was ok right after their server left.. Service just seemed genuinely disorganized.

One thing I did like about the joint was that they had a live band playing some nice music in the background. Well, the search for Italian wonderousness continues.

Restaurant Cinelli
7361 Six Forks Rd
Raleigh, NC 27615
(919) 844-8160