Herald gives Cefalo's bad review
Cefalo's Italian Village (3540 Main Highway) gets a bad review in today's Herald. I hate to agree with them, but each time I have eaten there, I have left unhappy. Never had a fresh meal yet and I keep trying. The mussels are fishy, the chicken parmigiana is dry and tasteless. The help in the wine section is non-existent. I tried to get Christmas gifts there, but since I wasn't buying a $1000 bottle of wine, they didn't want to be bothered.That's my review. The Herald's review is here.
posted by Tom Falco at 6:12 PM
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12 Comments:
I'm with both of you (the two reviews). I really WANT to like it. I try, I give them the benefit of the doubt, but each time I leave, I'm bummed out about the experience.
It's too bad, because it is a great location. I had lunch there once (outside) and then in the room they have downstairs, in the basement, where they hold a lot of private dinners, and both times the food has been forgettable.
The service in the basement room, however, is great. Very attentive... but of course, the prices reflect that.
The wine thing comes across as pretentious rather than sophisticated and the measurement station, where you can try all the wines, is exactly the opposite of what the experience should be. Mechanized wine slot machines instead of the human contact you would want.
If you want a good place for wine tasting, check out Cava on South Beach. Its on Espanola Way right next to Hosteria. The employees there are really nice and there are a lot of varieties to try and with those little cards you can buy tastes of each.
Alas I too want it to be better. And the real problem is it WAS better in the beginning- at least the food was, when it was Marcanios, before Cefalo took it over. The food was fresh, the sauces were great and they served one of the best Italian espressos ever (Mocarabia)and the overall experience was fanastic. I do keep going back, because I have faith they will get their act together. The convenience of stopping by on my way home from work to pick up some great eggplant or sausage or chicken is unbeatable. Someone needs to get the chefs to return to what they started out doing and to hire some people that really know what they're doing.
As an aside, went there last night after the review hit the Herald and you could feel the heaviness in the air emanting from the staff. That must have been one heck of a staff meeting yesterday afternoon.
I agree with everyone. It is ashame that this place is terrible. But that is the truth.
The service is not good either.
I've been there several times. The food and service has always been great. The pizza is very good. I often pick one up on my way home.
I pick up sandwiches to bring to the office and they are very very good. Fresh, high quality breads & meats. I love it. I don't know what the Herald is talking about. The people there are sooo nice!!Marcanio was such a rude snob. The place seems more friendly now that he is gone.
Jimmy is that you? The last commenter? The staff may be nice, but the food sucks.
Terrible food. Just visited for the first time last weekend and I was completely disappointed.
The only improvement that I see as necessary is at the old Taurus.
The Sports Wine Bar concept just does not work. The old Taurus had an atmosphere and history that was the Grove.
Cefalos should try to recapture that. Get rid of the flat screens. Get more imported beers, a piano, a small band stand,
a tiny dance floor, so we can kick it up like the good 'ol days.
If noise is a concern to the new residents above, They can keep the music acoustical only.
That, with a few happy hour specials, should draw the old timers back. The old timers DO have plenty of money to spend there and would be regulars if Cefalos just tried to re-vamp the old days.
This place has been terrible since they opened their doors. I was extremely excited for them to open for business but was very disappointed by my first visit. I was inside the wine bar doing some wine tasting (which are overpriced, but paid anyway). With many wine tastings and trips to Napa under my belt, I had asked if we were able to keep our wine glass that we used, just as all the other places I've been to would do. The woman looked at me like I had nine heads and no clothes on! She rudely chuckled and said "you mean take them home with you? (chuckling again)" I didn't feel like it was a stupid question at all, but she was a pretentious snob. We ate dinner there too, for some reason, the service was terrible and the food was worse. Haven't been back since.
Now I know why I always see Mr. Cefalo eating food at Foccaccia Rustica in the Grove. The food must be real bad when the owner prefers to eat elsewhere. Good going Foccaccia!
Want to know the real truth?
I was the original chef who developed the first menu and organized the whole kitchen and its staff for Marcanio's. The whole concept was based on regional Italian recipes with emphasis on family meals, and that's the reason I was called in to take the position.
I'm an Italian national and have been to many of our regions and studied our cuisine. I still have my catering company www.ChefAlbe.com where people can appreciate the twist I put on the so called "Italian cuisine". Believe or not, there is not such thing as "Italian cuisine" since every region has different ingredient and techniques. "Italian" is an unfortunate stereotype for spaghetti with meatballs and lasagna (by the way, I make mine with Bolognese ragout and béchamel sauce, NOT chewy and stringy mozzarella).
The original menu had a great conglomeration of recipes from Sardinia, Liguria, Piedmont, Lazio, Tuscany, Veneto, and so on, and every one of them was made with the freshest and wholesome ingredients acquired from the best suppliers in town, as well NJ and NY State.
Bruno Marcanio and Jimmy Cefalo didn't know each other when they leased the space from the land developer, and through a series of events, which I believe to be unfortunate, they decided to help each other out. Cefalo's needed food since it didn't have a kitchen and Marcanio's would use the sitting area (120 seats) and the fame associated with Cefalo.
It was a bad joint venture from the start since Marcanio and his family hated Cefalo and Brenda Basset so much that at one point decided not to supply any more food to Cefalo's operation. Then, s*#t started hitting the fan; Cefalo rallied the majority partners in the Marcanio's Restaurant and Bruno Marcanio was forced out of the deal after only 5 months of operation.
I left after the 3rd month of operation since I was able to foresee where things where going.
Marcanio's was a great fresh idea for the Grove which never had the chance to go the next level. The original managers (six of us) were forced out by Marcanio's inexperience with the Miami market (he is an Italian/Canadian from Montreal) and greed and selfishness from one of the managers.
From what I know Jimmy isn't in control of the restaurant and the food that is being produced there. One thing is for sure though: when you attract and please customers with good regional Italian dishes, but then switch the concept and get rid of the good hardworking people who made this possible, you are asking for real trouble. I know that during my stay at Marcanio’s Linda Gassenheimer, TV and Radio Personality, Syndicated Journalist, Award-winning, Best Selling Author, Spokesperson, and Food Consultant, appreciated very much what I cooked for her and her friends that night.
Everything else you hear is BS.
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