We started out at the bar as the dining room was full and bustling, always a good sign for a new restaurant. O-C has quite a wine list, but we both opted to start with beer as we knew we'd be ordering pizza, and honestly, what's better on a Saturday night than beer and pizza? To answer my own question, Calamari, beer and pizza. We started out with calamari to go along with our basket of bread. My first criticism was that we were served both bread and calamari without any plates. Normally the table is stocked with mismatched china, but our table was lacking. Anyway, beware of the bread! It's better than the offerings of most other restaurants and can take up valuable room in your stomach! The calamari was delicious, expertly fried and well seasoned. I find calamari tends to be over seasoned, but this was not the case here. A generous portion was served along with a pepperoncini aioli, also very tasty. In order to save room for desert, we actually failed to finish the calamari, not something I'm proud to admit.
Next comes pizza. We ordered the Funghi to split. It was very good, though I was hoping for a wider selection of mushrooms as topping. The cheese was great and the mushrooms had a great earthly flavor. The taleggio cheese paired very well with the mushrooms. I would have added some fresh herbs for color, but honestly the pizza really didn't need it so that's a moot point. We saved nearly half the pizza in order to save room for dessert. It's worth mentioning that the last time we ate at the O-C I ordered the Tortelloni Michelangelo at the recommendation of the waiter and was amazed at the quality and quantity for the price I paid. I'm not sure you can find better food at this price point in the city. I would say if anything, it's well underpriced. You can buy delivery pizza for the same price as the pizza here, although I can't think of any reason why I would. I'm curious if I can call in a pizza order and pick it up. If so, there may be a lot of pizza in my future.
Ok, so dessert. The wife and I were completely stuffed the last go-around, so we made sure to save just a little bit of room this time. I had my heart set on tiramisu the entire evening but made a last second decision to try the opera cake. I've gotta hand it to myself, it was a fantastic decision. If I remember correctly, the opera cake consisted of almond cake soaked in espresso with coffee buttercream icing and chocolate ganache. You can see why I strayed from my original plan of tiramisu. I dare say it was the best cake dessert I've ever ordered. I would have liked a little more coffee flavor in the buttercream, but the cake was very moist and full of flavor and the chocolate ganache was very bittersweet which is much preferred when it comes to chocolate. It was absolutely delicious. I have no idea how I did it, but I ate the whole thing. It didn't take long to regret this decision as I was so stuffed I could barely sleep (I'm a stomach sleeper, which was a curse after this meal.) The wife ordered cannoli, which was her plan from the get go. She ended up with a plate of three of them, and she wisely decided to save two. She said that the cannoli was by far the best she's had in Wilmington. I liked them too, although I've never really been a cannoli kind of guy. We wrapped up our meals, paid our insanely small bill (just under $50 drinks included) and left to digest.
As this is my first review, it feels weird to give such high marks. I am critical when I eat, and this will not be the norm. Osteria Cicchetti is just that good. Our waiter was excellent, overlooking our appetizer plates and nothing else. The food was fantastic and under-priced. The ambience was great, immediately leading you away from the Forum (really just a nicer-than-most strip mall) and into somebody's Italian grandmother's massive and popular dining room. Lastly, the ultimate measure of a pizza: cold the next morning for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, Osteria Cicchetti once again delivers.
Stuffed,
-W
