Cipresso (in Seminole Hard Rock Tampa)

Luca was great! Food was wonderful!

First off the restaurant was extremely noisy. While the service was average the food was extremely disappointing for all four persons in our group .The pasta appeared to be precooked and was impossible to twill a bite full with a fork due to the noodles all stick together like a birds nest . The meatballs had no flavor while the calamari was salty with clumps of breading . The special of the night osso bucco was also tasteless . We have a home in southern Italy and can appreciate almost all American Italian restaurants except this one that didn’t even offer tarimisu as a dessert !!! We would suggest going to Olive Garden and getting a much better meal in a more acceptable atmosphere and exemplary service !!!!!

I decided to try this restaurant for the first time. It has a great atmosphere and the service from Marcus is rock solid! The food came out quickly! However, I would say that the food was good but not great. I may come back to try other food. The salad had so much vinegar in the dressing. It was hard to eat it. They used the same dressing in the chilled seafood appetizer. Overall everything was great except the food.

Really enjoyed the tomato salad and calamari. Mushroom pizza was also good, meatballs not so much.

The saddest $42 I’ve ever spent. After reading through reviews I went with the lobster ravioli. It seems as though the sauce that was supposed to save this bland dish was not even close to what it was supposed to be. Instead of a sherry cream sauce I received a watery oil mess. The lobster ravioli was full of lobster but no flavor, just like the large amount of shaved bland fennel that was piled on top. Not one hint of sherry could even be detected. After dropping hints to the server (all were ignored) it became clear that this is what they’re used to putting out. They’ll just box up your entire meal like it’s a normal occurrence and won’t bother to ask what was wrong that you couldn’t eat it. Took it home and made my own sauce. After looking at other photos of this dish I can’t even believe what was served to me and treated as normal. I literally had a clear oil/water mixture with ravioli floating in it and nothing close to a red sauce the same dish appears in the photos of others reviews on here. GROSS.

I’m going to be honest… I haven’t stopped thinking about the lobster ravioli since having it at this place. I had medium expectations however, they were exceeded! The ravioli was made differently than others I’ve had but it was a delightful surprise, truly unique and delicious!

We went on and on about Cipresso to a friend that was in from out of town. We had been there many times in the past. Our reservation was for 9:00 PM, we were sat in the corner of the restaurant and waited a few minutes for someone to come over to our table. We ordered drinks waited close to 15 minutes before our server came back with them. We then had to wait for him to come back to take our order, I asked jokingly and half serious if he forgot about us? He stated that he was working a party of 16 in the next room and they were taking a lot of his time (not a good sign). We then sat and waited until around 10:15 PM when he came back by and said our dinner would be out in about 12 to 15 minutes, Not Acceptable. Even though one of us ordered a filet well done should not take an hour and thirty minutes to cook, come on. I went up to the front and asked to speak with a manager, I ended up speaking the manager on duty and explained my frustration, he told me that our server was taking care of a table of 16, then went on to say that it was taking longer because one of us had ordered a well done steak. I told him that it has never taken an hour and 30 minutes for us to get our meal there, we had been there many times and never had this happen in the past and just because our server was taking care of a table of 16 should not justify that OUR dining experience should have to suffer because he was too busy to take care of his other tables. The manager kept making excuses.. He could have said he understood what I was saying, or apologized that it was taking too long for the food to come out, all I heard was excuses so I walked away and went back to my table. He then came to our table and made the same comments, no apology, just excuses. When we finally got our meal, we had one well done steak but our friend that we brought to this restaurant's steak was also well done, she ordered a medium. I asked if she wanted to say something and she stated she didn't feel like waiting another 30 minutes for them to cook another steak. Not a good impression to make. If your server cannot give the same service to all their tables because they have a large party, then maybe get other servers to assist or you as a manager come by and say, we're very sorry for the delay, how about a round of drinks on us, we appreciate your patience. Just acknowledge that you heard your customers concerns and not make excuse after excuse.