cecelia's ristorante

cecilia's is another regular spot in buffalo. the patio is a great spot during the summer and generally always packed with a fun crowd. 

the restaurant opened during the height of the martini craze in the city and the decor inside feels as though it hasn't really been updated since. great cocktails, but i find them a bit sweet for my personal taste. the style of their italian cuisine is italian american (not traditional italian).  the sauces are again sweet for my taste.  the food is consistently is good, but i'd love to see them step up their traditional flavours a bit.  iordereda simple american stye pasta with meatballs during my last visit, and it was okay at best.  our starter salad was great though, and my mother thoroughly enjoyed her manicotti.

martini menu was extensive and satisfying. food menu offers many options, iorderedthe chicken cecelia which was tasty and filling. unfortunately the service did not meet my expectations, and this remained consistent throughout the evening.

this was my first time eating at this restaurant. our server seated us and did not return to take our drink order for another 15 minutes. being a server myself, i understand this if it's busy. but we were one of 4 tables and there were 2 servers on the patio. my friendordereda martini and iordereda sangria. our server returned almost immediately with just the sangria. he then realized he brought it to the wrong table and ripped it out from my hands. weorderedour food and iorderedfries with my sandwich (which are $2 extra). our food arrived and i had no fries. he said he'd bring the fries right away, and my friendorderedanother drink. my fries arrived after after we finished eating, and we never got the second drink. absolutely horrible service. the kicker? while we were eating, a homeless man walked up to another table and begged for their food. lousy service does not make up for prime location. do not eat here, save yourself time & money.

we normally love cecilas but had a horrid experience recently. i was served a dish in which i couldnt eat bc it was so unacceptable following this they offered me something else. by then my fiancee was almost done eating so i justordereda bowl of soup. they offered desert and their appologies which i thought was nice. during out visit my water was never refilled and was left empty. i finally at desert asked for more. when our check arrived they charged me $30 for the meal i didnt touch and said well...i gave u desert and soup. finally they removed the dinner and when we asked for our other meal which was supposed to be boxed up the waitress said well it accidentally got thrown out have a good night. theres a lot more to this awful experience but i dont think i need to say more. dont expect much here they have gone way down hill.

not consistent. i try this place at least once a year and i still never seem to like it. the service is all over the board. either they are very attentive or ignore you. if you like martinis this is the place to go. they have many to choose from and on mondays they have half price martinis and tuesday they have a prix fixe menu. many of them are very sweet so you might want something else if you don't like sweet drinks. i could only have one and stuck to wine. we recently dined at the bar on a busy weekend night. the bartenders were busy doing shots with other customers to take our order or bring us waters, silverware etc. this happened throughout the meal. salad came out super fast but entrees took longer then you would think. iorderedsomething different then a pasta dish at an italian restaurant and wished i didn't. i liked the concept of the chicken cecelia but it had no flavor! they must have forgot to salt or put spices on the meal. i finished the whole thing after putting tons of salt and pepper on it plus i was hungry. diner liked the olive tampenade pizza. i usually come here in the summer so i can eat and drink on the patio. note if you order from the raw seafood bar even though they are on the property it is considered a separate business. found that out the hard way last year. there are better italian restaurants in the area and i will probably stick to those.

went here on a saturday night at 6pm before our tickets to the bpo at 8pm. we were promptly seated were given water and menus and we right awayorderedand appetizer. weorderedour food not ten minutes later, but it took 60 minutes for the entree to come out! it was quite ridiculous and at this point we knew we were cutting it close to eat and make it the the concert in time. the food was not very good. i had the chicken bruschetta which was not worth 17 dollars and it came with mashed potatoes which i could've made better chicken at home. i will not return.

false menu advertising. went there for the martini 2 for 1 night. a lot of their martinis are $8-$10 but at least they use grey goose and top shelf liquors. ...or do they. being a bartender i always watch to see what liquor bartenders actually use when they think you arent looking.ordereda crown manhattan and a grey goose martini. pretty simple drinks, and at 2 for 1 the price was actually quite reasonable. unfortunately, the bartender decided to use well whiskey and well vodka instead. if you cant afford to use the good stuff, then dont advertise and charge for it. will not go back to visit a restaurant that frauds people.

overrated food. went to cecelias for the first time and was disappointed that their advertised clam bar wasn't open. iorderedravioli, which would have been great fresh but it was delivered to the table with a film over it which i assume to be from the heat lamp? my wife had the chicken cecelia which had a mushroom sauce like the marsala, it was bland and the plate was swimming in the sauce, like a soup. overall the food wasn't the best italian food but its not the worst. our waitress was less that friendly but perhaps it was a bad day. the patio is the best feature, good luck getting a table after 7.
and a side note, i think there is a review from one of the hostesses on here, cchampli. padding the urbanspoon stats a bit?