Good Eats: Cibo's

Summer 2023

"Oh you've just got to go eat at Cibo's!"

"Cibo's is so good have you gotten their sauce?"

Yeah we'll go there sometime...

A decade of living in Bolivar and seven more years in Canton and we finally ate at Cibo's! (Sorry Cibo's we were so close yet so far)

If you haven't been Cibos, Cibo's is an Italian restaurant in an old movie theater and there is a neat story to it all that you can read at their site here: https://www.cibosrestaurant.com/

So we walk in and theres a very busy and fast paced wait staff, the place definitely has a converted-but-works feel to it and it is certainly a hometown spot to get a good meal. I knew this just from walking in. 

No wait, we're immediately sat at a table. I felt like they had an unusually high amount of staff for post covid times and yes it was a Friday night, this was good and the service was excellent. Pricing, excellent, as if covid never happened. There were even good deals for the kids!

We got salad and Sabrina got tomatos for some reason (What is it with this kid and her tomatos? This is certainly a running gag in blogs to come because she keeps getting them)

You can't miss the giant sign coming from the southeast. Oh and it is on both sides of the building heh.

Sorry for the blur, kids shaking the table, Andrew rapidly stirring soup, + low light situation = bad time for camera

Andrew got the Italian Wedding Soup and he really wants you to know, if you like Italian Wedding Soup, Cibo's takes the soup to a whole new level of good. We think there was collard greens in it like big chunks and this Matzah ball of goodness was in there too. He said these two things are what brought it to the next level of satisfaction.

Mean Girls (2004)

My thoughts too

Ok here comes the bad news and I don't mean this in a defamation way, just honesty and unless someone is going to buy me a house I am not going to lie about their product. 

I look at some pasta go by and I see it is really, really white. Its mid to low light inside and I can see this pasta is white. I've ruined enough mac n cheeses to know this pasta is gon' be soft. I saw this as a red flag🚩 and unfortunately I was right. 

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

We're not Italian or an animated Chinese goose but we know our noodles and I later googled about the noodles thinking "ok how can these noodles be so soft, are they cooking them and letting them sit in a pan all night? Is there a unique step they are taking in their noodle making process that is not getting those noodles to be more firm?"

I couldn't find a straight answer and I don't want a hard noodle LOL but I do want that al dente a little bit of a spring back kind of noodle. 

Are the noodles always like this or is it a bad night? I've no idea. So I looked through their Facebook history and it seems that yes this is their style of pasta making and it is something from their technique. As I said, I like a bit of density and more-stiff-than what-I-got kind of noodle. I definitely thought of play dough no offense intended. 

As anyone in food service knows its easy for hometown restaurants to cater to seniors, they spend their money more often and all day because they have the freedom to do so. They also complain, a lot, so it is easy for a restaurant to cater to their wants and needs (rather than the youth) and this is one of many scenarios I arrived to in my mind on why my noodles were so damn soft. Not all seniors have money, many as we know are on severely limited incomes and I am not ageist against them, but if you have ever served the after church crowd you know there is a range of genuinely nice people and really mean elders and they all come in together. 

Back in my day at the burger stand we called Sunday - Silverhead Sunday, they came in droves with their silvery hair relentlessly! You never knew what you're were going to get with these people someone kind like a grandma you never had or some miserable SOB that you'd consider praying for.  Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay remarked in one episode of his many famous shows that "the first warning sign of the food quality is the amount of white haired people in the building eating." Its well known our diet gets less tolerant with age so in essence we know that seniors are more likely to tolerate a more bland meal which is can be cheaper for the restaurant to manage but chase away all the youthful crowd that crave well seasoned and cooked food. I'm not looking for a five star restaurant in Waynesburg Ohio but I want the restaurant to live up to the reputation.

We have used Gordon's statement to judge new places we eat at and most of the time it isn't wrong. Now I didn't actually see a ton of seniors at Cibo's that Friday night but the first time I heard about it was from my grandma and her friends. 

Unfortunately I'm disappointed in the noodles and overall the meal was still good but I guess the noodles just wasn't our thing. Nobody else at the table complained and in fact my girls stole my spaghetti and didn't want their own noodles even though both are made from the same dough. 

Another place I saw room for improvement was the rolls. They were very good but cold, if you kept them heated and brought them to the table that way I would be over the moon. 

Back to the positives, the meatballs were made of finely ground beef, this attention to texture was really interesting considering the noodles. 

Is Cibo's worth a try? Yes!

I would eat there again, I feel like we just have to find the right dish and finding that takes repeat visits. 

Aw yeah that's pretty good! Even though its soft!

Me questioning my choices and ability to finish what I ordered because I have no room.

Look at her mood improve with food!  :( :I :o

Sauce to go anyone?

Andrew's satisfied face after dinner at Cibo's

Go and judge for yourself how you feel about Cibo's. We still ate our dinner and left satisfied and that is really the important thing. My point of writing these articles is not to bash a company but to tell it like it is and lift them up and challenge these companies to do their best every time. 


Go to Cibo's


-Love Gab & Drew

(and the kids too)

What gives us the right to write a review?

We own and run this website for one. We want people to stop going to chains and shop local as much as possible. We do want local businesses to hold themselves to the highest standard that they can. Reviews help them achieve and help average people spend their money more wisely. We're a couple of foodies who love dining out and we've watched WAAAAY too much Gordon Ramsey, Jon Taffer and Robert Irvine likely fake reality TV.  Those shows do all have something in common though: Silverheads means the food is bland that is absolutely true, large menu means food costs are high and that is passed along to the customer, when things are truly bad for the owner an accountant is brought in on the show. 

Gab works for an accountant during the day and sees many businesses struggling but equally the same owners not pushing themselves  by annoying their accountants (you should) and watching their accounts like a hawk. A big misconception Gab had of the accounting industry was that accountants make the decision for the owners. No! Accountants get the accurate picture of what is going on [as long as you the owner participate, believe me we encounter too many owners that PAY for our service and DON'T give us what we need to do the job!]. Accountants can give advice for what to do next but ultimately the decision is on the owner. Accountants help the owner make an informed decision.

Gab's best advice for local businesses, get tech savvy, track everything, know what sells and what doesn't CONSTANTLY. Set the bar for a successful product and revise the non-best sellers. Annoy your accountant, track your money, ask for reports. Be present online and on social media it is NOT going away!