Capriccio Ristorante Italiano
Since becoming a Northern Durhamite a couple of weeks ago, I’ve become painfully aware of our limited takeout options within a 4-5 mile radius. Don’t get me wrong, we like living further out, but I do miss the plethora of options I had being closer to city center. Where we are now, we have several options for fast food, sandwiches, mexican and take-out chinese, but that’s it.
Driving home this weekend I noticed a sign for a new retaurant next to Chik-fil-a in the old Bull City Deli building (prior to that I think it was a Schlotzsky’s). I was intrigued and not two days later read the restaurant opening report here at Carpe Durham. Last week, I dropped in to grab some take out. I noticed the signs advertising a take out window, but didn’t see it set up just yet.
The decor is nice; a peachy stucco interior, filled with booths, soft Italian music playing. The lighting is soft, but bright enough to see your food. It felt very much like a family Italian restaurant to me. It’s run by an Italian family and all the staff that I encountered was extremely friendly (especially Karen the bartender). While sitting at the bar, waiting for my food, I could hear only Italian being spoken in the kitchen – a good sign.
There are many vegetarian options and a lot of eggplant dishes, if that’s your thing. For dinner, it’s mostly pasta, brick oven pizza, panini, seafood and chicken. They also have a nice selection of salads. If you’re a beefeater, this isn’t the place for you. I found the pasta options to be priced kind of high for it not being freshly made pasta, but they do have a “make your own” section where you can customize pasta and sauce and add on homemade sausage or meatballs (not available last night).
I selected “Pasta Della Nonna” which was fettucine with ham and mushrooms in a tomato cream sauce. For the hubby, I ordered spaghetti with pesto and sausage. I tacked on two side salads with the house Basil-Chianti vinaigrette (for an extra $3.50$3.25).
The food was great. Everything was well seasoned. The pasta was cooked perfectly. The only complaint I have was portion size. The pasta dishes were definitely entree size, but not enough to have leftovers for lunch (which is what I’m used to from the nearby Pomodoro). The salads were honestly really pitiful for $3.50$3.25. 5-6 pieces of cut up romaine, 4 slices of olive and cherry tomato, some red onion, a few pieces of roasted red pepper, a couple of baked pizza dough squares and a slice of cucumber. This isn’t local organic produce or anything so I really expected more lettuce for the price. The ingredients were great, as was the dressing.
We’ll definitely go back, but probably for lunch or perhaps a special occasion. I’m curious about the pizza. The little breadsticks that came with the entrees were nice and crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I can’t see dropping $40 for take-out (entrees and salads only) on a regular basis. I think Pop’s definitely has them beat for dinner (food and selection).
Since they don’t have a website yet, we figured we’d share their offerings via their take out menu.
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- Capriccio menu inside
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- Capriccio menu outside
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I generally agree.I generally disagree.
They appear to have a facebook page.
According to the Herald-Sun, this is a restaurant by the family that owns the Italian Pizzeria restaurants and a relative of the family owned Camilla’s which used to be on Roxboro.
There were service problems at the Italian Pizzerias and Camilla’s, so I hope they’ve solved those issues if they are running a more upscale place.
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While I can’t really comment on the overall dining service because I got take out, the bartender and hostess were super friendly and the food came out in a reasonable time and was nice and hot. The bartender mentioned the family had a restaurant in Italy, but no mention of any others here.
I don’t know if I’d call them upscale, but the prices are a little steep to be family dining. I think they just need a little time to figure out price point and where exactly they fit in in the Durham restaurant scene
Give them a try and let us know about the service!
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I had lunch recently – the service was good, the food was fabulous. I had a suasage panini that came with a salad for $8.95. THe sandwich and the salad were excellent. THe prices seem a little steep for lunch and for the portiuon size, but I will definately go back.
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Our family eat there on Saturday, 2/20/10. We were not impressed. Our servers were friendly but our orders seemed to take an long time to be prepared and were incorrect when they came to the table. Our waitress said that they were extremely busy. While the restaurant was full there were vacant tables and no line.
Of the five adults present, non of us were enthused with our selection and in fact thought it was some of the poorest tasting food we have ever had. Granted “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but I would suggest you try it before taking friends.
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Honestly, I think that given the raves of this restaurant and others serving Italian in the Durham area, you really do not know the taste of true Italian food around here. I am not saying this to be rude, it is an observation. I have travelled to Italy many times, and have lived in states with large Italian communities. The food served at Capriccio was sub par, a real disappointment given the nice decor and fancy menus with the dishes listed in Italian. One of the people dining with me ordered their eggplant parm dish, it came with what looked like sliced mozzeralla melted on top.
If that were not horrifying enough, the dish was too bready and not saucy enough. When my dining companion asked for extra sauce, she was given the tiniest side I have ever seen. The server could not pronounce half of the items on the menu, the salads left a lot to be desired and the dressing was either too sugary or tasted like it came from a Kraft bottle.
We ordered coffees (again, the server did not know what they had to offer in terms of coffee), and several desserts to share, one supposedly a specialty that tasted like an old roll microwaved with a bit of Nutella tossed in the center. The bill was quite high because everything cost extra, and was over priced for what was served.
Still, it might be around for awhile (Lord knows Pomodoro is still here) because the majority of diners do not know good Italian food so expectations are minimal. But I suspect that the higher prices will keep some away, and the food as it is now (prepared as simple fare rather than fine Italian dining) will keep those who know and expect better away.
Food = 4 • Pricing/Value = 3 • Atmosphere = 7 • Service = 5.5
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Do you have a recommendation for a good Italian place in Durham, Maya? I’d be interested to try it if you do!
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We have dined here several times and the food is excellent!
All ingredients are fresh and the desserts are awesome!
Very clean and friendly staff. I would highly recommend.
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Capriccio’s has a coupon sheet in one of the flyers I got in the mail yesterday.
It’s the same multi-sheet loose one that usually has Papa John’s coupons.
There was a buy 1 entree and 2 drinks, get an entree free ($12 max value) among others.
I also haven’t found much good Italian in Durham.
Francesca’s on Erwin had consistently decent food but the service was spotty.
Italian Pizzeria on Guess does have a couple of penne dishes on the menu and what I saw when someone at another table was served looked good.
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i love Italian Food specially those juicy pastas. They are really delicious.~”‘
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I went with a party of 7 on Saturday night, August 14th, at 6:30. The place was not very patronized, a somewhat disappointment. My partner ordered their drink special, a mango-peach Mojito, which she said was very good. We were all served a complimentary non-alcoholic aperitif to “whet our whistles”. Their bread a dipping oil with pepper was extremely tasty. My partner and I split their vegetable appetizer. It was fair: seemingly grilled eggplant, zucchini, and chopped, roasted peppers that tasted like from a jar. For our main dishes, my partner ordered their special: filet mignon medallions with roasted shrimp. She was not impressed (I value her taste highly) and commented that she probably should have ordered something more Italian. I had their Puttanesca and was overjoyed. Instead of calamata olives, they used anchovies. The dish sent me to heaven; if for no other reason, I’m going back for that alone. Previous comments about the side salads are right on: too little, not exceptional, too pricey. Dessert was a hit. Their special was lemoncello mousse — outstanding. I had their made-from-scratch sfogliatelle that was so-so. Our biggest comp;laint was that the dishes were coming out too fast; we’d hardly got into our appetizers when the salads arrived; no sooner did we dig into the unexemplary salads when the entrees arrived; and, dishes were being cleared when some of our party wwere still savoring their main courses.
Will I go back? Absolutely. That puttanesca is to die for!
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what i like about italian food is the pasta and spaghetti. they are so yummy`.*
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Capriccio’s is really slipping. The food is heavier, new waitstaff don’t seem trained to ask whether you like your food, nor do they offer to take action if you don’t. I loved it six months ago, now might not return.
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Capriccio Ristorante Italiano has recently undergone some menu alterations. For more information, visit the new website for the restaurant to see what menu options have been added and what great price range the menu now entails.
3820 North Roxboro St, Durham NC
(919) 381-4420
CapriccioNC.com
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Sadly, Capriccio’s is closed. Some chain chicken place is going in that spot
I’m depressed – that was my favorite place to eat. I live in N Durham and there is nothing comparable nearby. N Durham is a dreadful place to live – they’re no nice restaurants nor decent shopping.
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Admiring the time and effort you put into your website and in depth information you present. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material. Fantastic read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
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I think their bread a dipping oil with pepper was extremely tasty. My partner and I split their vegetable appetizer. It was fair: seemingly grilled eggplant, zucchini, and chopped, roasted peppers that tasted like from a jar. For our main dishes, my partner ordered their special, Anyways thanks for all this.
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Thank you.
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