Cucciolo Osteria

A Downtown Durham neighborhood little gem of a restaurant to not pass without indulging in the experience, at least once.Cucciolos is Casual-Chic Industrial vibe that meets modern Italian-inspired food + beverage. The menu is filled with shared small + large plates, pastas, and sides to tag along to any dish. There are thoughtfully crafted cocktails, and a robust curated wine list.Let's talk interior, high-ceilings, ambiance is cozy, yet offers upscale setting. The back room offers a private dining room for dinner parties.The team: Carl, Maggie, and Ian we know best, but the entire team gets recognized for always being attentive, personable, and assisting in providing impeccable service experience.

It was decent. There was nothing spectacular about it, nor anything bad. But, also not "good" enough to recommend to someone. Service was very drawn out. Our reservation was at 5pm (opening time) on a Saturday but we could have spent an hour less there. The timing between drinks, appetizers, meal was very spaced out. It's a very small location, nothing spectacular to report with the ambiance either.

This place is a beautiful date night restaurant in Durham. Definitely make reservations because it is a pretty small restaurant with a limited number of tables so if you don't have reservations you may be at the bar. Reservations also require a card to hold. It is dimly lit and in a great area that you can walk around and hit some bars or dessert spots after. Both the hostess and our server were nice and inviting too. The food is fairly priced, however the portions are small. We got the white ragu tajarin and truffle tajarin pasta. The flavors in both sauces were incredible. 10/10 for both sauces! I just really think the spaghetti noodles it was served in didn't do the pasta justice. The sauce wasn't sticking to the noodles like it should've and this kind of flavor profile needed thicker noodles like pappardelle and it would've been a perfect dish. We also got some drinks and they were great, especially the espresso martini. The menu is small so we only got pasta because we didn't agree on anything else and we ended up still being hungry afterwards.

I was in town for a short work trip and sat at the bar for dinner. It was so good! Everything we ordered was GF - many options and the pasta was so good! I started with the French martini which I loved. For apps we got the green salad, beet salad and carpaccio - all very good. We each got a GF pasta - they have two types a spaghetti and penne. Loved both! Especially the spicy rigatoni. Highly recommend this place!

If you want a delicious Italian meal, you found your restaurant! The server was knowledgeable on drinks, let me try a couple of red wines before I settled on a bottle of Cabernet. I'm gf and ordered the gf pasta and vodka sauce, wow it was delicious! Was daughter who sampled not one but several bites said she would never have known it was gf. She had the truffle pasta which she loved. We ended with tiramisu and I had an amazing scoop of pistachio gelato.

I give Cucciolo Osteria four stars (good). My wife and I had high expectations of this place given everything we'd heard. While the food and drink were good to great, service could've been better (this was our main gripe) and the atmosphere wasn't as nice as we'd hoped. However, I still think this is a solid restaurant for the food alone. It's one of the better spots we've been to in Chapel Hill and Durham for Italian food. That's all you need to know. Keep reading if you want the details.I'll get our criticisms out of the way first. The main thing was we felt rushed. We had barely made a dent in our appetizers when our server came over and asked if it was OK to bring our pasta course out. After looking at our table, it was obvious what our answer was. Also, there was no room to fit the pasta on our table anyway. While we were still working on our apps, our server again came over again and asked when he could tell the kitchen to start the pastas. We felt rushed and pressured.Did they have to turn our table that quickly? My wife and I were hoping to have a nice, enjoyable night out. This isn't a cheap place. Regardless of price, at most sit-down restaurants, very rarely have we felt rushed like we did here. Our server was friendly and attentive, but I think this is a detail that the staff can be better trained on.Next regarding the service, while transporting our drinks to our table, the lime on the rim of my wife's cocktail fell onto the floor. The server went ahead and served the cocktail to our table without the lime. He returned with a lime wedge in a bowl. This was disappointing because the fun of ordering cocktails, especially in this price range ($15-20), when going out is the presentation. It's little things like this that set the great restaurants apart from the good ones. In this situation, I'd expect a server to go back to the bar and have the drink fixed/re-done -- it seems like an easy fix.Finally regarding service, I originally made our reservation for two people. The day before our reservation, I called the restaurant and asked if they had room to expand to four. They did. Before I hung up, I made clear with the hostess to *not* change the reservation to four until after I confirmed with our friends. We understood each other before we hung up. Later that night, I got an email saying our reservation had been changed to four people which was exactly what I was trying to prevent. A miscommunication happened somewhere. Ultimately, not a big deal, just a little annoying.As far as the atmosphere went, the space itself was fine. Modern rustic. In other aspects, we were expecting something a bit more on the nicer side. We know Durham isn't known for having "fancy" fancy places, but some people rolled in dressed like they were headed to McDonald's. It was a strange mix of elevated and casual. And the music was weird too. For example, songs included YMCA and Escape (The Pina Colada Song) and artists included ABBA and Barry White. Not things you really hear at a nicer Italian restaurant or maybe I'm the one that's confused and this is supposed to be a casual joint.Here's what we had:Cocktails* Barrel Head Smoked Old Fashioned ($20.00) - smoked rosemary on Buffalo Trace barrel head, Buffalo Trace, toasted almond bitters* Jalisco Grapefruit Sunset ($16.00) - 21SEEDS Grapefruit Hibiscus tequila, marg mix, Pamplemousse liqueur, grapefruit juiceCicchetti* Rustic Tuscan Pate ($11.50) - fresh sage, baguetteAntipasti* Creamed Mushrooms ($15.50) - sauteed cremini, shiitake, oyster mushrooms, cognac, Reggiano, multigrain toast* Burrata ($15.50) - cherry tomatoes, lemon/white wine vinegar, pesto, walnuts, olive oil* Filet Mignon Beef Carpaccio ($25.00) - with aioli and truffle pastePrimi* Lemon Tagliatelle ($19.50) - garlic, Reggiano, lemon juice, lemon zest, chili flakes, arugula* Truffle Tajarin ($23.00) - fresh black truffles, truffled paste, ReggianoDessert* Tiramisu ($11.50)In the Triangle, the smoked old fashioned I had at The Waiting Room was better, the pate we had at Bluebird was better, and the burrata we had at Pizzeria Toro was better. In all of these instances, the flavors were more complex at the other places. Cucciolo's versions weren't bad by any means, however.The pastas were excellent. They had outstanding texture and flavor and the sauces had a lot of depth to them. The beef carpaccio was very good. We both really liked the tiramisu -- creamy, light, and a good balance of flavors.Reservations are recommended. Book using OpenTable.Interesting fact: Cucciolo's original location opened in Seoul, South Korea in 2015. This second location opened in Durham in July 2018.Free parking is located on-site. If it's full, I suggest parking in "Lot 32" at 111 W Chapel Hill St. You do have to pay for parking there Monday-Friday, 8am-7pm. Otherwise, free.

Stopped in for early dinner; ambiance was very nice- young professional with big wrap around bar as the centerpiece. Ordered aranchini and burrrata bruschetta as apps! They were good but nothing exceptional!followed with two pasta dishes, diavolo and the truffle angel hair! Truffle pasta was wonderfully rich but with both meals we should have asked for protein! There is something incomplete about the primi dishes I can't place or describe! Pasta dishes were very reasonable prices; felt the old fashioned and the selected Chardonnay were tolerable!

Within walking distance from our hotel, we found this highly rated Italian restaurant. Yelpers never disappoint!We did not have a reservation and felt lucky to get seated immediately. Our server was quite genuine and attentive. I had my classic Manhattan, up with rye which came out right away. We shared a Burrata as an appetizer, with the pesto on the side due to a garlic allergy. It was delicious as expected. My wife thoroughly enjoying the Butter Chicken with dressed arugula. She was in the mood for pasta so added a side of butter pasta with parmigiana (not on the menu). It was excellent and made for plenty of leftovers for the both of us at the hotel. I had the Bolognese which was rich and complex, fantastic recipe with house made pasta.Well done, we'll be back!

My new favorite date night/special occasion spot in Durham!The customer service was outstanding from start to finish. The manager Betsy was an absolute delight and was our server for the night. With 5 years of experience at the restaurant she provided incredible recommendations. She allowed us to taste test several wines before selecting one and even comped my birthday dessert. The decor is beautiful with lots of exposed brick and strategic lighting and a candle on every table to make for a really romantic atmosphere. - Wine: Antolini Corvina (red) - started with a glass but ended up buying the bottle and taking the rest home because we loved it so much- Antipasti: Creamed mushrooms - amazing- Primi: White Ragu tajarin - fresh pasta made in-house (similar to angel hair) with a decadent sauce / spicy vodka rigatoni - still having dreams about this dish! It was the perfect serving size to fill me up without leaving me feeling gross- Desserts: the expresso martini was so fresh and light. We tried the bread pudding dessert special for the night. Warm cinnamon brioche bread topped with vanilla gelato and caramel (INCREDIBLE). The chocolate torte was delicious with the orange slices and salt creating perfect flavor combinations.

I've said this many times but I'll say it again (in case Yelp is listening), I wish Yelp would allow for half stars. I give it 3.5 stars because sometimes, my experience here is a 4 star experience and sometimes it's a 3. 4 stars because the food is usually very good. 3 stars because it's inconsistent. Sometimes the meat ragu and truffle mushroom pastas are amazing, and sometimes they're too salty. 4 stars because the bruschetta is typically fresh, flavorful, yum. The ambience is great. Dimly lit, classy, great for date night. 3 stars because it's pricey and portions are small given the cost. I prefer Goccialina but put this place on par with Mothers and Sons so would still recommend!