Vici Ristobar

Great service and incredible food. The eggplant parm is exquisite. Crunchy outside and tender inside and NOT soggy. Loved the baked ziti with more mozzarella substituted for ricotta and with sausage added. Salad is fresh and crunchy. An outstanding red sauce option in Durham!

Always my to go place for Italian food. Came here on a holiday night but late, glad they still have tables! I absolutely love the pasta here. Never can get enough of its bc the food here was so fulfilling, I had leftovers. Service was great. I had the appetizer here too but all I remember was he beef pasta. It was so good! It is a big restaurants with plenty of seats!

We love this spot, our local go-to for Italian. Local and welcoming, the service has always been friendly and accommodating. Favorites: Vodka PastaChicken Alfredo (ask for some "zest" on the chicken)Pizza looks good, but we always go with our pasta! Not much luck with the fish dishes in the past, but perhaps we just had a bad experience... proceed at your discretion. Great wines, some craft beers on tap, and good old fashioneds... very much worth a try to see if this spot is your vibe!

Okay I am so impressed! I was enticed by Vici's menu online, but I had my doubts about an upscale Italian eatery in a shopping center. But whatever preconceived notions you have, you can go ahead and throw them out the window, because this place is incredible! Vici Ristobar is upscale enough without feeling stuffy or pretentious, but still casual enough. We started out with some cocktails, I got the strawberry soda. A creamy, berry flavored beverage with lovely presentation and just the right punch. In addition to their signature cocktails, they also have a full bar, plus a beer and wine menu.I am a sucker for Arancini, I mean, who doesn't live cheesy fried balls of rice? I had to try the Sicilian rice balls and they were everything I could've dreamed of. The perfect crunch in the breading, paired with the creamy, cheesy, perfectly textured Arborio rice was the perfect explosive flavor combo. The red sauce that was served with it was the perfect complement, wow. A perfect sauce in my mind! Super fresh, not too herby, and just right acidity. All this topped with fresh basil, I could not get enough. It comes with two rice balls, a solid portion for $10.For my entree, I will never turn down a carbonara, so I had to order that. A more American take on it with salty pancetta, it was still perfectly creamy and had all the right flavors. I think this was around $18-20, but it was bigger than a "gourmet" style portion you might expect. We also had to try the short ribs pappardelle (can sub gnocchi instead) because it just sounded divine. Oh and it was. The short ribs were melt in your mouth, with a flavorful sauce that cling to the perfectly cooked noodles, and a dusting of Parmesan cheese with fresh basil. My taste buds were ALIGHT with this meal. We ALSO wanted to get a pizza. We got the carne, which had a nice New York style crust cooked just right. That same delicious, fresh red sauce from the rice balls, and absolutely loaded with meats. It was so cheesy and the slices were heavy from how much meat was on them. Epic.The service was friendly and prompt. I enjoyed literally every aspect of this meal to the fullest. Can't recommend enough!

Really good. Pasta was fresh & honestly that puts it in front of even the tastiest Italian places, BUT it was even really good. I had the mushroom tagliatelle & it was incredible as were the spaghetti & meatballs. The lemon ricotta cheesecake was excellent. Cute modern vibes. Great service.

Me and my grandma went here for lunch. We got the rigatoni vodka and the chicken francais. We probably won't be getting these dishes again. The staff were very nice and very attentive. I just wasn't a fan of the food.

We love coming to Vici Monday for lunch when they have half priced wine. There is a good selection and the food is always really delicious. Now they have lunch specials too: pick two things for $12!

We enjoyed our dinner at Vici Ristobar. The pastas were great and so was the service. I give this place a solid four Yelp stars.Vici opened in December 2021 in the Hope Valley Commons (Harris Teeter) shopping center on 54. My wife found Vici on Yelp. At the time, it had a perfect five-star average rating with over 20 reviews. We were both skeptical of the high initial rating, but walked away happy and satisfied with our experience here.If you're familiar with this shopping center, Vici took over the space previously occupied by Tre Forni: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tre-forni-durham. Vici is from the same owners as Vivo Ristorante Pizzeria in Raleigh (https://www.yelp.com/biz/vivo-ristorante-pizzeria-raleigh) and Vieni Ristobar in Holly Springs (https://www.yelp.com/biz/vieni-ristobar-holly-springs).Vici manager Chris, who also helps run Vivo and Vieni, said Vivo, Vieni, and Vici are references to Caesar. I know Caesar's saying as "veni, vidi, vici," meaning "I came, I saw, I conquered." I then told Chris about the old, popular Italian restaurant in Atlanta (where we're from) called Veni Vidi Vici: https://www.yelp.com/biz/veni-vidi-vici-atlanta-2?hrid=PiUQ6ufjsZQftrG7InLE0w.I appreciated how Chris came to our table, as managers typically do, to check on us (in addition to our wonderful server, Gabriella H). Chris didn't recognize our faces and asked if it was our first time. We did think it was a little weird when the older lady hostess asked us if we had a reservation. This is a casual restaurant, it was an ordinary Thursday night, and there were several empty tables for the duration of our visit. Gabriella was awesome, A+. Turns out my wife and Gabriella know each other through their shared lab at UNC. The dishes came out fast.I also have to mention that my wife and I like Vici more than the much older and established Italian restaurant in this neighborhood, Pulcinella's Italian Restaurant: https://www.yelp.com/biz/pulcinellas-italian-restaurant-durham. Not that Pulcinella's is bad (it isn't), but both the food and service we experienced at Vici were better than what we experienced at Pulcinella's.Below is a list of what we ordered. Along with the types of dishes offered, it should give you an idea on pricing. Along with Italian apps, salads, entrees, and desserts, Vici also serves Italian soups and pizza. Pizzas, a calzone, and a stromboli take up a good portion of the menu. For drinks, they have cocktails, a decently-sized wine list, beer, bourbon, whiskey, and more. "Ristobar" = restaurant-bar.Antipasti* Bread service with herbed olive oil (complimentary)* Burrata with Truffled Oil ($12) - fresh mozzarella stuffed with stracciatella cream over vine-ripened tomato and house crostini wedgeSoups & Salads* Vici Famous Chopped Salad ($12) - chopped mixed greens, cucumber, olives, red onions, and roasted artichoke hearts, house balsamicFresh Pastas* Spaghetti Carbonara ($18) - sauteed pancetta (pork), sauteed onions, vodka, tomato sauce, cream, Parmigiano Reggiano* Braised Short Ribs with Pappardelle ($26) - braised beef short ribs in a rich savory veal demiglace and fresh grated Parmigiano ReggianoDessert* Ricotta Cheesecake dessert ($8 per slice)The pastas were excellent and so was the Chopped Salad. Everything else was A-OK.The bread service was nice. I liked how they presented the pieces of bread split on top. Both the bread and oil were flavorful. The bread was soft and appetizing. The herbs/seasonings in the oil were a nice touch.We love burrata and thought Vici's Burrata with Truffled Oil was good, but not great. The burrata itself was fine. Fresh, delicious. However, the truffle flavor was barely noticeable. Still, I'd order this dish again. I love burrata that much.The "Vici Famous" Chopped Salad was sizable. Also fresh and delicious. My wife and I split the salad and it was plenty of salad for the two of us. For groups that don't eat a lot of salad, Vici's Chopped Salad might be able to be split among three people.The Spaghetti Carbonara was extra rich and creamy. Very good. I could taste the dense, heavy calories with every bite. But seriously, this was one of the most memorable restaurant pasta carbonaras I've had. It might be better described as "carbonara in an extra rich and creamy sauce." It was definitely wet and saucy in this sense. As a fan of creamy pastas/pasta sauces, I liked it.The Braised Short Ribs with Pappardelle were terrific. For this dish, Vici gives the option of pappardelle or gnocchi for the pasta. I like gnocchi so I was intrigued having it with short ribs, but I also like pappardelle and thought it would be the "safer" option. According to our server, it's also the more popular of the two for this dish. The dish was incredibly tasty. The ribbons had wonderful texture and the beef was tender and delectably savory. The Ricotta Cheesecake was good. Par for the course. Tiramisu and cannoli were the only other two dessert choices.

Very mediocre American Italian restaurant. Everyone was very friendly and the service was good, but the food was not what you would expect for the price. Not offensively bad but I won't be returning based on the quality of the food.

My husband, daughter, and I dined at this restaurant two weeks ago. I had a salad with pears and nuts; we all shared garlic cheese bread; and my husband and child shared spaghetti. The food and service were good. HOWEVER, that evening, my husband and child both started feeling nauseous. By 6am the next morning, they both were violently ill. They were throwing up more than they ever have in the past. For the next two days, they spent much of the time in the bathroom, sick and miserable.We were staying with family members who are doctors. They indicated that, based on the timing of when my husband and child got sick, they believe it was food poisoning -- likely from staph bacteria, which would be as a result of unsanitary hygiene/kitchen practices. It could also be possible that the spaghetti and/or the sauce were left out too long or not kept at the proper temperature, which would allow for illness-causing bacteria to grow. I guess we'll never know for sure. But the only food they ate, that the rest of us didn't eat, was the spaghetti from Vici -- so we know this is what caused them to become so sick. Two days later, I called the restaurant and spoke with the server who had waited on us. He indicated that he was also the manager. He was apologetic and said he'd let the chef know. I had to be the one to ask for a refund, and he said he could only refund part of our bill. At least it was enough to cover their spaghetti. But I would strongly recommend AVOIDING this restaurant. While the food tasted good, it was not worth it for how sick my husband and child became after eating there.