Stacey R.
Yelp
I just came across a menu from Ceraldi while spring cleaning and was transported back to our wonderful night there!
~FOUR stars for dinner service. It was excellent, but I would've expected portion sizes to have been a bit bigger for the price we paid. Waiters/waitresses were knowledgeable and pleasant all while ensuring that all guests were taken care of. Dinner here is a remarkable culinary experience that shoots you out of Wellfleet and deep into a floral-filled, candlelit ambience...with Chef Ceraldi as the night's captain! Our seven courses were...oysters ["uno"], missicanza ["due"], malfatti ["tre"], arancini ["quattro"], ravioli ["cinque"], scallop ["sei"], peach/blueberry upside-down cake ["sette"]. Scrumptious. So, so scrumptious. (I just wish I had more of everything!)
The wine/bev pairings were spot on. You are also offered a wine menu (to purchase more), but I was fairly drunk by the end of dinner. Thankfully, my husband was fine to drive. (I would just stick to the pairings that Ceraldi has come up with instead of ordering more.)
~TWO AND A HALF stars for morning café. 5 (out of 5) for 2021, 0-1 (out of 5) for 2022. 2022 didn't exactly match the quality of dinner service. I had been to the café the summer before last (2021, their first year with café...if I'm not mistaken, after the Chef had given it a "shoutout" during our dinner) and even with covid uncertainty/pandemic drama/supply chain issues + shortages/etc., I had a far better experience than I did last year (2022). I would've given FIVE stars for the café had 2022 matched 2021. In 2021, there were scones, doughnuts, sticky buns...with unique flavors that would change day-to-day. Baristas who were on top of it. To-go cups and Wi-Fi access. I loved all of this, and I know others did too! It became such an enjoyable part of my morning routine! It really felt like a "soft" version of Ceraldi's vision in the early morning, if that makes any sense. Very welcoming and casual-yet-extraordinary.
Fast forward to the café of 2022 and the sticky buns were $7 each (I believe)...unfortunately, they were not worth it. No other pastries (which I couldn't believe). No Wi-Fi and no to-go cups. Menu options became greatly reduced, with noticeably increased prices. One of the baristas simply left (albeit while there was a line) because he needed to "take a walk" or something of the sort. I remember this because of how particularly odd it was, especially when recalling the decorum and service of past waiters/baristas/etc I'd seen there before. The remaining barista did not seem to know how to operate the register. There were also still tablecloths/crumbs on tables from what I presume to be the prior night's dinner service. (Ick.) I never had such an experience in 2021. What happened??? The "vibe" (as my kids say) was "off" and left us longing for the café of 2021.
I would've loved to have left 4 stars, but I have to weigh the café into the equation as it is, after all, part of the establishment. I guess my biggest critiques come down to portion size at dinner and the loss of what was truly a great morning café. (It is ridiculously hard to find a consistently good coffee shop on the Outer Cape, unless you're fine heading to Provincetown daily.)
Chef Ceraldi, if you can reinvigorate this summer's café with what you had going in 2021, I'll revise my review. Deal?
See you all in the coming months!