Ciro, an Italian kitchen and full-service bar, opened Oct. 24 at the former location of Corner on Union with the hopes of bringing Italian-American fare to the Athens area.
Co-owners Saundra Buck, who has served in the U.S. Army for nine years, and Francis McFadden, a former Ohio University food and nutrition professor, opened Ciro because they felt they had the skills and team to run the restaurant and it’s been a retirement dream of McFadden’s.
“After finishing teaching, you know, I was looking for a project, and I was either going to restore old old cars or open a restaurant,” McFadden said. “So I decided to open a restaurant, actually, because I bought a restored car.”
McFadden said his inspiration for an Italian restaurant came in part from Italian being the most understood foreign food style in the U.S., Athens not having a large Italian food presence and a passion stemming back memories with the Italian side of his family.
“It's a style of eating, it's slowing down, it's large tables, it's family, it's loud, it's clinking glasses,” McFadden said.
Open 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Ciro’s menu includes a range of dishes from chicken parmesan, ricotta gnocchi with mushrooms and house lasagna baked pasta to short rib ravioli.
“We're not just a spaghetti and meatball place,” McFadden said.
Although they do offer spaghetti, Ciro also offers sandwiches with house-roasted meats and steaks, which are aged for 28 days for maximum flavor.
The menu offerings and the restaurant are set up to provide a quality experience without a large cost.
“We want to give people a fine dining experience without that price point,” Buck said.
McFadden said they are able to maintain reasonable prices by understanding their costs.
“You can deliver a superior product, with control and cost. I think it's easier to overcharge, and it's sometimes professionally lazy people do it,” McFadden said. “But if you really do understand your costs, you can make a decent margin, do a nice job and not overcharge.”
The restaurant is a few blocks away from Court St., and despite what is often said about the location, Buck is not concerned.
“People like to say this spot is cursed because stuff doesn't stay here very long, but I don't think that's it,” Buck said. “I really think this is the most ideal spot to have a restaurant that's close to Uptown, but none of the headache at all.”
The restaurant also has nine parking spaces, Buck said.
McFadden said the restaurant is at a price point that he thinks would allow for student customers. He also hopes the people of Athens come in and experience Ciro.
“I want whoever wants to come in the door,” McFadden said.
Kate Thomas, a freshman studying chemistry, said she doesn’t eat much Italian food, but the option would be great.
“I think that it would be nice to have more Italian food here,” Thomas said.
In the future, the restaurant hopes to expand into lunch hours, as well as lengthening its current dinner hours, Buck said.
“I would love to be that place somebody walks by in the morning to grab their Italian coffee-to-go, and then somebody … stops by for a wonderful glass of wine, and some chicken parmesan ravioli on their way home as well,” Buck said.
Buck and McFadden are also looking to expand to a larger lunch menu, and are currently testing some lunch items, McFadden said. They will also be adding other menu items, like cannolis, which are now available.
In creating Ciro, McFadden was not just looking at food, he said. Italian style eating is about sitting down with family and breaking bread at the end of the day, and that is something he greatly values from his childhood.
“I was looking for a restaurant that I wanted to eat in,” McFadden said.
