Cinellis at Ocean Isle

The food is relatively good, considering the price and location. The owner was very approachable and friendly.

I’m going to update here since I didn’t offer a lot of info on my last review here (I was just starting with Unilocal then). The group I always go down to OIB with always likes a night at Cinelli’s on our trips. It’s not that it’s just a good place to eat, we have fun there. There is an outside deck facing the waterway, and a very large inside seating area with full bar and space for live music/​entertainment.
When we go, we usually end up getting one of the Italian entrees or pasta dishes instead of the pizza. They are excellent, not been disappointed with any of them yet. Great specialty drinks and cocktails as well. Our wait staff and service has been friendly and attentive each time also.
We enjoy their pizza usually as a pick up or carry out but not at the restaurant. Their pizza is very good, but somewhat more expensive than other venues around, and keeps them short of the ever elusive five star rating on here.
In short, great food, good fun, and a place we like to go to each time at our OIB trips.

The service was great, very attentive. However, the food is average. Had mozzarella sticks, Greek chicken salad,& baked zitti. No stand outs and everything under seasoned.

Not worth ordering — the staff was pathetic and the pizza was not any better than a frozen one from the grocery store. Try Joey O’s instead! Parking is also awful…

For the cost of the food here, you should be getting something special. All of the food we ordered here was poorly seasoned and had little taste. The marinara dipping sauce that came with our zucchini sticks tasted like tomato sauce straight out of a can with no herbs or spices. The burgers we had were poorly seasoned also, and came incorrectly prepared the first time.
They really seemed to push selling alcohol here. Both our table and the ones beside kept repeatedly getting asked if we wanted drinks (or more) drinks, even after we said we were passing for the night. Perhaps their key is to get you to drink beforehand so you don’t notice the food isn’t the best flavored.

We used to venture over the bridge to Roberto’s but the wait for a table/​service got to be so ridiculous, we just order out from Cinellis now. It is hard to get to on a Saturday evening with all the incoming traffic, but you can park nearby and walk over. They have delivery now but it’s kind of slow. I can’t speak for the service as we always do carry-​out, but the pizza is great. We had it twice last week!

Very disappointing. After dining here for several years I’m sad to say that our meal last week was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Tasteless baked ziti, mediocre lasagna, and bread left over from a wedding reception the day before. The extraordinary views are still there, but for the price you should expect (and get) better.

Pasta was below average. Pizza was above average. Service was very good!

First we can’t understand how/​why this place is so popular — ESP considering the poor, poor service and extremely expensive prices: but I’m getting ahead of the story.
Went on a tues night during the off season, party of four. Upon entering, instead of welcoming us to restaurant, hostess impatiently asked if we had «called ahead» to be seated. Looking around at the nearly empty restaurant we replied «ummm no did we need too» She led us again to a nearly empty dining room– about five other tables and asked if we wanted a «table or booth because she had to clear one off» why were there dirty tables in a non busy restaurant– clearly they had plenty of people standing around doing nothing. So after this «warm» welcome we were seated. I got a 23.00 steak and shrimp that came with nothing else– no salad, no veg, ridiculous. I did order a side salad with was about 4 piece of lettuce and a cruton for 3.00. Friend got a baked ziti for 14 again came with no salad– again ridiculous for he price– Hubby got a 15.00 meatball Parm-​yup FIFTEEN dollars. We had to continuously ask for BREAD, more drinks WHEN we saw our server. Mercifully we got our check — but it was the wrong one. After waiting again for our new check we had to again repeatedly ask for a canolli to go we had paid for. Upon leaving the hostess was sitting at the HOSTESS stand eating a salad that was bigger than mine– a «nice» final touch. Do yourself and your wallet a favor– drive over bridge to causeway gourmet and pick up dinner– better food-​half the price and your meals actually comes with salad and bread from capable staff. I would never do cinelles again even for take out– poor dining experience.

We always have the most fun at Cinellis when around Ocean Isle Beach. It’s quite large with two bars downstairs, a main dining room and a bar room, outside seating, and a really nice second floor open patio that overlooks the water. I would recommend coming for a drink at sunset and then having dinner afterwards. Most of the time they have a live singer who sings classic old songs — if you have the right group there people will get up and dance as well which can make for quite a night. Sometimes there can be a bit of a wait, but it’s all part of the experience. They have all types of food — however i usually stick with the Italian pasta dishes. They are very good but also huge — enough to serve at least two people. Later on in the night the crowd tends to get a little older, but dinner time there are lots of families.