Cinelli’s

CLOSED.
It was replaced by Sam’s Pizza. But we had a groupon that isn’t being honored and groupon won’t refund us.
I loved the grandma’s pizza that was sold by Cinelli’s but cannot speak on the menu for Sam’s Pizza.
So far, pretty turned off on checking it out.

Closed. Replace by Sam’s pizza and salads.

My husband and I decided to try the new Cinelli’s Pizza and Salads last night and we were pleasantly surprised. The restaurant is under new ownership and the change in cleanliness and the helpfulness of the staff is evident. The menu not only has Italian favorites, like pizza and chicken parmesan, but also enormous fresh salads. Since the weather was hot, my husband and I each had a salad. I had a chicken caprese salad which was so flavorful! My husband enjoyed the blackened chicken, combined with fresh mozzarella cheese and avocado! Wow, delicious. We both agreed that the salads were not only so filling (we had to take some home) but the quality was outstanding.
Kudos to the new owner! We will definitely return!

Great pizza, great wait staff, great house salad with Italian dressing and amazing Bruschetta!!!
That’s basically all we ever order.
If you ask they will give kids pizza dough to play with.
We go every single week and we always leave satisfied!

Stopped in for lunch with husband and grandchild (4yrs) having a time constraint, we opted for the «buffet.“A buffet where they serve you is really a cafeteria. $ 9.99 per adult, and $ 6.99 for child for what amounted to 1 entrée and a slice of pizza quantity of food we consumed for a total of $ 30+. Salad and pasta are served realtime, but you have to wait for pizza and meat rolls to be heated in pizza oven by the openly beer drinking guy who forgot and burned our food. Food OK, but the pricing and concept where soooo wrong. Wish I had given my $ to Coquette across the street. Not returning, 0 stars.

Horrible service — one hour for 2 pizzas, one was burnt. Food was mediocre at best. Very poorly managed on this night. Save your self some frustration and go somewhere else.

Good food for a reasonable price! I live close so I’ve been there multiple times and they’ve never given me bad customer service or food. The restaurant itself is in a great location and the inside has a nice Italian look to it. I’ve had many of the pizzas and pastas and they have all been delicious.

The pizza was nasty and expensive. This place is waay freaking overrated. Why you would come here, I don’t know. Don’t listen to all the hype, and order Papa John’s, lol.

The entire dining experience was awful. First it started with a waiter that clearly did not enjoy his job and it took approximately 20 minutes to get out drinks, of which one came out with a roach stuck to the bottom of the beer bottle and a few were spilled. When we alerted the manager she said «ewww that is gross do not show that to me!» After being served a new beer the waiter let us know that this was just «the tip of the iceberg of his day.» We actually stayed to eat and the pizza was OK but nothing special. We will definitely never go back. Very disappointing.

As a former Cinellis employee in 2008, I can honestly say Cinellis is by far the worst Italian restaurant in North Carolina. I used to work at the Kildaire Farm Rd one when it was still open. The food in the back mostly is frozen with the pizza being the only real thing made from (sort of) scratch. They will tell you otherwise. Alli, Jeanette Cinellis’ daughter, will convince you that all the food is made fresh… BS. not only was she caught stealing money from her own mother and the restaurants, but she is the big reason I quit. The staff usually is a clique. Those of them that are friends with Alli will stay employed and they are usually the ones that are the terrible waitresses. The ones that are there to actually work can see how poorly run the business is and either quit or get fired. I quit in 2008 after working for 3 months there. I had gotten off an 8 hour shift and was ready to go home when I was told that I needed to work until close. I did it, then I was told that I would have to do it again the next day or my tips would be taken and distributed throughout the other employees for not cooperating. One thing led to another and I basically said, «Keep your bullshit to yourselves. I quit» and stormed out. I was told never to come back, but a few weeks ago I ventured on into the other location to see how the food was. The Grandmas Pizza is no longer quality like it used to be. It is tasteless and stiff from being overcooked. The pasta was underdone and, like before, the wait staff was rude and acted like me asking for a water for my mom was a pain… Typical Cinellis. My advice? If you want Stouffers food that you can get yourself, go to WalMart and save yourself the extra 6 dollars you would pay for them to throw it in a microwave or heat up in the oven. If that doesn’t convince you otherwise, take this into consideration. My second month working there, I literally watched with my own eyes an employee (not listing names) drop a plate of manicotti, pick it up with her bare hands and place it back on the plate, wipe away the meat sauce smudges to make it look presentable and bring it out to the unknowing customer. I had my tips, «garnished» for being a new and probationary employee as well. These people are crooks and the food is less than stellar. I urge you to look for other options.

Finally made it for the lunch buffet! After having experienced it recently, Husband suggested meeting here for a weekday lunch and may I just say I am married to a wise man?
Love that they have updated the look of this restaurant! You go up to the buffet, but you are served your selections, so be very specific asking for what you want. And even then «a couple olives» will probably be 10. Selections the day we went included stuffed shells, a shrimp pesto bowtie pasta dish, penne in pink sauce with spinach and chicken, meatballs and sausage in red sauce, a wonderful grilled zucchini, plus two kinds of pizza.
Everything was hot and delicious. Husband said they had different selections the day he had gone without me, so it’s nice to know it varies.

I have been to Cinelli’s a few times. They do have a small range of dishes to choose from, so you will not go hungry. The plate sizes are large for you, and you will not be hungry after you finish eating. There is a nice atmosphere for you while you dine. The staff is always friendly.

I see no need to return here…
We ordered pizza and pasta carbonara. Pizza was fine, but a bit lackluster. The most outer part of the crust had that nice amount of crunch that you’d expect on the whole pizza when you have a New York Style pizza. Could have used another minute or two in the oven.
The pasta carbonara was… in a word… terrible. It consisted of a pile of spaghetti noodles with a clear sauce, some bits of salted ham, and green onions. The clear sauce was really a broth, and tasted of chicken. So I got essentially a chicken noodle soup, substitute chicken for ham. Seriously. I’ve been to a lot of Italian restaurants in my day, and worked in food-​service for well over 15 years, so hopefully that adds weight to my experience of this carbonara dish.
Carbonara should have a strong egg flavor with a somewhat creamy sauce created from the raw egg and finished with parmesan cheese.
Even with my Living Social deal which gave us $ 30 for $ 15, it still wasn’t really worth the trip. I would have been happier with a takeout pizza from one of many great pizza places in the area, and would have paid less too.

A review for what else? Another lunch buffet of course. And Cinelli’s has a good one. An interesting setup where employees plate your food rather than doing it yourself, but still all-​you-​can-​eat. I really enjoyed the pasta vodka and garlic knots, both super flavorful. Eggplant parmesan was pretty yummy as well. There are about 4 or 5 pizzas, including pepperoni, spinach and a thin margharita-​like pizza, the latter of which was my favorite. The others were okay but I was hoping for better from a nice Italian place. They also had fettucine alfredo, sausage and meatballs, and a chicken potato dish, all of which were fine but not really worth going back for seconds. Service was good with prompt refills, although they strangely bussed my table when I went to get my second plate as though I was already finished. Clearly they don’t know who I am! Price is fine at $ 9.95. All in all, I recommend it for a lunch break if you work near the North Hills area.

The owners of this business are a bunch of bumbling idiots! I would be highly impressed if this place was still open within a year due to their complete obtrusive list and abusiveness to not only their employees but as well as their customers Is appalling. Their lack of culinary consistency and inability to adapt to the times and change will be there downfall not to mention that Wife/​owner/​FOH manager has got to go before she runs that the ground with her rudeness and complete lack of caring for the customer and their experience.

Judging by the very mixed reviews, I think they must have good cooks and bad cooks. My 1^st ever trip there was today for lunch; ordered the 4-​cheese pizza. It had enough cheese, although I’m not sure what the orange splotches were. The crust tasted like one of the Chef Boy’r’d ones from the box (not good). Believe it or not, the cheese had no taste at all. Nada.
We did have a decent waitress; wish she had mentioned the buffet. The table next to us was eating from that and it looked good. Alas, I’ll never know. Fool me once on my food, and I’m done with you!

Cinelli’s is one of those surprising finds that you will hold onto it for a while. I mean, there are plenty of dining places in North Hills area, Mia Francesca and Flights inside the Renaissance, and Brasserie Coquette right up front, and Vivace across the street, which offered very similar menu, and possibly look a lot more attractive.
But don’t underrate and count this one out yet! First I got attracted to Cinelli’s was from a buddy that worked in North Hills, who told me it offered pizza and Italian food, buffet style, buffet prize. How can I turn that down? The pizzas by slices is awesome, and the pasta taste even better than what I would make at home personally.
Into the evening hours, when the buffet bars and tables were cleared, Cinelli’s turned into regular Italian dining, and the service is just as excellent.
Tried the grilled eggplant, very rich in flavors, and added the balsamic seasoned grilled onion section and arugula, it became a very appetite-​inducing first course. The Shrimp Scampi came with giant crustaceans, and a sauce filled with cream and garlic, on a bed of risotto. The Stromboli was, as true as I am Asian, the size of my forearm, and filled with gooey cheese and mushroom and pork sausage and pepperoni; it was so juicy the water broke when I cut into the middle of it.
Don’t get turn off by its average family dining looks, the taste and services you will receive is beyond an average grade. Be expect to have some conversation with fellow diners beside you, since some of the seating arrangement will put your elbows against the table next to you.

Four of us went to Cinelli’s for a quick dinner before going to see a movie next door. As others have said the food was «OK.» Nothing to rave about, but pretty good pizza to grab before a movie.
Our waiter was, however, far from «OK.» When bringing out our waters he managed to spill the one he held in his elbow pit all over me. He vaguely apologized and brought over a stack of napkins after a few minutes. No big deal.
We eventually place our orders. My date and I order 2 salads and split a Grandma’s pizza. Our friends both ordered pasta dishes. The salads came out in a reasonable time, and our friends got their pastas shortly after. We assumed we would get out pizza at the same time, because naturally we were eating together. At the same table, right?
Well, our pizza didn’t show up til about 15 minutes after dining partners received their pastas. Our waiter never came by to apologize or even explain why it was taking so long to make one pizza. When it finally did arrive, our friends were practically done eating and were ready to box up their leftovers and head to the movie. My date and I had to scarf down the pizza and we all had to rush out to make our movie in time.
A lot of this would be understandable if it was very busy, but it wasn’t. Even just a «sorry, the kitchens backed up» or «there was a mistake with the order» would have been fine. Instead we just waited patiently.
TL;DR: Decent food, terrible service.

My bride was actually more impressed with Cinelli’s than I was. After two days in the recording studio I needed a family night out so we all piled into the car and drove the 20 miles to North Hills armed with a Groupon to try the place out. I had looked at my waistline and profile in the mirror before we left the house, as well as pictures from our recording sessions and decided I needed to try to eat «lite» if it was at all possible.
So, it was soup and salad for me. The salad was pretty good, a vinaigrette dressing with gorgonzola chunks and walnuts and just yummy stuff amongst the lettuce leaves. The tortellini soup was okay, they could take some lessons, though, from Vincent’s on that. I tried my daughter’s pizza and thought «Eh — I’ve had better.»
I thought the service was okay, our server was attentive and made sure our glasses were full. I did observe another server leaning across a table to address a table he was serving across the other side of that table and thought «This guy needs to just take the 15 seconds to walk around and address his guests from the side of the room they’re on instead of reaching across a divider from another table» — very un-​waiter like.
Apparently we tried the place just in time to buy 2 more Groupons.

I have been to Cinelli’s a few times after the North Hills concert events they have outdoors nearby in the Spring/​Summer. As you can imagine they do a tremendous business on these nights, but they seem to handle the crowds as well as can be expected. This location is quite small so do keep that in mind.
I usually get the N. Y style pizza and it hits the spot, especially after you have had a few beers! Even if I was completely sober though, I would enjoy their pizza, because it is hot, fresh and delicious. (Don’t want to make it sound like this place is only good when you have had a few). They also have very good house salads and I haven’t ever had problems with slow or rude service. In fact the wait staff has been quite good, dealing with inebriated patrons.
This probably wouldn’t be my first choice for a date place or family restaurant, but for some much needed fuel with the buds after enjoying music and brews, this place is perfect!
P.S you can also go to the counter and get pizza by the slice.