The newest and highly lauded restaurant Tre Ciccio has finally opened in Ramsbottom. Tre Ciccio Ramsbottom is the third restaurant to open in just a few short years for Tre Ciccio.
Originally planned for opening late 2018, the opening had to be pushed back to late February 2019, I understand primarily due to the over running renovation works. So has the wait been worth it?
Tre Ciccio should be extremely proud of the finish, the attention to detail on the building is outstanding. From the magnificent bar area to the left as you enter the main door to the main event, the truly spectacular roof terrace area upstairs. They really have made a fantastic venue with all the work. They’re proud of it too, when I visited they suggested nipping upstairs to take a look as our table was situated near the front door so I could have missed out on it otherwise.
I’m sure you’re wondering though, whats the food like?
Salernitana 
Pollo Semplice 
Torta Al Cioccolato
If you’re a pizza fan, you’ll be more than happy here as Pizza is most certainly a Tre Ciccio speciality, which you’d expect given in 2018 they won Best Pizza Chef in the UK.
We started with a bowl of schiacciata to start, which is described on the menu as “Warm stretched pizza dough, garlic, rosemary, extra virgin olive oil & sea salt”. It was amazing, and I hoped that the pizza would be in the same style. The bread was baked to perfection and it had the perfect amount of resistance. I hate when you order some bread selections and it comes out as hard as a rock. Not at Tre Ciccio, they’ve got that one nailed.
Looking over the rest of the menu, I knew what I was going to have for my main course, however, you might be surprised to find no pasta dishes on the menu. To be frank, it’s Pizza and Chicken, there are other bits here and there but primarily the menu is Pizza or Chicken.
Given I like both, I was nonplussed but it did seem a little strange that an Italian restaurant didn’t have any pasta dishes on the menu.
The pizza I ordered was the Salernitana where my wife opted for the other option, Chicken (Pollo Semplice).
Service was very attentive, I didn’t feel overly pressured to say how good something is when you know a waiter/waitress has clearly got some automatic clock in side them where they ask at a set time. The number of times I’ve had a mouth full of food to then be asked how it is, despite me actually only being on the second mouthful is numerous. This is at other restaurants, not Tre Ciccio though.
The pizza came out and I was impressed by the size, it must be a good 10″ across (no, I didn’t take a tape measure) and happily it looked like it was the same bread as the antipasti bread we started with.
It was a little sloppy, in that there was a large amount of sauce on it. For example when cutting the pizza into the common wedge shape, it would slop over in the middle meaning you had to fold the end back over on itself towards the edge leaving you with a kind of origami pizza shape. If you didn’t do this, it would pour the sauce into your lap/face/both.
Deal breaker? Not at all, the pizza tasted lovely, the bread was still amazing and I was happy with it. Did it make me want to drop to my knees and worship the pizza over that it came from? Not quite, but I’m putting some of this issue down to Tre Ciccio Ramsbottom being brand spanking new, I’m not holding it against them.
The chicken my wife had was tasty, potatoes nice but not being a huge chicken on the bone fan (I just can’t be doing with the faff, Nandos is overrated too) I wasn’t really up for trading some of my pizza for some of her chicken, but that was the deal before we ordered (I had little choice in the matter).
After we’d finished up on the main courses, we took a look at the desert menu. You have all your regular options, Panna Cotta, Tiramisu, Chocolate Tart, Ice Cream Sandwich in a Brioche Bun (ok that was a little left field).
I had the chocolate tart, friends had the Panna Cotta and the wife had the ice cream sandwich. I can see what was being attempted with the Ice Cream Sandwich, but it just looks like too much bread and my wife said, it’s a little dry.
It’s the Panna Cotta that really surprised us though. If I asked you to draw a Panna Cotta now, you’d probably draw something that resembles a bit of a blancmange. A wobbly milky jelly like structure. Well, not at Tre Ciccio. Theirs is more like a thick vanilla yogurt. We actually asked if it hadn’t set but were told Panna Cotta isn’t supposed to be like a jelly. Fair enough, we thought, we’re not Italian, maybe it’s not. So, I got onto the internet when I got home and I did find something like what they serve on YouTube however on the description for that video it says: “This is not a common Panna Cotta, but a stunningly soft vanilla cream pudding with a light yogurt aftertaste.”
I also have an Italian friend, so I thought I’d ask her opinion too, this is what she said:
I’m sure it was nice but to me that’s not panna cotta
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree, but if you order a Panna Cotta, don’t expect a wobbly desert. The chocolate tart was great, really rich, lovely and warm with a nice bit of pistachio ice cream just to add the right amount of moisture to the whole setup.
All in all, what did I think? Well, I’d say that despite what might appear to be “issues” above, I really think Tre Ciccio is a fantastic addition to the Ramsbottom line up. I’d certainly go back, I think that some of the problems we had were really just teething issues with it being a first night. I’d say the setting really adds to the ambience of the whole meal. I get a feeling that Tre Ciccio is going to be bringing in foodies from all over the area, just like Levanter has done for years.
Thanks for taking a chance on Ramsbottom Tre Ciccio, welcome to the family. Let me know what you think of Tre Ciccio in the comments below and have you been to either of the two locations?
Lee, I haven’t been there yet, but as somebody who has lived in Italy for 30 years and regularly had “proper” Neapolitan pizza in Naples, I can assure you that the slightly thicker, crispy versions of pizza that you get all too often in the UK are not at all what an Italian would call pizza 🙂 Sounds as though I Tre Cicci have got it just right!
That’s great to hear. I prefer thin bases, my main issue was the sauce made the base very wet. Is that Neapolitan style? I honestly don’t know.
Yes, you normally would fold it over to eat it, finger food rather than knife and fork 🙂
Oh pizza is always finger food. I guess we just need to be prepared to get a little messy 😁🍕