The Harrisonburg Restaurant Crawl: Cuchi Guido's

It was a very rainy Monday (Ew!), so my room mate (HburgVegetarian) and I decided to hit up Cuchi Guido's for lunch. I had heard very mixed things about this place, from "it was the worst experience ever", to "it was incredible", so I was very curious to try it for myself. I had also heard it was a little pricey for what you get, but they have a very good selection of beer, so we determined to get a few drinks while we were there.

Cuchi Guido's is located downtown on the main strip down South Main Street. It's right by Oasis and just a few seconds from Court Square. It has a downstairs floor as well as an upstairs with a beer and wine bar. They are known for their cheesesteaks as well as their Jersey-style food selections.

We arrived around 12pm and wanted to grab a seat upstairs, but they said the upstairs portion wasn't open yet because it was slow. The server seemed a little unsure of himself but he took our drink orders (we each ordered a Blue Moon on tap) and brought them out. I ordered a water which was never brought over. They gave us free "Garlic Knots" while we waited for our food. I ordered a "Moni's Favorite Pizza" and HburgVegetarian ordered a side of fries. The Moni's Favorite Pizza is a Brooklyn-style pizza with mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, basil, and asiago cheese. The Garlic Knots were very tasty and HburgVegetarian's fries were brought out promptly. My pizza was still in the oven, but our table had no ketchup left in the bottle and no replacement was brought over. Finally the pizza arrived 20 minutes later, and it was absolutely delicious. And also HUGE! I wouldn't normally brag on pizza, but this was superb and worth the wait. HburgVegetarian decided to order to Yuengling as her second drink, but their Yuengling tap was out, as well as about 3 other beers on tap. Instead we both ordered a second Blue Moon. Although the service seemed less than adequate, the food was incredible and worth the wait.

The people next to us complained about how long their food was taking, as well as the fact that the man ordered an iced tea and the server didn't tell him they were out until 10 minutes after he ordered it. Overall, they seemed very understaffed for the lunch rush. I noticed when we were paying that the guy who took our orders was also a cook, and the ONLY cook working for lunch. Also while we were eating one of the servers was on the phone with someone discussing workplace drama and talking about how the person was not fired but should have been. It seemed very unprofessional.

I would describe the ambience of this place as "eclectic". Everything ranging from banners and posters, to baseball and football memorabilia. Also they had smooth jazz constantly playing, which didn't really seem to fit the feel of the restaurant. I think I would order this food again, but probably only get takeout or delivery.

My total for the 2 Blue Moons and the pizza came to $23.31 plus tax, not a terrible price but not cheap either.

The Blue Moon: