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I Love the Lighthouse. And Bel Cibo!

lighthouse cinemaBy Catriona McGrath

I think I’m a little bit in love with the Lighthouse cinema.  Sadly I don’t know anybody who has a thiscinemaisgreat.ie blog so I’m abusing Peter and Jean by talking about how great the Lighthouse is in a piece thinly disguised as a restaurant review.

For those who don’t know it the Lighthouse is in Smithfield, just off the main square, or courtyard in Smithfield (where the ice rink is in winter). It’s more like the Screen than the Savoy or Cineworld in that the films are not all mainstream and it also shows old films (like the Godfather a couple of weeks ago and Some Like it Hot last week).  Each time I’ve been there we’ve had almost the whole place to ourselves, which is great in one way, but in another I’d love to see it get more business because it would be awful if it had to close down.

They also have an exhibition of art inspired by Stanley Kubrick films on display there at the moment and a little cafe too if you have time to kill before or after the film.  Finally, there is now a new restaurant beside the Lighthouse which is my excuse for getting in my ‘I love Lighthouse’ rant.

The restaurant is called Bel Cibo and I’ve gone there a couple of times for lunch and then once last weekend for dinner before we headed to the cinema to see ‘Some Like it Hot’ (on a very large screen which we practically had to ourselves, with lovely comfortable seats and for only €6!).  Bel Cibo is an Italian restaurant with a fairly extensive traditional Italian pizza menu – so you won’t find a ‘Hawaiian’ on the menu but you will find Rucola (which has smoked Scamorza cheese, rocket salad, bacon and olive oil) or Salciccia (mozarella, Italian seasoned sausage, & pecorino cheese) among other delicious combinations.  They also have a selective pasta menu and of course daily specials and starters.
dsc00099To look at, Bel Cibo has quite a cold appearance with a mostly white decor mixed with bold colours (orange and red if memory serves) but it’s actually really pleasant to sit in.  The chairs are more comfortable than they look and because it has such high ceilings and big windows there’s a very open and bright feel to it, even in the evenings.

The last couple of times I’ve gone in I made a point of sitting in the window; it’s kind of nice to be able to watch the comings and goings of Smithfield while you’re relaxing over lunch or dinner.  The service still has some teething problems but nothing major.  One of the times our waiter was a young guy who seemed overly alert and nervous, leading us to wonder if this was his first ever job.  Another time, something happened so that our order was mislaid in the kitchen and we were waiting almost an hour for our food – not such a problem at dinner but when you only have an hour for lunch that’s a bit frustrating.  But, having said that, our pizzas were on the house, so we may have had to wait an hour but we did get a free lunch!

As for the food, I have no big complaints.  The pizzas are all thin base, which I personally am a fan of, and the toppings are all really fresh.  They range in price from €6.50 (for a plain ‘Pizza Rossa’ with tomato sauce, oregano & olive oil) to €12.50 (for the ‘Marinara’ – which has clams & mussels – or the Vegetariana – which has courgette, aubergine and mixed peppers) and they are all 12″.  In the couple of times I’ve gone there I’ve had the Pizza Bianca and the Prosciutto Crudo.  I was a little disappointed with the Pizza Bianca though; it has garlic pesto, mozzarella, mushrooms, onions and parmesan and is just a little bland and a bit too oily.  There’s no tomato, just the pesto, and I think it lacks a little kick, or an adequate replacement for the tomato sauce.  It was fine, and I ate it all being the pig that I am, but I wouldn’t order it again.

The Prosciutto Crudo on the other hand was gorgeous!  Mozarella, tomato sauce, Parma ham, rocket and cherry tomatos.. and delicious!  On a couple of occasions my eating companions had the Salsiccia, which was nice… but was an oily pepperoni pizza with a fancy name… and the Vegetariana.  The Vegetariana looked delicious (I didn’t try any but it seemed to go down well!) and again the ingredients all seemed to be really fresh.

The same can definitely be said for the pasta dishes.  I had the gnocchi the night before we went to the cinema (the Lighthouse for those of you who haven’t been paying attention – it’s brilliant, you should definitely go there!) and it was served with the freshest tomato basil sauce I’ve ever had.  I love gnocchi, anything that comes in the form of a dumpling is good in my book, and this was not a disappointment.

My biggest criticism of Bel Cibo is the desserts:  there’s a choice of Pannacotta or Tiramisu.  Yes I know, they’re good traditional desserts but I don’t particularly like Pannacotta and there’s only so much Tiramisu I can eat.  Bel Cibo if you’re reading: please add on some more desserts!

All in all though I’ve enjoyed my food each time I’ve gone there, the service is mostly good and, when it’s not, the management were very quick to make it up to us, and, it was a delightful way to start the evening before going to my favourite cinema in the world (that would be the Lighthouse, in Smithfield, by the way).

11 Comments

  1. Don t forget there is also lovely desserts in the cafe inside the light house

  2. I work not far from the Lighthouse and still haven’t been to see a film yet! I’ll have to remedy that. I saw that Bel Cibo had opened and am glad to read a review about it. Think I’ll go this week in fact!

  3. I just live around the corner from Bel Cibo and haven’t been yet – but I will now! It’s advertised as being a deli as well as a pizzeria but I peeped in and didn’t see a deli counter. Is there one or are they teasing me?

  4. Aye – I’ve been eye-ing up the premises of Bel Cibo for most of this year now, ever since I saw signs go up in the windows of the then-empty unit.

    As someone who can neither eat pizza or pasta due to an unco-operative digestive system, are there any options on the menu other than the two Ps?

  5. We popped in the other night before moving out of Smithfield (terrible timing) & it wasn’t bad. The pizza bianco needs the cheesy sauce that a white pizza usually has (well, to my knowledge anyway) – otherwise it is a bit bland.

  6. Bizza Bianca means “white pizza”, so don’t expect tomato sauce there…. It is usually made with olive oil, garlic and may be some cheese if you feel rich, but in essence it is a very simple pizza

  7. I’m heading to the Lighthouse tonight as it happens and I was delighted to read your review of Bel Cibo. That’s tonights dinner sorted!

  8. Gaelick: hmmm… I’m not sure about the non-pizza/pasta options… my memory is that they were slim on the ground unless you were willing to go with soup. I’ll have a look next time I pass though.

    Joanne: hope you enjoy the meal and the cinema. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of both!

  9. I went for the rucola pizza – very nice, but then I am a sucker for rocket on pizzas. Loved the use of smoked cheese as well. Himself had the carbonara which was beautifully al dente. Small glasses of wine though. Overall very good. For the non-wheat eaters, there are some insalatas as well as two fish (seabream I think) and meat options.

  10. Visited this evening. Service was very poor – from not telling us what the specials were, to forgetting to process our order completely, coming back to take the order again (25 minutes later), not apologising for forgetting and no offer to make amends.

    When the food did arrive my partner’s lasagne was very lukewarm – half of it was cold. My pizza (prosciutto crudo) was fine. Nobody checked back to see how the food was and nobody thanked us when we left. I won’t be back.

  11. We had the same experience as Suzy (Posted on Jan 31st). We had booked a table before we were to go to see Film in the lighthouse the service poor and slow Culminating in us missing the show in the lighthouse. We would have left only we were constantly being told it was on its way. In the end the Service or food was not worth waiting for.