We requested two starters - arrancini and bread. Arrancini are fried balls of risotto. The bread plate had two flavors, italian/sourdough and an olive bread. The olive bread was nice, but the other bread was so bland we couldn't tell what type of bread it was. The arrancini were ok, but not a lot of flavor there either since it was made from saffron risotto. But fried anything is usually pretty yummy. We had a couple arrancini leftover and brought them home, but they didn't reheat well.
The happy couple celebrating nine years.
I ordered the snapper entree, which I really liked.
Husband Jeff had the pork chop, which he really liked.
We also shares a half order of carbonara since we wanted to try some pasta. It was nice, but a bit too rich and bland.
I didn't finish my entree and brought a decent chunk of fish home. We brought a bit of pasta home too, and I had both leftovers for lunch the next day.
I was so full from dinner, but I felt it wasn't a full special night unless we ordered dessert, too. I wanted bread pudding but the only dessert we could agree on was the "flexi chocolate". I have no idea what that name means, but it was a couple chunks of chocolate cake, a bit of extra-thick chocolate pudding, a couple squirts of chocolate mousse, and some sort of gelato. Nice, but once again, not amazing.
The space at Cento is really gorgeous, they spent a lot of money to renovate an old building (a bank?) into a very classy dining room. It's directly across from the Overture Center, which is where we were married. They probably picked that location so they can take advantage of the before-opera crowd. But for the money, I'd rather go to Sardine, a similarly fancy restaurant here in Madison because I think their food is better. And the atmosphere at Sardine is more comfortable rather than intimidatingly-swanky.