Giardino Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

If this restaurant was about 30% cheaper, I'd say it's just about average. When compared to restaurants at the same price point, it might be the worst I've ever been to. We made a reservation for a Tuesday night, a week and a half in advance. When we arrived, our table wasn't ready, and we were made to wait for 20 minutes. When I inquired with the hostess, after already waiting for over 15 minutes, I was answered with "the other party is just leaving - they arrived late for their reservation so they stayed longer" - Lady, I couldn't care less about the other party. It is YOUR job to make sure the table is ready in time, not mine nor theirs. There was not even the slightest hint of an apology. In my books, if you make someone wait for 20 minutes, you offer them a complementary glass of wine to enjoy in the meantime, not an irrelevant excuse. We then got our table in the back patio, which is admittedly beautiful. There were lots of heaters to keep everybody warm on a chilly night, which was very nice too. The service was OK, but nothing more than that. Our server did everything a server should do "by the book", but wasn't overly personable and offered no added value. When we asked for recommendations we were answered with an "everything is good" type of an answer - this is not what servers are there for in higher end restaurants. For our dinner, we shared 4 dishes between the 2 of us: a soup (Lobster Bisque), an appetizer (a daily special of Burrata with fresh figs), a pasta dish (Tagliolini with Rock Prawns), and a main (Sablefish). The Lobster Bisque wasn't bad, but nothing more than that. It had an odd bitter aftertaste. We had a much better one at different restaurant just a couple of weeks ago, except over there it cost half the price. The Burrata was amazing, and the only dish I would say met the level one would expect from a restaurant at this price point. If you do end up there and this option is available, you should definitely order it. At this point we were pretty hopeful that the remainder of the night will continue on that good note, but were unfortunately disappointed. The Prawn pasta was bland and served with very little prawns. We make a much better Prawn pasta at home about once a week. Last, the Sablefish. The fish itself was good, since Sablefish is a very nice fish, but if compared to other Sablefish dishes we've had in the past, it was average at best. The sides it was served with (some veggies and mashed potatoes) were again very bland. As for the atmosphere - the place itself is beautiful, I'll give them that! The crowd was a see-and-be-seen type of people, dominated by people that look like they're made of plastic and people that obnoxiously and loudly boast about how rich they are. That actually explains why the place was packed on a Tuesday night - must be one of these places people go to in order to be seen at, because there is no way that many people come there midweek for that mediocre of food. Overall, I give it 2/5, where 1 star of the 2 is purely because of the Burrata. If you compare it to restaurants that cost 70% as much, it could pass as a 3, but at this price point you'll have to try really hard to find an even lesser alternative. Needless to say, we will not be...

I've been a loyal patron of Giardino for more than 40 plus years. (When if was the little yellow house).  I take all my business clients there for lunch and dinner and put together many memorable dinner parties.  It has been my #1 go to Italian restaurant in Vancouver for years.  However, my last dinner gathering with friends three weeks ago was a disappointing event!

1. There wasn't any bread on the table and we had to ask the server for a piece.  We felt like we had to beg for it. (Can we have another piece of bread please??)
2. When you pay a premium price for dinner and you expect the kitchen delivers a premium product.  The Octopus salad was the special appetizer for the evening.  When it came in, there were about 10 slices of paper thin octopus with a drizzle of vinegar dressing,  It was tasteless without texture. (I think it was $30)  I had the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin and it was OK.
3. My wife ordered a Chilean sea bass ($60) as main and I had the Linguine alle Vongole ($40).  The sea bass was a total disaster!  The kitchen put a big splash of bitter tomato sauce on top and it covered the natural taste of the fish.  What were they thinking using a strong tomato sauce to cover up the fish taste?  Also the fish serving portion was really small, no bigger than 6 oz.
4. We told the server that the fish and the tomato weren't up to our expectations so he offered to bring her a seafood pasta instead.  Giardino is famous for its pasta.  However, the tomato sauce base pasta was bitter and hard to swallow.  There were four little mussels, four clams and a small piece of fish to go with the Spaghetti.  (three empty mussel shells and one empty clam shell)  My wife was really hungry at this point and didn't want to mention it to the server.
5. The dinner total cost was $300 for 2 with desserts (no alcohol)

I have enjoyed eating at Giardino for years and I've brought enough business to the restaurant thru my business entertainment.  However, it wasn't a pleasant dining experience because of the "substandard" food quality.  With La Terrazza and Cioppino within five minutes away, Giardino should pick up the pace and polish their food quality...

5-STAR PRICES for 3-STAR FOOD

We booked a table at Giardino because we walked by it about a week prior and loved how it looked from the outside. Quick check of reviews did not raise any red flags. We booked a table for dinner.

The interior of the restaurant looked great. Ambiance promised a very well spent evening and amazing dishes.

However we were very much surprised by the food which we received from the kitchen. Dry meat instead of medium-rare and overcooked pasta. It seemed that we were having a dinner at Milestones or any other chain restaurant. Mains took about 25-30 mins to arrive after the appetizer plates were cleaned up which was very strange.

Those of us who were hungry after a long day finished their pastas (if you can call it that), others left their plates 60-70% full. For the first time in many years we passed on desert in a Italian restaurant.

When the waiter asked if she could pack the food to go, we told her that we would not want that because it is plain and simply bad. She said that she is sorry and presented us with our $550 bill. To be fair the bill did include a $110 bottle of wine (which retails for $28. At that point we were not surprised). We tipped well and left.

I am not sure where are all these great reviews and photos are coming from but our experience was very different. To me this place reminded of a typical tourist trap somewhere in Rome. Nice interior, well-dressed waiters, simple wines with 400% markup and mediocre food.

It appears to me that most of blazing reviews are made by people who come to take photos of food for their social media account and the presentation of the food does the trick.

We left with a feeling as we were scammed and definitely will never go back there.

Word of advice to the management:

If your plates leave the table 70% full and are not wrapped up to go, you really want to find out what happened and perhaps try to make it right.

If you are marking up your wines 300-400% (which I don’t mind) make sure that you can’t get most of them from a local liquor...