Ristorante Pizzeria ‘Il Giardino’ — Restaurant in Ischia

I can't rave enough about this place!! The owner, Gino and his right hand man, Nino, are second to none! Absolutely the BEST service, most amazing & delicious food, and a charming atmosphere out in the beautifully lit garden under the trees. We went here for our rehearsal dinner with our family (12 of us) and it was PHENOMENAL! We must've tried their entire menu and our family hasn't stopped gushing about Il Giardino. 😊 They handled our large group without any issue and the food and drinks just kept coming. The service was friendly and charming. So wonderful all around! We really feel like we found the gold mine in Ischia! My (now) husband and I loved it so much that we went back again just the two of us the next week. It was equally fantastic. This is by far the best pizza on the island, but all of their food is terrific! We also loved their meat dishes and their homemade pasta is perfection. Thank you to everyone at Il Giardino for making us feel so welcome and for hosting such a celebratory and memorable rehearsal dinner for us. We can't wait to come visit you again next time we're in Ischia! Thank you for making our hearts full. XOXOXO...

EDIT: have a look to the reply of the owner a while after publishing my review (in Italian).

“Honestly, reading your review makes me laugh. Don’t worry, the reply will be up on Google soon enough… you should be ashamed. 38 euros for 3 people just to get a 5-euro TheFork discount… what a cheapskate.”

We booked through TheFork because the restaurant promised payment via TheFork Pay. Upon arrival, we asked for water, but after 20 minutes and no service, we had to request it again from another waitress. Meanwhile, we ordered spaghetti cacio e pepe—a famous vegetarian dish . 25 minutes later, my dish arrived with speck (pork), never mentioned anywhere. I had to send it back and wait 20 more minutes for an alternative.

At the end, I paid via TheFork Pay as advertised. Only then did the waiter argue it was impossible and insisted I pay again. He called the owner, who rudely complained about the payment delay—a problem caused by TheFork, not me. This refusal to honor advertised payment methods and poor service was unacceptable and a clear...

Hated the place. It's a fact, after all, that Italian restaurants are sometimes overrated. We went to eat pizza, as this was its specialty dish (with a variety of over 30 kinds of pizza), the waiter gave us the menu and when after 30' he came to take our order, he informed us that they were not serving pizzas that day, only for take-away. We were amazed by his indifferent tone and tried to choose another dish of the only 5 choices left from the main courses. He also said that half of the appetizers were not available. We eventually ordered 2 main courses and an appetizer. While we were waiting for our order, someone who knew the chef sat on a table beside us, ordered pizza (not to take-away!) and they brought it to him right away, leaving us -and several other customers- looking disappointed and angry! The food was mediocre; pasta was so few and the plate was full of sauce so as not the dish to seem small, while the meat of the other main dish had no salt or taste whatsoever!

Awful experience!!! I would never set foot...