Pizzeria Giagiu’ — Restaurant in Salerno

INCREDIBLE ARANCINO ! My wife and I were back in beautiful Salerno on Thurs, March 27th for a 6 day vacation...our fav Italian location. We were spoiled by the incredible pizzas, cappuccinos, gelatos and arancino during our first visit 18 months ago. Within the first few days we did it all again...delicious pizzas, calzones, gelato, cappuccinos and amazing pasta. BUT THEN ! I said to my wife we must try the restaurant where we enjoyed fabulous ARANCINO on our first visit. And of course I remembered it's name...Giagiu' and its location which was just a 3 minute walk from our apartment on Via dei Principati during our first visit. On Monday, March 31st we set out from our apartment on Corso Vittorio Emanuele around 7.30pm to have dinner at Giagiu'. Trusting my excellent memory 18 months later we found the exact location at Via Fiera Vecchia 3 but no Giagiu lit up like a Xmas Tree. NAME CHANGE & ADDRESS CHANGE. Checking on Google Maps we saw it was now called Pizzeria Giagiu' and had relocated to Lungomare Trieste very close to the harbor...a much better location actually. HA HA ! We finally arrived here around 8.15pm...keeping in mind they re-opened at 7.30pm for dinner. Upon entering we met Dario the manager who greeted us in a friendly manner. We had a short discussion about the change of locations and then sat ourselves down at a table. BEER ! A server named Maria brought us iced waters and an ice cold Italian beer I ordered. In fact I requested the same beer with the matching tall stem glass I enjoyed during our first visit...Cifra 466 IPA. FOOD ! We had a huge late lunch ( pizza again ) at a restaurant in Minori during our private limo tour of the spectacular Amalfi Coast. MENU IN ITALIAN ! Serves of Arancino Classico and Arancino with Porcini Mushrooms were enough for us. In the meantime my Italian IPA tasted was going down well. While waiting for our dinner order to come out we struck up a conversation with the male diner at the adjacent table. Roberto from Rome was demolishing a huge delicious Calzone all by himself. Within a few short minutes our Arancino order was delivered to our table by server Arnest. TOTALLY DELICIOUS ! We buy imported Italian Arancino back home in California but it is vastly superior here. We couldn't help observing that our new friend Roberto was now tucking into a fabulous looking wood-fired pizza. HA HA ! I asked him how do you do it....Roman appetite was his reply. We enjoyed our dinner visit here very much. THERE'S MORE ! The very next day....Thursday, April 1st we picked up our rented eBikes from our friend Daniele the owner of Cycling Amalfi Coast and rode from Salerno to Minori. It was a beautiful day to ride and got to see the half excavated Roman Villa in Minori. Later in the evening we walked down here to pick up some take-out dinner....Arancino of course. FRIENDLY STAFF ! Thank you so much to all the fun staff we interacted with...Federica, Peppe, Nazmun, Maria, Arnest, Antonio and Dario the manager. AS GOOD...

This restaurant is mind-blowing. Truly. It may be the best restaurant I’ve ever been to.

Firstly, I’ve only had food at all this quality at fine-dining establishments. The taste profiles are so creative, and perfectly executed. A four cheese pizza came with incredibly tender and sweet pear, crispy hardened cheese, and cocoa and powder. We had four different pizzas throughout our time and they were all similarly unique and incredible. I don’t even like pizza and I will be dreaming of this place forever. They also often give extra tasters; we went twice and both times we were given different perfectly plated tasters on bread (for example lemon/anchovy/zucchini flower on bread), and the second time a tasting of wine and a cream puff for dessert. This place still feels like a dream.

Secondly, they already would have a lot of business from their prime location in front of Salerno beach. You can sit outside and see a bit of the sea through the flowery lantanas hedge, or inside and be treated to a view of pizza being placed into a large pizza oven. There is plenty of space and seating.

Thirdly, on top of everything else, service is incredible and attentive. We were in very casual clothes both times and were treated with the respect of a fine-dining establishment. Everyone was warm, friendly, and professional. You could see visible ear-pieces kept servers coordinated as they seamlessly whisked away dishes, checked in, added little garnishes to dishes..

On top of all that, prices are really great? I don’t understand. Why is this place so great? We went to many other restaurants during our time this one was just- well, incredible.

Thank you for having us as guests :) :) You guys...

DELICIOUS LUNCH ! My wife and I arrived in Salerno the previous evening to commence our 3 week vacation in Italy and France. After a huge sleep-in to get over our jet lag we hit the road with a bounce in our step on Wednesday morning to explore beautiful Salerno. We had actually checked out this vibrant pizza restaurant late the night before but chose someplace else quieter. LUNCH ! Both of us had a hankering for Arancino and this place served it. At around 2.30pm we sat on their sheltered outdoor patio and had a quick peek at the menu...it was in Italian only so not much help to us. A male server popped by and I asked for glasses of water plus a craft beer....a Cifra 466 IPA. Of course we ordered ARANCINO. This was quite a late lunch for us but then we didn't grab breakfast until 11am. It was starting to become obvious to us that Italians dined out late....this restaurant would close at 3pm and not open for dinner until 7.30pm. My ice cold Cifra 466 IPA arrived with a matching Cifra stem glass....nice touch. It tasted great...I found the Italian IPA's pretty good during our 2 week stay in Italy. Our Arancino order hit the table, looked great and tasted fabulous ! We were more than satisfied with our lunch visit here and most likely would have returned for dinner had we stayed in...