Osteria San Giovanni — Restaurant in San Gimignano

My partner and I had dinner in this great traditional restaurant in the centre of San Gimignano and we absolutely loved it! The food quality is unbelievable, most probably the best lamb we ever had and the service is also perfect, the courtesy and friendliness of the waiters is excellent.

We decided to publish our review not only to congratulate ourselves with the work of the member of the staff and because we loved the place itself, but because we found ourselves witnesses of an unpleasant event, described in a review from other custromers, and decided to explain to the community of Google what really had happened, because it is fair to the visitors to know the truth, in order to enjoy the real experience at Osteria San Giovanni.

Terrible rudeness has been shown towards the professional waiter by customers close to our table who complained about their meat and started telling others around them to not order, assuming the food wasn't good. That kind of behaviour itself is outrageous, but the worst happened when the waiter kindly cut them the meat to show them and explained them the type of cooking, to invite them enjoy the meal but his professionalism has been repaid by a physical attack by the customer who pushed him aside at the moment of paying, after leaving all their meals.

Disgusted by some turists behaviour, we would like to renovate our love for the food we had, and can't wait to come back to San Gimignano to eat...

Reading the good reviews the group of three people we were traveling chose this Osteria to have a good evening in San Gimignano. We had the lamb with bread crumps, the Osso Bucco and the tagliata. The only dish edible was the tagliata. The other dishes were so chewy that it had nothing tender. The service was bad and the bald waiter (50+) was very rude. A couple next to our table had ordered the lamb and osso bucco and were not happy with it as well. The bald waiter was so stunningly rude and aggressive to the couple stating that it was exactly the way it should be. It was not- we’ve been so many times to Italy and never had such badly prepared meat. The worst of all was the behavior of the waiter- no humbleness and no service orientation. He literally shouted at the person complaining to him about the meat. And then the same complaint from us, just prove that something was not right with the food... would never go...

Night 1 - The perfect dinner. I highly recommend the pear and pecorino fagottini which was a perfect balance between savoury and sweet. The rabbit was also very tasty, and it was accompanied well by a side of roast potatoes. I would've however loved to see better bread being served at the tables. Lastly, for dessert we tried the tiramisu which was creamy and sweet. I would definitely consider returning here!

Night 2 - Indeed we returned to try more dishes after realising that we can confidently order anything from the menu without being disappointed. So we had to have an authentic carbonara, as well as a well made ossobuco. As expected, absolutely delicious. This time the accompanying sides chosen were a generous portion of roast potatoes and the grilled vegetables. We are now considering coming back here as often...