Giovi Fine Food — Restaurant in South Island

We were here for a stop over en route to Christchurch, and was surprised to see a quaint little restaurant tucked in the corner of Queenstown, after a short read on the review on Google, we have just got to give it a go despite not having any prior reservation.

Nevertheless we were greeted by a fine gentleman by the counter who managed to squeeze us in for 50mins of dining, which is mighty fine.

We ordered the tagliatelle carbonara, angus beef ravioli which was more than what i can finish, but the smell of the food lingering in the restaurant made me go for it, or suffer the regret of not even being able to taste it.

It was a pleasure to see your food being cooked by the experts chiefs there moving around as if they have done this for years, and with such precision and passion for the food they presented.

Upon having my first bite of the tagliatelle carbonara, it was nothing I have tried before in Singapore'(where I'm from) and same with the raviolis which left such a deep taste still inside my mouth even after we left the restaurant, which left me with a happy belly.

My wife had the linguini with calms and tiramisu which she commented was nicely done and worthy of the excellent rating in Google.

Well if you are around Queenstown area, do drop by and just order something from them, it might give you a new perspective between the real Italian meal and what we commonly ate which is simply passed off...

Happy to be greeted upon entry and glad that our table was prepared for us under our reservation.

The timing of our beverages and food was right on point, the atmosphere of the place and guests was fantastic.

What I did not like is the undercooked focaccia bread, the top was cooked but the bottom was undercooked.

My Margherita pizza did not have any fresh basil or basil at all for that matter. If I knew it wasn’t available I would have ordered something else.

The angus beef in the ravioli was dry. The ravioli itself was fresh.

And the tiramisu did not have any amaretto or coffee liqueur or Marsala wine. It didn’t need to have, but I would have assumed it would have that extra touch to it being authentic Italian.

What killed me the most, is that it gives you the option when booking a table to add the reason for your visit such as an occasion or birthday or other.

I specifically added a few special highlights AND a birthday for why we were going out which we never do. And nothing? I’m just unsure why it is an option if there is nothing different that happens on your...

Not the most inviting restaurant. The pizzas were nice. The beef ravioli with the tomato pesto sauce was not at all great but rather basic, not served in a hot bowl as all hot meals should be. This was served in a room temperature bowl and meal was soon luke warm. Service seemed very relaxed and not at all welcoming. Noticed staff using fingers to handle and plate customers food which is not ideal. The kitchen is open to the customers dining so handling their pasta displayed by their hands while going on to handle other duties without hand washing is off putting. Overall the reviews posted do not seem to support the positive reviews read. I suspect not the regular team or this shift were not really passionate at all. Not an ideal dinning experience. Owner responded to this review on food handling H&S and lied I saw a staff member handling several tasks other then food handling then handle food by hand plating this and delivering it to the customer. That's totally not acceptable and not owning that process by denying is worse. Decide people for yourself but I won't...