Gio Restaurant — Restaurant in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

We last ate here on the last week they were open before lockdown started. During that holiday, this was our favourite restaurant in the Yumbo and we ate there 3 times in that week. This week is our first trip back to Gran Canaria after lockdown and we were looking forwards to visiting Cafe Gio again. Sadly, it seems to have changed for the worse. The service was a shambles. People were sitting at tables and leaving without being served. We had to ask for menus. Ordered drinks and food. The starters arrived before the drinks. We ordered agua sin gas to go with our food, but for €3.50 we received a jug of iced water instead of the usual unopened bottle. It could have been tap water for all we knew. The bruschetta wasn't nearly as good as it was in March 2020 - very small portion of tomato in comparison to the last time we ate there. Lasagna was overcooked. The spaghetti was undercooked (and I like my pasta Al denté). Meanwhile, more people sat at tables, didn't get served by the waiters and left. The waiters have all changed too. It's like the whole place has new staff and they aren't very friendly. We were going to have dessert but decided that we didn't want to spend any more money in there. We paid the bill without leaving a tip, and left. Such a shame but we won't...

We were walking past and were asked if we’d like to eat however the staff were not pushy at all and left us alone to have a look at the menu before we decided we wanted to stay.

We ordered the 4 cheese rigatoni and a fillet steak, both absolutely delicious and the steak was cooked perfectly.

The staff were very attentive and had really good English so we were able to have a laugh with them too. They made sure our food was as we wanted did not try to up sell deserts/coffees. Unfortunately I didn’t get our waiters name but he was especially great, also nice to see the kitchen staff enjoying themselves which created a nice atmosphere for the customers. Our food was still delivered very quickly and the staff also made a conscious effort to keep smokers and non smokers separate!

We paid €35 (including tip) for a pasta main, steak and 2 drinks, only possible criticism is that the vegetarian dishes were priced too similarly to meat dishes (however I’m noticing that is more common here than in the uk where our vegetarian options are usually...

Terrible service, bland food, and zero sense of hospitality. I ordered a pizza diavola and a beer. What could possibly go wrong with something so simple? Turns out, everything.

The pizza was mediocre at best: soggy in the middle, burnt at the edges, and tasteless overall. It looked better than it tasted, and even that’s being generous. The pepperoni had no flavor, the cheese was low-quality, and the dough was tough.

Service? Nonexistent. The staff couldn’t care less. Unfriendly, slow, and completely disorganized. I sat there wondering if I had suddenly become invisible. It’s clear they’re used to tourists they’ll never see again, because that’s exactly how they treat you.

To top it off, the place is overpriced for what it is. €15.20 for this disaster of a meal. There are countless better places to eat in Playa del Inglés and Yumbo Centrum, don’t waste your time or money here.

Final verdict: A tourist trap with a fake Italian name....