Giardino's Abington Italian Steak House — Restaurant in Abington

One star is too much for this restaurant, will be a first and last for us. Is hard to say which was worse-the service or the meal. Waitress (Diane H) not very friendly, no personality, and very S L O W. Never smiled, and just very cold. The meal......I got the Eggplant Parm-disgusting. Eggplant looked like it was shaved, very thin, no flavor and smothered in marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Then the angle hair pasta-worst EVER! I have no idea what they put in/on the pasta, but I couldn't even mask the flavor with marinara sauce (which didn't come with any on it and I asked for extra and took FOREVER to get). Hubby got the clams & shrimp scampi....WAY too much garlic, the dish was just loaded with too much melted butter, olive oil and garlic. Not once, did our waitress ever come by our table and ask how our meal was or if we needed anything, and had she, I would have sent the meal back and complained. When she came to get my plate (with the angle hair still on the plate)-not one word of how my meal was, but instead, asked if I was done, and took my plate away. Hubby's finished plate sat in front of him for 15 minutes before another waitress asked him if he was done.....um, the plate was empty and pushed to the end of the table). When Diane came and asked if we wanted to see a dessert menu, she brought the menu and disappeared. We saw her talking with another table on the other side of the restaurant, and never came back to our table for 10-15 minutes. When asked what we had decided on for desert, she was surprised to hear us say.......nothing, and asked...."do you mind if I ask why you don't want dessert?" Too late. We got the bill and left. Never again. We gave it a try, and sorry that we wasted (yes, WASTED) $40 on a disgusting meal, poor service and...

The restaurant looked nice inside but it started with our table being lopsided. It took us 3 tries to wave over a busboy to fix it. The waitress took quite a while to make it over to our table when she did she promptly got our drinks. Then we ordered.... the waitress had no idea what was on the menu! She asked my daughter if cheeseburgers were on the kids menu. She also had a very hard time understanding that my parents wanted the traditional chicken parm and not with the white sauce that’s on the lunch specials. It took FOREVER for our meals to come out and when they did they were staggered so half my table was still waiting for food. I ordered the French Onion soup to start. It came AFTER my meal did and was disgustingly salty. I had to send it back! After all this time my mother still was not served her meal. When we asked about it the waitress said oh I thought you only ordered one!?! Now mistakes happen but basic math tells you that if there’s 5 people at a table and 4 meals ordered that doesn’t add up!!! We had to call the manager over after she was done apologizing to other customers who got up and left. She did offer to quickly make my mother her meal and give us a free dessert but after that we were done!!! The food that we were served other than the soup was ok but they really shouldn’t serve burgers off the kids menu that are pink in the center. Oh and they say on the menu that they charge a dollar extra for cheese on the French onion soup. It’s the cheese that makes it “French” onion otherwise it’s just onion soup, don’t charge extra for it! I know that this business is just starting but the wait staff and kitchen are truly underprepared and unprofessional. They just don’t have good enough food to overlook it. Unfortunately, I would definitely not recommend...

I had high hopes for this place, but unfortunately, our experience fell short.

The decor is stunning, which initially drew us in and made us excited to celebrate here. We made a reservation for 7:30 and noted it was a special occasion, but no one—neither the hosts nor our server—acknowledged it. This was disappointing, as we love ordering wine and champagne to mark celebrations, and it would have been nice to feel the occasion was recognized.

The service was the biggest letdown. Our server was barely present, and we often had to rely on bussers and food runners to address our needs. At one point, we even had to track her down to find out what happened to part of one meal that was delayed while everyone else had their dinner. Additionally, one pair in our group was sharing the prime rib, which we mentioned to the server, but no sharing plates were provided—we ended up grabbing plates from a nearby table ourselves.

Water refills were another challenge; despite asking multiple staff members, our table never received more. When our server did stop by, she seemed annoyed, which made us feel unwelcome. While everyone can have an off day, poor service really affects the experience—especially when you’re out celebrating.

On a positive note, the drinks were excellent—the Grinch and White Christmas cocktails were a hit at our table. The food was also tasty, with generous portions that we enjoyed.

However, one major issue overshadowed our meal: bugs. We noticed several in the dining room, including on and around our table. It was unsettling and unsanitary, leaving us with a diminished appetite.

Overall, while the ambiance and food have potential, the lackluster service and hygiene concerns made it difficult to fully enjoy our evening. I’m not sure if we’ll be returning...