Giostra — Restaurant in Barrington Township

South Barrington’s newest Italian restaurant has opened as of today to the public after a VIP gathering two days ago on Saturday. They have three kinds of water for you to choose from if you wish. I passed and had a Sicilian sunset which uses blood oranges and it was delicious. I started with the arancini, which you get 3, and I also wanted to try the crispy artichoke hearts. If you’re going to share with others I would suggest more than one appetizer due to the size. The sauce for the artichoke hearts was warm and one side of the dish and not so warm on the other side, but artichokes had a nice fry on them which I’ve never seen done before at any restaurant I’ve been to. The arancini was thoroughly warm and tasted good but nothing stood out as fantastic. Bread is not given with any meal so if you would like some you will have to order from the menu out of six choices. I also wanted to try the shredded brussels sprout salad and the dressing was nice and light on top of the grapes, almond pieces, and watermelon radish slices. Some of the sprout slices from the center were a bit tough to chew just because the denseness of the center so I put a few of those to the side to throw out. For entrées you have a choice of 10 pastas, 4 fish, 2 beef, 1 veal, 2 pork, and 5 chicken dishes. I chose a pasta for my first meal which was the tagliatelle with Parmesan cream sauce, peas, and truffle ham. The ham and the sauce were the stars of the dish where as the ham had a nice smoky flavor in it’s little diced portions which made it seem there was more in the dish than there really was since the flavor permeated every millimeter. The pasta was cooked nicely and in some cases the pasta ripped as I was trying to pull some onto the fork. There are 5 choices for dessert along with a few flavors of gelato or sorbet. I tried the apple tart on puff pastry with vanilla bean gelato. The dish was not that warm and the gelato was hardly melting sitting on top. It did taste good, but I would have liked it warmer they have plenty of selection of alcoholic drinks, and some non-alcoholic. Pop is free refills which isn’t listed on any menu. Service was very good but for the very first day I would expect it to be since they are trying to make a great impression. I like the remodel they did from the old Italian restaurant it used to be. The star of the meal was definitely the pasta entrée. Drink refills were done quickly. I had two visits to my table during my meal which was chef first and he asked how I liked my dish and secondly some manager which asked about my salad. Online reservations are taken for this new addition to the Arboretum. You can also pay your bill using the QR code on the receipt through toast app. The receipt does show suggested tip amounts and it is based off food and drinks only it does not include tax like some restaurants do. Next time I will try the...

After an enjoyable valentines dinner experience, we decided to return to Giostra for an Anniversary dinner. We were sat in the bar area a little before our reservation time which was nice despite it already being crowded, and our server, Bianca, was great—really nice & attentive. However, it’s worth mentioning that the dining space is quite small in both the bar area & main dining room. the table we were sat at felt super tiny for the two of us & all our glasses/plateware. Plus, you feel on top of everyone around you & often bump into the persons seat behind you—Not to mention, the bar area gets incredibly noisy, especially when a party of 10+ people were seated directly in the middle of the area—albeit, it’s a Saturday night in a bar section & that’s not the restaurants fault—but it really put a damper on the overall experience…..As did the extremely long wait time between courses.

Our entrees took exactly one hour to come out from the time we finished our appetizers. We ordered an 8 oz filet (medium well), Brussel sprouts, & the chicken parm. The chicken parm looked great, but the filet arrived entirely overcooked (so well done it was practically gray). Considering how expensive the steak is, and how long we waited for it, we felt it was unacceptable & no longer worth continuing our time there.

Management was fantastic, though, & quick to make things right, which we really appreciated—but at this point, it had been close to two and a half hours since we were seated, so overall, it was a really disappointing experience for a special occasion.

I’m still confused about the extremely long wait time between courses & the inability to cook an 8 oz filet correctly. We get things get slammed on a weekend & orders flood in all at once, but the wait time wouldn’t have been as big of a problem if our food arrived without issue considering the price of it all. If you’re looking for a quaint, romantic dinner spot for date night with a decent turnaround time, this might not be the place for you. Likely...

We visited on our anniversary as my wife was really looking forward to trying this newer restaurant in the area. Friends had already dined there and said it was good, so with that review, off we went.

We had a reservation and were immediately seated upon our arrival. Giostra has a very romantic atmosphere although it is a nice place for family dinners, special occasions, and other nice evenings out. We saw a couple tables with young children and thought that they're ordering expensive Italian dishes that are lost on the taste buds of these small kids (plus their tablets were a little annoying and should be forbidden at the restaurant at night).

Regardless of my opinion on this, we continued to enjoy our anniversary night out. We ordered a glass of wine each. I get a Moscato and my wife ordered a red something or other and really liked the choice. We started with salad: me the Giostra Caesar and her the Roasted Beets. Bith were very good.

As for our main, there were so many great options to choose from, but we were told to get the Fettuccine Alfredo (tableside for 2). We asked if it was really rich and they said that it wasn't. Well, it is and thick too. We could only have the one helping each although it's enough for two to three helpings each.

They also don't provide bread at the table, they have a menu of bread that you order. We settled on the Cast Iron Focaccia. It was really, really good.

We weren't sure about dessert after the very rich and heavy meal. However, since we stated it was ur anniversary when we made the reservation, they provided a very nice dessert. I think it was their Tiramisu. And it was very good.

I will say that everything was very good, the ambience was romantic, and service was top notch.

We both were sick after that due to the richness of the fettuccine alfredo. It affected my wife more and knocked her out for a couple days. When we go back, we'll definitely try different dishes. If you have a better constitution that we do, try the fettuccine alfredo. It...