Il Giorgione — Restaurant in Columbia

I wanted so badly to like Il Giorgione. It seemed like a great, charming little place. We tried it twice. Both times the service was good, but we weren’t pleased with our meals.

The first time, we ordered a Caesar salad and a couple of pizzas. The bread they brought out before the meal was nice, as was the salad. The pizzas were marginal at best. Although our first meal wasn’t great, there was a couple sitting next to us that was talking with the server about how much they enjoy going to the restaurant and trying the different specials. We thought perhaps we had just ordered wrong and should give the place another shot—and not order pizzas.

We did so about a month later and ended up sitting on the patio. This time they didn’t bring bread. I’m not sure what the rules are on whether or not they bring bread, but it wasn’t really an issue. We were talked out of a vegetable starter by our server in favor of a sashimi option. Again we ordered a Caesar salad, but decided to avoid the pizzas this time.

We both opted for pasta dishes—a carbonara and something else that was one of our server’s favorites. While waiting for our entrees, a pesky fly decided to join us. Oh well. We were outside after all. Our starter and salad arrived. We didn’t care much for the starter, although the sauce served with it was flavorful. The Caesar was fine, like it was on our previous visit.

Then we noticed the table of three behind us, who had been seated a few minutes after us. There were dozens of flies orbiting them and their table—so much so that the gentleman had placed his tin of Altoids (which are curiously strong mints, in case you were unaware or had forgotten) atop his wine glass to protect his drink from the flies. The lady with him was constantly waving her arms in an attempt to swat the flies away. They asked their server if they might be able to be seated inside and were granted the request.

We ate very little of the starter and asked our server to take it away. Our entrees came out and were exceptionally underwhelming. The carbonara was only okay and the dish my wife ordered was borderline flavorless and rather boring. We ate some of our entrees, as more and more flies migrated from the other table toward us, paid our bill and headed out.

The service was good during both visits and I really, really wanted to like Il Giorgione, but I doubt we’ll...

This is not a write-off review; I've heard such good things about this place that it definitely deserves a second chance, so I will be back and update the review afterward.

I visited on Sunday and was promptly seated for brunch. I had a Peach Bellini that was very sharp and sparkling - there was no table bread, which I understand is a very chain restaurant thing, so I was okay with that. I ordered the Patate alla Carbonara, which came very quickly, and I was sadly disappointed and left wishing I'd ordered the purgatory eggs instead.

Some of my issues might have been just "me" things, which is part of what makes me want to try again. I've never had anything Carbonara, so I was surprised and repulsed by the meat. It appeared like thick cuts of bacon (though I know it's not) but it was very gristly and the aftertaste made me ill. The potato chunks were fork tender but seasoned only with pepper - it might have made the dish more appealing and complex in texture to have left some of the skin on them. They may have been seasoned with salt also, but the carbonara and the Romano cheese have their own, therefore combined together this was actually an overwhelming amount and each bite ended up tasting like pure sodium and made my heart palpitate like crazy.

I had a side of red pepper flakes brought to the table which did help make the flavor more complex, but it was still so grotesquely oversalted that I couldn't finish what I ordered.

My husband had the Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Rapini and was not impressed, thinking it too bland. Again, we added the pepper flakes and some Romano cheese, but with his it came together very beautifully afterward. He stated he wouldn't get it again but when I tasted it, I thought it was wonderfully light, not bland. Just a disappointing portion size for $14.

We had the tiramisu before leaving, which was lovely. It didn't have a lot of formed ladyfinger bits at the bottom, but it was very nice.

Over all, we spent $53 (excluding tip) and weren't in love with what we got, but we are willing to come back and try again at dinner, which seems to be the meal course they get the best...

This was an awful experience. We arrived 30 minutes before our anniversary dinner and offered to go to the bar. The hostess told us they could seat us already so we followed her to sit. They bring the two of us to a four person high top table. I promptly ask if we could be at a table that was not a high top table, and she said she would look. She came back and said no, all the tables were full. Fine, okay not a huge deal, not a problem. For the rest of the night we had Taryn as our server, who rushed us through each course. We never finished a course without our food coming out, forcing us to quickly eat the previous course. We ordered a bottle of wine, apps, and dinner. The caprese salad was delicious, and their salami and cheese board was good. We paid extra for more bread to add to it. Within 5 minutes of receiving our apps, we had our food, so we quickly ate the apps to eat our dinners. We got the rigatoni al dorato, which while the flavor was good, the pasta was overcooked and COLD! We also ordered the Valtellina pizza which they only cut into 4 slices, so it is very hard to eat, but was tasty. Before we have finished our food, our server asks if we want boxes and dessert. We say yes, but we are still eating. We get coffee and dessert, and when we are half way done, she comes back to ask if we want the check. We say yes and she drops the check. We are now fed-up and decide we should just go. We then wait almost 30 minutes for her to come back and take our check. I had to ask another server to check us out, and im assuming that server told taryn, because she came back. Additionally, over the course of our time there, no one sat at the two person regular height table behind us, so we couldve had that table. This was one of the worst dinners out we have ever had in columbia, and we will not be returning. I would not recommend ever spending the money to go to this “nice” place for dinner and having anywhere near the experience we had. Go...