Il Giardino Sul Mare — Restaurant in Lacey Township

We walked in and atmosphere is great with a piano player singing. Owner said he had a beautiful table overlooking the water. We were brought back to a “sunroom” where my shoes were getting stuck in the sticky rug & was very dirty looking. We really weren’t that hungry but we’re always up for trying different places. There was a nice crowd in the main room. We ordered one appetizer and shared a dish. We tried the mozzarella en carroza which was deep fried burnt. Sent it back. Another came out immediately and it was deep fried, very greasy and slices of cheese not melted. It was gross. Red sauce tasted like a jar of Ragu. We then tried lobster, clams and shrimp over linguine..Lobster was very overcooked, I couldn’t get it out of the tail, shrimp was transparent and we didn’t want to take a chance on the 2 clams in the dish…price $46…We had to wait over 45 minutes just for the appetizer to come out. My husband who has owned restaurants in Staten Island and also is a Chef, wasn’t happy with anything. No dirty plates were removed, we needed to ask for bread, and prices were high. Our bill came out at $98 We passed on espresso/dessert. The owner was constantly asking how everything is, more than 8 times!! Oh, there was a couple next to us that got up & left after waiting for over an hour for appetizers. Also, we thought that it was a BYOB & brought in a small bottle of wine. The owner made us leave it at the front desk. After we left, I realized we forgot about the wine and I ran back inside. They put our bottle behind their bar. Needless to say, we won’t...

Great as always!!..food great..service.great..

NEW VISIT Have been going there for 25 years, have never walked in on a sunday night to see only 1 table occupied. We were a party of 8, so called for reservations at 6, we're asked if we can make it 5:30 due to other parties coming in at 6, to which we obliged. Turned out the hostess was the waitress, the only waitress. She took our drink orders promptly and returned with only two at a time, guess she couldn't put all drinks on a tray and bring them at once. Took the appetizer orders, and they came out in a very good amount of time.All hot as they should have been.But again 2 at a time. The menu has changed, items removed and the price has increased, which is the same everywhere, so we can't fault them for that. We ordered our dinners at which time The bread came out, no, longer does the bread come out as soon as you arrive with the olive oil and herbs. In a good time in a good amount of time out came our dinners.I guess they don't serve salads anymore or we just didn't get any however the other tables that came in did. Food was all good, no complaints on that At all except not all coming out at the same time.Because again she could only bring two at a time . the hostess / waitress was very overwhelmed with the four tables that were in the entire restaurant. They really need to hire a waitress. Food was good, but will we go back there again?I really...

If I could give them a 0 star review I would! Made a reservation for 7:30pm for Valentine's Day dinner a week prior. I spoke to an older man on the phone and he said no problem. Get the babysitter, show up and the place is packed. Both lots full and had to park on the street by the pool store. Walk in and can't even get in the door, so many people in the waiting room and vestibule that some people had to wait outside because there was no room. Another couple with their kids in front of us had made a reservation for 7:30 as well and she went up to tell them they were there. We were informed that everyone else in the room was there to tell them the same thing and getting no where. After 10 minutes someone up front asked a person who works there what's going on...

Turns out they had no list of reservations and basically put your name down as you walked in the door. 90 minute wait we were told! How do you run a business like that on the business dinner night of the year??? Needless to say we left and will not be back. A few people also left in front of us also unhappy. They pissed a lot of people off that night! We ended up grabbing a bottle of wine from home and went to Biagio's on Rt.9 and had a...