Cafe Gianni — Restaurant in Mount Dora

This was by far the absolute worst restaurant I've ever eaten in. Let me add here that I do know what good food is, I have eaten in most of the finest restaurants up and down the entire east coast. Besides the fact the decor was horrible, no table cloths, dirty windows, and sticky tables. After being seated and given a glass of water that tasted like rotten eggs my choice of dinner consisted of one of the nightly specials which was a butternut squash stuffed ravioli in a butter herb sauce, sounds yummy right, well I get these raviolis and they were floating in butter and I mean floating in butter,, not sauce, butter . It was so greasy it was hard to cut and then when finally biting into it all you could taste was oily sage. Now I love butternut squash so I know what its supposed to taste like. After telling our server he deeply apologized and told us the chef was having a bad day due to a personal problem and offered me a different option. I decided to give it another go and ordered the Veal Marcella. Within 5 minutes this most disgusting plate was plopped in front of me . Again, a gray piece of what I assumed was veal and some linguini were floating in some brown soupy broth that tasted as close to Marcella wine as a hamburger does to a filet mignon. The so called veal was so tough I couldn't cut it. After the first horrible bite we decided to vacate the restaurant. After being charged $70.00 for food that was not palatable the lesson learned here is, do not trust the advice of others regarding best places to eat. This place was recommended by the Inn keeper of the B&B we stayed in. I will just say if the so called professional chef was having a personal emergency that was that distracting, he shouldn't have been cooking but even a personal tragedy doesn't usually give you amnesia so you lose all ability to do your job. Run don't walk from this place,...

Amazing!! The chef/owner came out to introduce himself once we were seated and again to see how our food was after. The waitress was knowledgeable, made GREAT suggestions, very attentive and kept our area clean. We got a caprese(always MY must when available and I dine out. the tomatoes were perfectly ripe and the cheese and sauce was bountiful), and the husband and I decided to let the chef and waitress pick our other two appetizers and they DID not disappoint! They ordered Salsiccia Cacciatore( sausage and pepper dish with flavors that make your mouth water), and Prosciutto e Melone(THIS...THIS right here is HEAVEN on a plate! I mean...everything! Never would have paired these together Prosciutto and cantaloupe and Chef Gianni did it BEAUTIFULLY). For the main dish...hubby got Veal Capricciose and I'm pretty sure its his new favorite dish ever. I'm NOT a veal person at ALL but it was so tender, juicy and flavorful I would order it for myself. Was not oily and the noodles were perfectly covered in sauce. I ordered Chicken Prosciutto Spinaci....the most favorable, tender chicken I've ever had. The noodles were perfectly covered in a creamy sauce. All food came out hot 🔥 and perfectly cooked. So of course how could we stop there? Nope! The hubby got the chefs grandmother's recipe of Tiramisu and thought it was the best thats hes ever had. I ordered creme Brule and the texture and taste was spot-on. I was also suggested a red wine since they did not have my normal...the first red wine I've ever had and liked. All together BRAVO 👏 we will definitely be back. Its a little pricey but you definitely get the quality and amounts of food and service to make...

Our party of four had high hopes for dinner, but we left disappointed. The service was “strained”—and by that I mean the apologies to us for the infrequent and at times lengthy intervals between visits should not have been “I’ve been dealing with something downstairs.” That’s not what we come to hear when trying to enjoy an evening out. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that at Beef O’Brady’s, but not here. As for the food…we all agreed there seemed to be a shortage of olive oil where we normally would enjoy it. The sliced bread served before dinner was warm and tasty, but so lightly brushed with olive oil one had to wonder if it was only imagined. A house salad was quite heavy on vinegar and light on oil—again, how does a salad get that way? The bruschetta, too, was simply not memorable because the tomatoes were so “separate” from the bread—untied by the lack of olive oil. It sounds petty to say this, but if you expect good Italian food, this is a real shortcoming. Even the sauce on my Osso Bucco—a delicious piece of tender pork shank—was quite plain, and I tried hard to extract some subtle flavor, but sadly it was as uninspired a the overly cooked spaghetti that accompanied it. The positives: the “special” of portobello-stuffed ravioli with shrimp in a wine reduction sauce was flavorful and the shrimp were ocean-delicious. The cannoli trio for dessert were perfect, although we had thought they would be a trio of different flavored cannolis. Overall, if someone told me the delivery of olive oil never came that day, I’d give Cafe Gianni another try, but for the price, I certainly...