DeGidio's Restaurant & Bar, St. Paul — Restaurant in Saint Paul

• CELIAC BEWARE! * Edit as of 10/25/2024 - In response to the owners reply, what's "unfortunate" is receiving a plate of wheat bread after making it clear as day that the person ordering said plate, has an allergy to gluten. Regardless of the bread being "optional" if it had the allergens in it, it should not have been offered? Doesn't take a ton of intelligence to understand this concept. After reading your response I can say with confidence that we won't be back. Appreciate you making that decision even easier! 😊👍🏽

10/24/2024 My family and I went here for my birthday yesterday. My mother has celiac (gluten allergy), & we were very excited to try this place given the gluten free options we heard about! For starters, she ordered the Burrata Caprese, and the Olives. Both of these items on the menu had 'GF' notated next to them. As my mom ordered those, out of habit she did mention, she needed them gluten free not due to preference but due to allergy. Our waitress brushed my mother off quite quickly saying 'Yep, yep there's no bread or wheat' and immediately walked away, leaving us feeling quite irrelevant. When the Burrata & Olives arrived, the plate with olives on it came with grilled bread. I flagged the waitress down, and asked her, "Is this bread gluten free?" To which she responded, "No.". I reminded her again, that THIS is why my mother felt so empowered to mention her allergy, that it's not due to preference, but that she will get insanely sick due to consuming gluten. The waitress yet again, brushed us off, and advised my mother, "Just don't eat the bread then" , and stormed off to greet her other tables. I come from YEARS of experience in the service industry, I can understand that after a long time doing this, you get 'good' at it. However, I'd like to remind this waitress, that when guests make their allergies known, to be 'present' and to actively listen to the guest. She was very 'transactional' with her demeanor and behavior. I actually remember having her back in January when we came for my husbands birthday. She must have the same section each time, we were seated in the booths near the hostess stand, right behind the big circular table. We were very turned off by her demeanor, and made sure to reflect that in her tip. (5 person tab). We probably will...

Of all the Italian restaurants, this is the most authentic "Red Sauce Restaurant" where I feel comfortable bringing my first-generation Italian friends from the East Coast.

I love this place, the service is very unassuming and genuine. No sommelier, you will get very frank and accurate descriptions of the food and a very honest opinion of the the dishes. And they are usually pretty spot-on.

When I tell local friends that I'm heading to DeGidio's for lunch or dinner, I get two responses. They've either never heard of it (and they get on "I'll be taking you in the near future") or they've heard of it and they swoon.

The cocktails are pretty standard and the wine too is not Michelin standards, but it is excellent with the food.

The food. The food is amazing. My friends Vincent and Giovanni (one of whom is a restauranteur) both love the food and have gone back. You cannot go wrong with the Tagliatelle Bolognese, Forgmaggio di Capra, a simple side of pasta and Italian sausages, or Porchetta Meatballs.

Skip breakfast, prepare for a light dinner, and order the Hot Dago for lunch. You will be full and you will be happy. Sneak a glass of wine to go with it, it will make your day and your boss will never know.

We did go one time and had to wait 20 minutes after our reservation to be seated, but stood in the bar and had a quick cocktail and the server was very apologetic.

If you like good food and don't mind overeating......

My first time here. I stood by the hostess stand for over 5 minutes by myself with no one around me before I decided to say hi and put my head closer in for anyone at the stand to acknowledge me about my reservations. I am not a picky eater, but I will be honest. I was not impressed at all. The sauce was ok and was runny with not much flavor... and the pasta was cold and a bit tough and the meatballs did not have much flavor and were not very moist. One of our party had to ask for salt for the Squash special. I will stick to the chain Italian restaurant that includes an unlimited salad and bread. The seating was only available in booths for 4 or 6 other than two Round tables for 10. Odd seating to say the least. Also, the server was not friendly and just more robotic when asking for something. This place is way over rated.

To the response I received below… I was trying to be fair and not mention the exact chain “Olive Garden” and just used unlimited salad and breadsticks as not naming them out. But now that you mentioned it. Yes I will now say it… Go to Olive Garden or Andiamo in Oakdale if you want a GOOD Italian meal and be treated like you are welcome there. It seems when this place gets a bad review rather than apologizing you should say try us again but instead you are quite rude. If you can’t take the heat, get out of...