Giovanni's Inn — Restaurant in Town of Mamakating

To dismiss this dine-in experience with an old rustic appearance would be missing out on arguably one of the best restaurants in Hudson valley on a variety of fronts - food, genuinely warm and attentive service, and a sense of nostalgia that exudes the walls of this place for even those of us who don't know the history. Starting with food - mussels Fra diavolo, chicken picatta, with the mussels cooked to perfection. Their cannolis are just the best we have ever had. Oh - I almost forgot the Irish coffee.

If we are lucky the owner and cook - essentially Robert De Niro in disguise with a beard, will saunter through the dining room and talk to us. It is "love at first sight" regardless of our gender identification, with this warm and gentle soul whose secret for long life is "hard work and wine". There are a few places in Hudson valley, tucked away hidden gems that have survived the test of time and general economic malaise that is hard to miss despite the predominant natural beauty of mountains and the green. Giovanni's inn is certainly right on top - and the fact that it has been there for over 30 years is evidence of both the quality and dining experience, not to mention the sheer grit to survive so many years. And we learned they make Pizzas on Wednesdays and Thursdays in a wide open space within the premise on brick ovens made by the owner himself. We are going back...

Looking at my first review of Giovanni’s I can’t believe it was 6 years ago we first stumbled upon this place, loved it then love it now. We are from NYC and have been coming back as often as we can. Wonderful old school Italian, great warm rustic atmosphere, authentic food and great service. This is a real gem in the Catskills that could hold its own in NYC’s Little Italy! My favorite dishes are the veal parmigiana, tender, a large portion with a big side of pasta, the eggplant parmigiana melts in your mouth, the mussels marinara are fresh and succulent served with garlic bread, the broth is amazing, we return the plate clean every time! Everything is always fresh, plentiful and very reasonable. For 3 of us it’s under $100, can’t beat that! Sadly, COVID ended the live singing every Saturday night, but that doesn’t change the great food, drinks and reasonable prices. Oh and in the summer Wednesday is Pizza night, you will find Giovanni in the outdoor garden at the brick pizza oven cooking up pies all night,...

Our friends highly recommended this restaurant to us, so we went on our 3 months wedding anniversary :D

It’s so small and we passed it…..but it’s really a hidden gem. We love the warm environment, indoor and outdoor. Afternoon we saw the wood fire brick oven, we totally fell in love with this restaurant.

We ordered the salad and mussels as appetizer. Well, salad was salad, good salad, but still just salad. Mussels are really good, yummy yummy. But, wait, what we love the most is pizza!! After we ordered two pizza: margarita and customized topping pizza, we even ordered another to go because they were so so so good.

And finally, house made cheese cake and Bumba (do I spell right?) as desserts….perfect.

Since we went on Wednesday, there was only pizza available. We’d like to go back again on other days to try their other foods.

Anyway, they have the best pizza we have ever had in Orange County, no, in NYS, no, in the States so far (Note: I have been to 40 out of 50 states so far). So, highly highly...