Giardino, Italian in The Former San Vito Space in Burke - From the Owners of Villa Bella (Burke) and Paradiso (Alexandria)

[mdt]

Went and had the antipasto plate and a pizza. Nothing surprising here and the antipasto plate is rather sparse for the price, a selection of some cheese, cold cuts, and some super sweet (cloying in fact) roasted peppers. The pizza was cooked well but had your typical flavorless crust. Maybe the Italian entrees are better.

[Kibbee Nayee]

San Vito restaurant closed for financial reasons last year, and the space is now occupied by Giardino's. The brick oven remains and is featured as Giardino's calling card. Giardino's is owned by the same people who own Villa Bella and Paradiso, so it's quality will not be very high. I have not yet eaten there, but since I have eaten at both Villa Bella and Paradiso, I will not prioritize an adventure to Giardino's.

San Vito should be de-listed....its replacement, Giardino, sucks so horribly that it should be de-listed too, but at least it's open....

[Kibbee Nayee]

I may have been a bit harsh in my previous assessment of Giardino. Dinner tonight with 4 adults and 2 children was not horrible, but not great. We sat outside on a not-unpleasant night, and we chose outside seating because the 2 children can get a bit raucous.

Servers were nicely attired in black shirts and slacks, with red neckties and waist aprons. Our server was Ian, and he was attentive but not overbearing.

We began with an appetizer sampler platter, which included bruschetta (very good), fried calamari (very good), and fried mozzarella sticks (so-so). For the mains, Lady KN had the mahi-mahi special, topped with shrimp (so-so, and a bit overcooked), daughter had the chicken Caesar salad (yuk), son-in-law had the calzone with sausage (good), and the kids split the chicken tenders (actually not terrible). I stuck with the caprese salad, which was so-so.

The location in King's Park is convenient, so it's likely we'll hit it on occasion.