Giardino

CLOSED :(
Saddened to hear that our favorite restaurant in Lafayette has closed its doors. We think that Andreas works/​owns another place in Berkeley. Wish we could find out the name. If anyone knows, please post.
The gnocchi was the BEST!

I’ve lived within walking distance of Giardino for about 8 months and never knew it existed. It’s tucked away behind other businesses, and all you can see from Mt. Diablo is a very inconspicuous sign. Luckily, Unilocal led us here on New Year’s Eve when we decided to keep it low key.
Including us, only three tables were taken, and unfortunately, at the one closest to us was the most. annoying. lady. ever. That’s not the restaurant’s fault, though. Anyway, being pretty empty, service was fast and attentive.
They start you with tasty bread and tapenade, which we all liked and thought was a nice change from the usual bread and olive oil. We had butternut squash ravioli, manicotti, and arrabiata. All were yummy, but I think the manicotti was my favorite. The arrabiata sauce was thick and spicy — not soupy at all — and the ravioli was a great combo of sweet and savory.
The only disappointment of our meal was when they told us obnoxious lady got the last tiramisu :(

We have been eating here for many years… good, reasonably priced, friendly family run staff, nice décor and outside dinning when warm enough.

Just got back… had the lasagna… sooo good like homemade but not gut-​busting heavy. This guy rocks!!! If you want great pasta… this is the place!

The tapanade they start all tables off with is the best and served with delicious, perfectly toasted bread. Nice atmosphere, quiet with attentive service. The fixed meal is a great deal and I’ve never had anything I didn’t like. I make special trips to Lafayette just to eat here.

This is our go-​to restaurant in town. Secluded and out-​of-​the-​way, the patio is perfect for summertime dinners with the family.
Fresh, simple, true Italian fare. We’ve tried just about everything on the menu at this point, and we have found nothing we didn’t love.
We’ve always enjoyed great service and the atmosphere is very nice.

Family Friendly restaurant as well as a lovely spot for a quiet date night out!
We’ve been enjoying the personal service and freshly prepared dishes at Giardino for the last several years. Their bruschetta and pastas are fantastic. Be sure to try their affogato dessert too!

We had the chicken with prosciutto and the manicotti dishes. The chicken was a tad over done, almost as if cooked in a microwave, but the prosciutto was delicious. I love the manicotti. But you have to love a creamy tomato sauce emphasis on the cream. The customer service was excellent small quiet atmosphere that makes it very romantic. Unlike other Unilocalers reviews I’ve seen we had no problems with our drink orders and it was very prompt and quick delivery. I would definitely go back and would love to try a lot of the pasta dishes.
All of the vegetables crispfresh and you could tell everything was homemade, all the way down to the manicotti noodles. I’ve spent some time in Italy and if you’re looking for an Italian restaurant that invokes the atmosphere and hospitality of a small Italian restaurant in a small Italian village this is the place you want to check out

Four stars for the food, 2 stars for the service-​average it out to an «OK» overall experience. Giardino is tucked away on Mount Diablo Blvd and not easily seen from the road. That’s okay, though-​it allows for a quiet and more intimate setting. It appeared there were quite a few local and regular customers and in general, the restaurant seems to be friendly, family, Lafayette business. It really has some great potential that it doesn’t 100% live up to.
We were seated promptly and with only 3 other parties, waited a bit longer than felt comfortable to have our drink order taken. Even after all that, they never brought out our ordered beverages, except for water and not once acknowledged that we were waiting for them. About 15 minutes in, my boyfriend flagged down one of the staff (not sure if he was the host or a server) but just let him know we never got out drinks and asked they be taken off the bill. Not one word of apology or even an offer to bring the drinks and not charge us. Strike 1.
Strike 2 was when our waitress did not write down our order (which leads to Strike 3, my food came out with the wrong sauce.) At this point, I was looking at a 2 star rating, being that at this point, we had already waited so long for our food, the male server unexpectedly brought us two side salads-​no explanation other than «here, these are complimentary.» Um, okay, but I didn’t know how much longer I wanted to wait for my pasta.
After I had to send back my dish and was probably visibly annoyed, the service seemed to pick up from there. We received a sincere apology from our server, my replacement dish came out relatively fast and they even boxed up the pasta with the incorrect sauce and told us it was on the house. To be fair, the fettucini was amazing-​you can tell it was homemade. Their red sauce is outstanding and full of flavor-​not to mention their toasted bread and tomato tapanade dip that is complimentary. However, due to the disjointed experience we had and the fact that it’s not right in our backyard, I can’t take the risk of going back for another poor service experience. That’s too bad-​the food was quite delicious. Fresh, quality food/​poor execution. Might be worth a try for some, and maybe we had an off night. I just don’t really feel like wasting another Friday night to find out.

A great hidden gem! I have been here a few times and have been very pleased with the food, service and atmospher. What can be better then Itailian food, plenty of wine and Itialian music in the background. Oh I know, add some home made Tiramisu of course! You should try this place. It’s hidden from the street when you see Jack in the box it’s across the street. Enjoy!

My husband and I had a great experience here. We had a coupon and wanted to try it out.
The service was excellent. The staff are attentive but also give you time to talk and don’t rush you at all. They were very willing to make a substitution in my pasta. (prawns instead of clams) The server (possibly also the owner?) even gave us the coupon back and told us we could use it again!
The food was very good. They start you out with bread and a tomato/​bread crumb dip. It is excellent. We then ordered the Fritto Misto appetizer. I was very happy that it was properly fried, so no oily taste. The tartar sauce is good.
For entrees I had the Vongole (with prawns) and my husband had the Papardelle. My pasta was good and my husband’s was great. For dessert we had the Tiramisu and the Affogatto al Caffe. The tiramisu was awesome! Not too boozy or heavy, just perfect.
Overall we had a great time here. The atmosphere is very relaxed and you can unwind over some good food. We will absolutely be back. I highly recommend checking out this restaurant.

Have frequented this place for many years and never had a bad experience; finally reviewing it for the first time.
Bread and dip are excellent as others have mentioned… menu highlights are the Manicotti, Bolognese, Egglpant Parmigiana, Vongole, and Risotto.
Andres and his family run the place and are always really friendly; even let us reuse our coupons if we come with one.
Definitely will keep coming back; keep it up guys!

Can’t recommend this place highly enough. We were served by the owner who was a perfect host. The two ladies loved their eggplant parmigiana. One of the gentlemen wanted chicken parmigiana which wasnt on the menu, so the host had it specially prepared and it was delicious. Ditto the second gentleman, who had his chicken piccata (rather than veal picatta which was on the menu) specially ordered and found it perfect. And since it was our first time, our host gave us a complimentary mango ice cream which again was delicioius. The wine was great; the coffee was delicious. All in all a great night out.

This place is small, hidden in a strip mall, and often frequented by older folks… so it is not the trendy spot in town… however it is really good. I will go out on a limb and say the lazagna is the best I’ve ever had. (I think it was assembled with freshly cooked noodles, sauce and ricotta right on my place… not one of those heavy baked bricks you usually think of… this was almost light)
Been here 3 – 4 times with kids and everyone is happy when we leave. We often forget about this place when eating out in downtown (even though it is only down by the library).but it is so worth trying a few times.
Definitely will be back here when in the mood for Italian.

Went there on Saturday for an early dinner with my sister and husband. I had discovered this place by searching Unilocal reviews. It was a little hard to find as it’s tucked away behind another store front, but we made it! There was only one other table of patrons there at the time, again, it was early… and it definitely picked up while we were there and every table filled up.
We started off with the Caprese appetizer and the complimentary bread. I really liked the appetizer. I couldn’t eat the sauce that came with the bread because my diligent husband told me it was too spicy for me. He seemed to really like it though and loves spicy food.
I had the Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and thought it was super yummy! I’m always hesitant to order it because too often the Alfredo is *too* creamy and overwhelming and rich. Their alfredo was perfect! Just the right amount of cream to noodle ratio. And the chicken was good too. Correctly cooked and not rubbery.
My sister has some strict dietary requirements and asked the waiter what they could make for her taking into consideration what she could and could not eat. They came up with an off-​the-​menu creation that she said was really good.
Hubby had the Papardelle and also very much enjoyed it.
To end our meal, we finished with some Tiramisu, which is hubby’s fave. It was, in my opinion, one of the better Tiramisu’s I’ve had! The coffee flavor was not overwhelming and it was just overall yummy — for lack of a better adjective.
We were so happy that Unilocal helped us find yet another hidden gem! I don’t live in Lafayette and don’t eat there often, so I was clueless when it came to picking a restaurant. I’ve seen many of the larger establishments on the main drag, but if it hadn’t been for Unilocal,I probably never would have found this one!
We’ll be back for more!

I’d say a good 3.5 stars.
Place is small and somewhat intimate, which, is a good thing unless you go with your in-​laws. :$
I had the caesar, which, was ok. There was a smattering of that pre-​shredded parmesan cheese you can get at Safeway — not too impressive. I also had the chicken saltimboca, and, while the chicken was cooked perfectly, the supposed prosciutto was unmistakably ham — very cheap alternative. Lastly, the sauce on the pasta that accompanied my chicken seemed like crushed tomatoes with no spices to speak of. C’mon dudes, italian seasoning is cheap, put some in!
All in all, I think a solid find. I will go back and try a pasta dish next time. And, I will try that pasta dish without the MIL in attendance.
Ya feel me?

Went here for the first time the other night, so the review isn’t going to be very long until I get back — which I will, soon. Excellent and friendly service from our waiter Andres, and the puttanesca was among the best I’ve ever had. The pasta was cooked perfectly. The complimentary bread and tapanade were execllent. The wine list is smaller, but the bottle we had was excellent.
This place is hard to find and pretty small, but if you haven’t checked it out and like Italian, you should.

Another great dinner! Thank you Giardino’s! I love the gnocci, manicotti, and eggplant… all delish. Everything I have tried has always tasted fresh.
Yes, sometimes they get busy and you have to wait for bread, but it is worth the wait. Yuuuuuummmmy!

We haven’t been back for a few years, but decided to try it again. They still serve the garlic bread with the fabulous dip.
It was quiet that night and the waiter was attentive and friendly. It felt like dining in a cozy restaurant in Italy.
We may have picked the wrong menu items, but we were not quite impressed with the veal scallopini and pasta with prawns.
However, we liked the service and will return again.

(4.5)
Tucked away, this place is easy to miss, but once inside the décor is cute – typical for an Italian restaurant. I went on a Monday evening so it wasn’t busy. I am a vegetarian and I wanted the gnocchi (which had meat) and they were more than willing to accommodate me. I started with the spinach salad, which was good, but the gnocchi was super yummy – nice and moist. How I like it! Then for dessert I had the tiramisu and that was really good! Not only was the food great, but the manager, Andres, was so nice and helpful. I will definitely be going back!