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The Place: Giardino’s Abington

 

The Good: My friend and I have been trying to make plans to get together for the past few days and it finally culminated this afternoon. We met at Giardino’s at 4pm.

Save for the couple of people sitting at the bar, The place was empty and ours to enjoy.

They renovated it beautifully from the former Great Chow on Route 18 and I was pleased to see that they still had the waterfall there.

Matt was our waiter and he was very pleasant. We both agreed that he was attentive but not overbearing.

Matt served us a basket of bread  as my friend described as Croutons. 
Dry unflavored croutons .It was cold and hard and the oil that we would have dipped it in had cheese in it that smells very strong and that I can only describe as nasty feet! LOL as much is a cheese lover I am, even that turned me off. Matt brought us over, at my friends request, plain dipping oil without cheese. And that’s exactly what he brought out. Planning to bring oil. No seasonings, no garlic, no flavor!

We inquired what the soup of the day was and he got a cup of Beef Barley Soup. He said he liked it.
I had the Sicilian Arancini which consisted of 
Delicious, crispy deep fried cheesy risotto balls, served with marinara sauce! I have to say, my taste buds were very happy with this selection.

My friend chose the Eggplant and Veal combo  with house made Papadelle. 
He said it was delicious I honestly couldn’t get over the size of his meal!! Definitely leftovers for lunch tomorrow ?

I chose the The Eggplant and Ravioli combo that was on their specials tonight. I liked the Eggplant  but I felt as though the Ravioli could have been cooked a little longer. The ravioli was tough to cut And usually you can cut raviolis just with a fork. I felt like it lacked flavor too. It was advertised as jumbo spinach mascarpone ravioli In a tomato cream sauce, only red sauce.

Another basket of focaccia Bread arrived.

My friend was coy and called out the waiter on the fact it was cold, curious if it  just came out of the oven. The poor waiter I don’t think he knew how to respond and of course gave us another excuse about ovens and pre-ovens. It gave us a good laugh though because I said I seriously doubt they are out back kneading the bread!! Maybe they were waiting on a delivery. Who knows?

When I lamented about how much food we had on our plates, the waiter said no one ever orders dessert because they can’t finish their meals,. Apparently he never me me! LMAO! I am always up for that challenge!

I had the Stracciatella, Which is the equivalent of a decadent hot fudge sundae! It is a creamy Gelato. With hot fudge, almonds and biscotti.

My friend opted for the Budino which reminded me of Flan With a caramel sauce. I felt as though it lacked flavor. Rick said it could have been a little sweeter.

All in all, if I had to rate this by stars with five being the best, I would say it’s a 3 1/2 to almost 4
PS: when the waiter came up to give us our bill, he brought out a bowl of bread to go and when we opened it up, it was warm to the touch!?

 

There is no bad or ugly. I will give this place another try but I can say I now see why they have mixed reviews. My mom went here 1 month ago and LOVED IT!

 

Monday – Thursday 11:30 am to midnight
Friday and Saturday 11:30 am to 1:00 am
Sunday 11:30 to midnight

SUSHI: Tuesday – Saturday after 4 pm

Sunday All Day

Monday Main Menu Only

Kitchen serves food until 9:30 Sunday – Thursday & until 10:30 on Friday & Saturday

497 Bedford Street Abington, Massachusetts