Il Giardino Ristorante

I want to say that I have spent YEARS looking for a traditional sit down Italian restaurant with meals that taste like home. When I say they are now my favorite place, it is not me being dramatic. I have fallen severely in love with this place on one visit. I was beyond and above blown away by the food, service, and atmosphere. My heart has been stolen!

Let me get into our love story here: As soon as I came in we gave the car to the valet who was quick and kind. When we came in I was immediately greeted by Dean Martin playing softly through the restaurant while being seated immediately. Walking through I was blown away by how modern and lovely the inside was. Beautiful lights around a lovely tree sat in the middle of the restaurant, some cozy circle shaped booths and open tables. A see through clear wall separates the main dining area from the bar side that looked really trendy! (Almost moved over there, but I'm a booth girl!) It was Easter so I was craving a nice filling Italian meal. We started with the focaccia bread with oil and vinegar. The bread was absolutely delicious, crispy....and the mixture of oil and vinegar with the cheese and garlic makes it just right. My boyfriend ate almost the whole thing (I was taking it slow to save more room for my meal!) I ordered the chicken parm, being half Italian I can tell you...you can NEVER GO WRONG WITH CHICKEN PARM...It just has to be done right...and boy was it done right. The cutlet was thin, but not too thin...with a good coated breading, and the cheese on top...that's when you know...the cheese should be a little "well done"...almost burnt crisp! I'm telling you the cheese has to be that way! They absolutely killed it. Perfectly done..and their homemade sauce with the touch of sweetness and right amount of onion and garlic...I was in heaven. This was heaven for me. Our waiter was lovely, and came over to add parm to our plates or fresh ground pepper (yes, they come to you table to do that and it's so kind. Haven't seen that seen going to little Italy back home in nyc). My boyfriend ordered the chicken francese, and he literally turned to me and went "omg it melts in my mouth"....when I say my boyfriend normally just eats and gives little comments...but that one..he was blown away. I ended the night with a Napoleon. I was pleasantly stuffed but had to have a little dessert...man they just blew me away. Napoleon was crispy, flaky, a little buttery in the best way and those layers of cream?!? Bury me with that stuff. On top of it I had no idea, but we got a special. They were having a buy one get one free entree I had no idea about so it was a LOVELY SURPRISE. This was a perfect Easter dinner, and I am eternally grateful. Thank you again! Like a kiss on the cheek from my Nonna.

Great place! Wonderful atmosphere with live music, staff was super friendly and helpful with menu options. Fresh bread was delicious! We had the fried mozzarella, spaghetti with meatballs and lasagna. All very good with excellent sauce. Would definitely recommend!

Hands down some of the best food I've ever eaten. The fiance and I found this place online and stopped in during our vacation here earlier today and boy are we glad we did. We didn't have reservations but we were able to sit at the bar with the full menu and the food was so amazing by the time we finished our appetizer we were talking about making reservations before we leave. When we left we did exactly that and can't wait to come back Wednesday. Authentic and delicious Italian food.

Recommend reservations, we walked in and were put on wait list decided to make reservations for the following night. Very elegant restaurant, servers all in black but the patrons were dressed casual. Prices were as expected at a fine dining venue. Our server Pierre was attentive but not overbearing. Food was exceptional and came out steaming hot. Our reservations were for 6 and they were not crowded but by 6:30 all the tables were full.

We tried it all from appetizers, drinks, kids meals, entrees and dessert! Fantastic recommendation from a friend. Everything tasted delicious and the portion sizes were huge. The ambience and service are great and the live music is a nice touch.