Thank you to Groupon, BuyWithMe, Eversave etc  for enticing me with discounted offers that I have no business buying but convince myself I need to purchase b/c it’s “such a great deal!”. I try to only buy the coupons that I “need” but often splurge on restaurant or massage offers. G’Vanni’s popped up in the email one day and since it was a restaurant I had never been to, I figured I’d give it a shot.

Bread: Served in a basket were two baguettes each sliced into at least 4 pieces. The bread was warm, doughy, and was delicious dipped in EVOO.

bread

Menu: Antipasti, Entrees, Chicken, Veal, Seafood, Pizza, Hearty Healthy & Wholesome. The options were endless but I was pretty set on ordering pasta and hadn’t had a winning Bolognese in a while.

Food/Presentation:
Mozzarella Salad: fresh mozzarella, tomato, red onion, greens
Three thick pieces of mozzarella topped three slices of tomato over a mixed greens salad. I had to drizzle on EVOO and balsamic as the salad was dry. Not bad overall, but I was hoping basil would be involved somehow.

mozzarella salad

Tuscan Fusilli Bolognese: tenderloin, carrots, celery, onions, homemade fusilli with our Boston Red Sauce
I’ve found that no two Bolognese pastas are alike and I have yet to come across a Bolognese that I didn’t like… until now. This is ½ my fault, ½ the waiter’s. When I saw “tenderloin” in the description I was skeptical but when I asked how this “Tuscan Bolognese” differed from the “Rigatoni Bolognese” all the waiter said was that the Tuscan Bolognese consisted of a homemade pasta. I decided to go for it and was extremely disappointed. Typically a Bolognese has ground up meat, not chunks of steak. Very strange. The pasta itself was good, as was the red sauce, but the big pieces of tenderloin were inappropriate and upsetting.

"tuscan" bolognese

Bathroom: So small I couldn’t even take a picture inside b/c I would inevitably be seen as there is a mirror above the sink and a full length on the back on the door. Good thing I’m a small person…

bathroom door

Service: We arrived for our 7pm reservation around 7:05pm and were told it would be a wait. “Even though we have a reservation?” I say. “Oh yes” says the frantic manager. There were 4 other parties waiting outside in the rain (who also had reservations) b/c the interior is too small to hold anyone that’s not seated at a table. The manager apologized and promised we’d eventually be seated so I played it cool and didn’t give him a hard time. His excuse was something about all of the “BuyWithMe coupons” and whoever took the reservations “didn’t space them out appropriately”, blahblah. Shouldn’t you know how to regulate and manage the reservations?
We were seated around 7:30pm, not a terrible wait considering the panic the manager was in. Our appetizers were served in a timely manner but I think we waited about an hour between the apps and the entrees. The only apology we received was from the waiter, saying “I’m sorry, our chef is really slow tonight, your meals should be out soon”, and then we proceeded to wait a ½ an hour after that comment. Completely unacceptable.

Overall: Mike and Sophie enjoyed their meals, but Matt & I were both disappointed. His tortelloni with salmon was too salty and I don’t ever want to think about that Bolognese again. The service was horrific and b/c of that alone I would urge you to think twice about G’Vanni’s. Perhaps it’s better during a calmer time period, but they need to learn how to handle their mistakes professionally.

The Perfect Bite: I’d eat that whole basket of warm bread dipped in EVOO.

http://www.gvannis.com