Il Giardino - Virginia Beach

Food is OK, but I've been there a couple of times when rowdy tables go unchecked to the point they ruined the evening for us. Not going back. There are plenty of other places that have good Italian food nearby.

4 of us went on a Sunday evening. As it t was their Sunday BOGO night, it was very busy. At about 6:30, they were out of all salmon and chicken dishes except chicken parm. Two or us got the chicken parm, 1 veal parm, and 1 shrimp risoto. Both chik parms were served luke warm. I've had better at Olive Garden. The risotto was excessively salty. We didn't complain seeing how busy they were. Our server was extremely pleasant.

An absolutely fabulous restaurant! So good we went back the next night. The ambience is incredible, food amazing and service impeccable!! Plus, Tuesday is half price wine! Unlike other restaurants that limit what you can select, here all wines are fair game and the wine list is extensive and amazing! Bill is the excellent musician at the piano bar! So much fun!! Reservations recommended!

Went here for dinner. Since we did not have reservations, were seated on patio. The hostess scowled the entire time we were there. It was difficult to get to the patio, basically climbing over server stations and another table to get to the door. Our service seemed a little slow, but not terribly so, although we observed tables inside turn over twice in the time we were there. Food was so-so. The eggplant rotini was good. The fried zucchini sticks were extremely salty. Was surprised to learn that the veal marsala came with no pasta or starch, but did come with a salad. The menu had explicitly said that some meals came with a salad, but nothing mentioned for the veal. The Caesar salad was ample in size. The veal itself had 4 decent sized pieces of veal. Unfortunately, the marsala mushrooms were what restaurants use these days: non-fresh mushrooms from a plastic bottle. The Penne alla vodka was ample in portion, but my wife did not care for its taste at all. Neither did my daughter when she got the leftovers the next day. We got the chocolate cake for dessert. It was good sized piece of cake. There was music piped in and we were seated right next to the speakers. Wasn't too bad until 7pm when they cranked up the music so that we could hardly hear each other.

The food was excellent, but the server had an attitude and we did not get his humor or lack of as I think he was trying to decide if I had looked familiar to him. Our group was there in 2021 for dinner. My perception was he was harsh? His service after that was good, the restaurant was very busy as it is a local spot with excellent Italian food. We had informed him we were Shriners....I don't think he liked the fact that the Shriner convention was going on.