Il Giardino - Virginia Beach

The food is decent, but on several occasions, I’ve experienced unruly tables that weren't managed, which really spoiled our evenings. I won’t be returning. There are plenty of other nearby restaurants that serve great Italian cuisine.

Four of us visited the restaurant on a Sunday evening, which happened to be their Buy-One-Get-One-Free night, so it was quite crowded. By around 6:30 PM, they had run out of all salmon and chicken dishes except for the chicken Parmesan. Two of us ordered the chicken parm, while one had the veal parm and another opted for the shrimp risotto. Unfortunately, the chicken parms were served lukewarm, and I have to say I've had better at Olive Garden. The risotto was overly salty as well. We chose not to complain since the restaurant was so busy, but I must mention that our server was very pleasant.

This restaurant is absolutely fantastic! It was so good that we went back the very next night. The atmosphere is incredible, the food is delicious, and the service is flawless! On top of that, Tuesdays feature half-price wine! Unlike many other places that restrict your choices, here, you can choose from an extensive and impressive wine list. Bill, the talented musician at the piano bar, adds to the fun! I highly recommend making reservations!

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.