Gigi's Italian Restaurant

I went in on a Saturday when they opened at 4:00. My server, Tanya, was delightful. She made some good recommendations. I enjoyed a glass of Pinot Noir, garlic bread, chicken piccata, and salted caramel cheesecake with additional chocolate sauce. I took 1/2 of my meal with me to enjoy another night (except I finished the wine). I will be back to try the pizza soon.

On our trip down to treasure island Fl, my fiancé and I spotted what appeared to be a lovely little Italian mom and pop restaurant. I was very excited to be served fresh meals and enthrall myself in decadent Italian cuisine. What I got instead was highly disappointing. Upon entering I was met with kind and helpful, casually dressed, but still nice wait staff. Our waiter was very abrupt with his way of speaking with us but did his job nonetheless. It was 7:00pm and I ordered a sweet tea but the waiter said they were all out, the place closes at 9. I settled for a water. For starters we ordered the escargot. It was served along side garlic bread and was mixed in with oil garlic and mushroom. The escargot themselves tasted over cooked and had a fishy flavor to them, as they should not. The bread we were initially served was good, soft and crispy where it needed to be. When we ran out of the bread, the waiter came by with more, this time he brought us bread shaped rocks. This bread was so hard it had to be soaked in the juices to become at all edible. Our main entree came out and we were so excited, my fiancé ordered Gigi’s special pizza and I the pasta combo. Our meals were brought to us hot and fresh. The disappointment came with the overall quality. The pasta we were served was as if someone had run to the store and grabbed some off brand noodles and tossed them in some sauce. Gigis sauce was unfortunately bland, there was an overwhelming amount of tang to the sauce the could have easily been remedied with a touch of sweetness. The meatball in my pasta combo was small and fell apart when I attempted to fork it. Overall the best of the meal was the ricotta in the stuffed shell. It’s hard to mess up something so simple. And the price… $30 for 3 small tastes of pasta and a meatball. Unbelievable! Now for the Gigi’s special pizza, it tasted like “ingredients”. There was no structure or flavor overall, it was like you could pick out every individual topping and each ingredient. The crust was well done crispy and there was little to no sauce. One slice you get a mouth full of cheese you’re chewing on like gum and the next bite you’re eating a whole half a green pepper. Now that we had become familiar with our main entrees, we had totally forgotten we ordered a side of rice pilaf. This was the cherry on top. When it arrived, it was warm as if it had been sitting on the order window for a while. But I can look past a simple mistake like that, it was the taste that nearly sent me running for the restroom. It tasted like someone condensed the flavor of a dirty aquarium and mixed it in to our food. It was horrendous. I don’t know what could have caused such a ripe flavor but I thought poison control was going to have to arrive. We were comped for the bowl fortunately but how it made it to our table with such a fowl odor is beyond me. As I said, my disappointment and dissatisfaction were immeasurable. We will not be coming back here

My family and i were in the area looking for something to eat and stumbled upon this gem, and we're so glad we decided to try it out!! Our waitress Keri was so welcoming and was amazing at explaining the dishes. Food was great and atmosphere was cozy :) Safe to say if we are ever in the area we're coming back

Food was excellent. Service was on point. Will definitely visit again when in the area. Thank you 🙌🏾

This place gets a 5 star because of the atmosphere. I’ve never been in a more authentic feeling Italian restaurant. What a cool freaking experience. The food was good for the most part. Lasagna specifically was phenomenal. Wasn’t too incredibly impressed with the ravioli. The service was nice. But man the vibe was ON!!