The ambiance and food was spectacular. I didn't expect the Squid Ink pasta to be sooo delicious as it was the BEST pasta I have ever had. I had to order another one because it was that good. Jamie Lee was our server and she was amazing! read more

A wonderful meal while on vacation in Vancouver. Passed this pretty restaurant on the way to the Granville Island water taxi. A quick look of the menu and we knew this would be a good place to eat dinner. When we called later that day (Sat.) for reservations, were were told that all reservations were taken but we could sit in the lounge or on the street patio. So glad we decided to come here. We ate on the outdoor patio on a perfect Vancouver evening. The veal chop was outstanding and the cannelloni stuffed with ground veal and spinach was amazing. This was our favorite restaurant during our visit to Vancouver and would certainly recommend for a pefect meal. read more

I checked into JohnnyK's recommendation on the gnocchi and he's dead on. Can't be beat. Not cheap but worth it.

Excellent food and friendly service. I'm so glad Giardino is back in the new location. The menu is broad and offers a lot of interesting choices, and the kitchen seems to execute everything perfectly. read more

Made reservations a month in advance which was a smart move. This place is busy at all times! When we arrived there were no available tables so after a bit of a wait they offered for us to sit at the bar while we wait and to our surprise comp'ed a couple drinks while we waited. Once our table was set, the food, the service, the atmosphere were an amazing experience. I am very much looking forward to dining at Giardino's again! Thanks for the amazing service guys! read more

I love the Il Giardino, and have been going since I was a young boy (when it was still the little yellow house) with my parents and will continue to go, and this would be my goto date restaurant if I wasnt worried about ruining a place I love with my patchy at best dating record. I've noticed some comments as to price point, but their pastas are quite reasonable if you are feeling the pinch and if you want to try it but feel its a little pricey, I know they participate in the Dine Out programme. It serves up really filling comfort food (the osso bucco is a classic, and I love their carbonara simple and heavenly). Do not go there expecting cutting edge fusion cuisine, the decor speaks to its simple, refined tastes and you are rewarded with ample portions of food you wish you could eat everyday! on another note I am personally so sick of people moaning about how they dont get "treated right"at restaurants if they dont look like a doctor or banker....this is how the world works, you want to be treated like a patron of distinction....its called a tie sir, look into it! They work on assumptions like the rest of the world, and to be honest I hate when I go to the effort to dress up for a nice meal and am parked next to some pleb in his t shirt and baseball cap. I yearn for the days of dress code, may all you track pant loving heathens perish! Il Giardino has a uniqely intimate atmosphere, and a wonderful experienced service team of pros, not some moonlighting actor. If you go which I HEARTILY RECCOMEND, ask for a booth as it gives a great vantage to peak into the pastry station in the kitchen and is a nice cozy corner. Loved it for 18 years, damn all the haters read more

Il Giardino is a local 'standard'. I've been going to this restaurant for years and unfortunately I think it is time to close the doors. I hosted a client dinner here recently and was tremendously disappointed. The risotto was excellent. The rest of the food was average. The service was painfully slow. We waited 30+ minutes between the first course and the second course. We had reserved a private room but found ourselves in a large echoey room (part of the former "Yellow House" restaurant) with servers using the room as a throughway between various parts of the restaurant. The experience was just shy of embarassing. Really unfortunate especially when there are other wonderful Italian choices in the neighborhood such as Cioppino's and La Terrazza. read more

Excellent! This place is wonderful. Good food ,good service ,good atmosphere. What more can you want? I took my girlfriend here for her birthday. Wow! Very happy with my choice , we will be back. Thanks Umberto read more

A must read, absolutely would not recommend! Had an absolutely horrible experience here Saturday night! Our reservations were for 10 people for my sister in laws birthday party. The food was nothing special but what really got to me was the service! Not only was there a lack of service but the waiter we had was so damn rude. At first I thought my husband and I were the only ones under the impression that he had a bit of an attitude problem but as the evening continued I noticed a few of the guests were getting rather upset. It got so bad, that towards the end of the dinner right before our food was being served one of the girls at the table had politely asked if we could get a different server. There was a mix of race and culture sitting at our table and particularly where the waiter was being rude was manly directed to a certain race. It was very unfortunate to see how those guests were being treated based on their race (as the other half of the table was from a different decent). The evening progressively got worse and was extremely uncomfortable. The waiter never switched but got some woman who came and occasionally monitored his behaviour which was equally annoying... As they both hovered around our table when they needed to service it, and just seemed to be in one another's way. After we had eaten and asked for the cake to be brought out, there was an ordeal with the bills. He had asked if we wanted the bill all together right after one of the women had asked if we could separate the bill and he rolled his eyes, and said that will take a long time, and didn't want to do it. The birthday girl caught wind and decided to ask what the issue was with the bills and he changed his response saying he was going to separate the bill but asked if we could give him some time. Our frustration continued as the process for us processing payment was a whole disaster on its own, and it would take too long to explain in a review. The evening was spoiled and I could tell how disappointed my sister in law was. It was rather hard for her and all of us to get together on a Saturday evening as we all have kids, and I myself am pregnant and I wish she could have enjoyed her birthday. I own a business in Yaletown and I would never recommend this establishment to any of my clients (and it's a shame as I saw two of them sitting and having dinner there that evening, in which I will be sharing this experience with). I know they recently moved to this new location as we had been at the one down the street before (also for a large birthday dinner) but this was absolutely unacceptable, for the price and star rating of this restaurant. I would say there are much fancier, classier and better managed restaurants in the city such as Lupo or Don Fransesco for people to dine at. Shame on you! read more

I've been here several times and never had less than excellent service and delcious food. Last night was no exception. I started with a salad of roasted beets and avocado which isn't a combination I would have thought of. It was delicious - not blow my mind exceptional but very good ($11). I went for the linguine with fresh seafood ($21) as my entree - super delish! I didn't have parmesan added and it didn't need it. It was loaded with seafood and had a touch of lemon that was a perfect complement. We had a bottle of Prosecco to start, a Brocard Grand Cru Chablis to follow (stunning) and a bottle of Evolution to finish (9 white grape varietals from Oregon - very aromatic). I don't even want to know how much the Grand Cru was on the list and luckily I wasn't paying. I was too full for dessert but the espresso had a beautiful thick crema on it. Our waiter was Portugese and extremely professional with the right amount of humour thrown in. Bobby is still there and Ludwig was working the room. No sign of Umberto, maybe he's at his Tuscan Villa or getting ready for the onslaught of the Olympics at his Whistler restaurant. In the summer this place has a lovely intimate patio and they have a great private room for parties. The last time we were in there Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn were at the table beside us and I think our loudness annoyed her. Oops - haha! Yes this is an institution and it's for good reason. If you've got the money and you feel like a traditional evening go for it! And don't worry if you're in jeans - true class transcends those stigmas. They usually participate in Dine-Out Vancouver if you want to test the waters then. read more

Had a great dinner with friends and family last night at Giardino. Good food, great service, pleasant atmosphere. And we redeemed a gift certificate given us from an earlier experience that had disappointed. Very happy now. Thank you, Giardino. read more

Was here recently for dinner. I had high expectations of this restaurant, and was a bit let down. Food 2/5: We had the antipasto platter to start, which was excellent, as well as a dozen oysters on the half shelf. The oysters were fine, except that they were the size of clams, which was really disappointing -- especially when you're paying $4 each. I had the Osso Bucco ($43). It was a very generous portion, but it wasn't quite as hot as I like my food to be served (kinda important when you're eating bone marrow!) and it seemed to lack richness and depth of flavour. It was probably made too far in advance. The accompanying saffron risotto was a bit too salty and I had a hard time finishing it. One of my dining companions ordered the rack of lamb which had to be sent back because it wasn't hot enough, while another ordered the lamb shanks which was reported to be "okay". Presentation of the meals was all right, but the waiter who brought our mains out must have been a bit off balance because the sauce for one of our meals had sloshed all over the plate -- oops. Value 2/5: When I'm paying over $40 for an entree at a restaurant, I really do have high expectations, and my meal was hardly stellar. This was a very expensive, mediocre meal. Service 5/5: Our server was absolutely lovely. Very friendly, gracious. Atmosphere 4/5: Cozy interior, nice garden patio enclosed by high walls to keep traffic noise out. read more

This is probably the best Mediterranean restaurant in Vancouver, and I lucked into it because it was around the corner from my hotel. Sat at the bar because it was booked. Great bartender. Fabulous food. Will definitely come back. read more

Octopus Carpaccio? YUP! Gardino himself walks around and talks to patrons while they are eating. Good looking competent servers. 10/10

Very pretty place, great ambiance. We were greeted by some waiters standing around the hostess stand complaining about other guests. Seems other people have noticed the same thing, as their manager I would maybe take note of this very rude trend. Having daily specials, a seasonal menu, and their normal menu was too much. I think they should just bite the bullet and print out a whole new main menu each season. I thought the appetizers were all over priced so went for the oyster soup (still expensive at $10.95), but was amazing! However I burned my hand on the bowl since they never told me not to touch it - how would I know the bowl would be hotter than the soup was!? My main dish was lobster stuffed pasta. It could have been stuffed with cheese or chicken because you would never know it was lobster. However the very thin light hand made pasta was amazing and so was the sauce. Service was fine, no complaints there! Will definitely go back again. read more

Bar none the best patio in town. Feels like you have stepped away to Tuscany. Great food but prices getting a little high for Vancouver. Service can be hit and miss. Not quite as good as it used to be. read more

Awesome food and amazing service! We come here almost every wk. My husband sometimes goes every other day.

Been coming here for years and my wife and I love it. By far, one the best fine dining establishments in town. We are so sad to hear that they are closing soon. Best wished to the owner. Please consider reopening elsewhere. Please please please... read more

We live nearby, so we see how much attention this place gets and got curious. Friends of ours are frequent visitors, they said it's excellent food but a bit overpriced. We visited for my partner's Birthday. The indoor seating area was way to crowded for my taste, just too many table full of people. It didn't have that Italian, cozy feel I expected. Luckily we were seated outside in the garden patio. Fresh air in the summer and less people/tables around us made our visit much better. Our waiter was very friendly and nice. The menu is 5 stars for me, as I am a very particular eater I always struggle to find restaurants with very good selection of food. Here I did not have that. I could eat almost everything from the list. We tried the Tuna and the oysters for starters. I had the salmon for main and my partner had the lasagne. My meal was perfect, his lasagna was okay he said. Nothing out of the ordinary. It is a bit pricey but I would like to go back to try other meals from the menu. Besides the crowd inside, I have only one more thing that takes a star away, that they use all the nearby meter parking spots for Valet parking, which is not so fair to the people (like us) who live nearby and would actually need those spots sometimes. read more

Perhaps one of the best dining experiences we have ever had! Vancouver has some outstanding restaurants, but the food and service here were equally exceptional! Took my mother there for her birthday - this was a favourite of hers when they were in their old location just down the street. They treated us somewhere between long lost family and royalty! They remembered my parents' favourite dishes (the mussels were perhaps the best I've ever had!) and we enjoyed trying new ones (the lobster salad was divine) and loved the ol' standbys (the carbonara was exceptional). I didn't think that level of truly refined hospitable service existed anymore in today's fine dining restaurants! Bravo! read more

Nice atmosphere. There was 5 of us and we shared tapas and had a separate main. Tapas was enjoyable and we all had pastas for mains and they were authentic Italian. Great staff from Italy that we had a good chat with. read more

I went there for lunch and they had a great gnocchi. The other people in the party had their Tortellini, which was also very good. The service was solid and it had a good ambiance. Price is high but the quality is high enough to justify it, IMO. read more

Excellent food and excellent service! It is one of the few places in Vancouver where one can dress up and not feel out of place. The patio is gorgeously romantic. Highly recommended. read more

We booked (well in advance) a dinner at this restaurant last Thursday evening (August 3) on the recommendations of friends. While the food was delicious and the surroundings were beautiful, the entire meal was rushed. The servers brought our main dishes while 3 out of 4 of us were still eating our appetizers / salads. We asked the servers to hold off. As soon as the last bites of the appetizers were eaten, the plates were whisked away and the main dishes arrived. Immediately after finishing the main dishes, we were constantly asked about dessert. We appreciate good service, but we were literally done with the entire meal within 40 minutes of being seated! That included consuming a bottle of wine (for which we were overcharged by $70 on our bill - which was corrected after we brought it to the server's attention). We certainly did not expect service like this, especially given the cost of this meal. All in all, this was a disappointing experience. read more