📍 104 Victoria Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch
📍 Address: 104 Victoria Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8013, New Zealand
📞 Phone: +64 3 365 2886
🌐 Website: giovannichristchurch.com
Absolutely loved the atmosphere and decor in this place. Unfortunately the staff (and i’m assuming the manager - older lady) were not friendly and had the attitude that they didn’t want to be there. The portion sizes are not worth the price. Definitely better Italian restaurants around.
Hearty Italian restaurant with classic mains to choose from. Range of pastas was on the smaller side but with lovely sauces. Steak was fresh and locally sourced, paired with a delicious mushroom gravy and the side of vegetables were roasted well. Would note that the steak was medium-well done despite asking for rare. Thoughtful staff who did ask kindly about steak cooking preference and gave a lovely sauce recommendation. The ladies were happy to quickly set us up at a private 2-diner table. The atmosphere was warm and homey, with a semi formal arrangement inside and some tables undercover outside as well. Sweet Italian music and nice ambiance overall. No pianist on our night but there was a piano inside so you might be lucky! Ordered: Canterbury steak, beef ragú pappardelle
Visited last week with my daughter and her friend. Having read some of the reviews I was a little apprehensive however, everything was excellent! Great welcome, excellent service (timely and friendly). The food was superb. I loved the mussels entree and the lamb shank. Also had an excellent 0% IPA. Will definitely return next time I’m in Christchurch. Felt it was reasonably priced.
Delicious food. Very Nice Italian ambience. We ordered Antipasti Plank and the assorted cheese blends well with green olives and the saltiness of the capers. Mains are very delicious. We enjoyed our Porchetta and Lasagna. All good and we surely come back in the future. Thanks, Hanneke and the rest of the team.
Similar experience to those in the past few days. Looking at the size and style of this restaurant, I think this used to be a flourishing business. Asked for 8.15pm booking and was told 8pm was better for them (usually indicative of a full restaurant). Arrived at a fairly empty restaurant, which didn't fill up. The host was friendly and attentive. Drinks: Low juice stock as 'had a table of 20 people about an hour ago'. Seemed to be low on tomatoes and soap in the bathroom, too. We waited 45 minutes for our food (much more than the advised 5-25 minute delay). Low staffing meant one chef was attending to the entire restaurants needs. We all enjoyed what we ordered, compliments to the chef. But there's not enough patrons, and that's something they need to work on.
The pasta tagliatelle was under cooked and void of any sundried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese not to mention the bland taste, which was so disappointing for such a simple dish which was meant to be a creamy pesto with sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan. I could’ve made this dish at home for half the price and a lot more flavour. The service was ok. The lighting was so low for the booth we were in, one of our party members had to get their phone torch out to read the menu. It’s a shame this was our experience as we have dined here before and the other dishes on the menu such as the ravioli and the pizza were fine. Overall, average food quality experience.
The food was wonderful, the staff were very friendly and present. The restaurant had a very nice atmosphere around it. Very happy with my experience here.
Excellent evening. I came to this restaurant after making a reservation and on arriving was quickly seated and introduced to a menu with a range of choices. The antipasto was served after a mere 15 minutes, shortly followed by dinner. Food was abundant, delicious and well worth the price, with a reliable classic style of preperation. The building is brightly decorated in a very patriotic manner and situated in a bustling uptown region. Very helpful albeit small staff were polite and cheery all evening, and when asked about their beautiful vintage piano were very conversational and inviting. On the evening I dined it was very quite but I understand that it is often quitr busy here. Only complaint of note is that it took a few tries to get a reservation due to sick staff, but this is minor and out of the management's control. Overall an excellent experience, I would dine again.
Enjoyed dinner a few weeks ago, so impressed that we took overseas visitors there. Friendly professional service, excellent food arrived in a timely manner, Italian Caesar salad, pizza and mussels were exceptional. We'll be back
A delicious dinner and lovely ambiance. The staff were happy to cater to my request of a gnocchi as a starter. I was torn between the lamb and the gnocchi and didn't want to give up on one of them. Thankfully I was able to try both and very much enjoyed the experience. Highly recommend.
Giovanni's Restaurant & Bar is located at 104 Victoria Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8013, New Zealand
You can contact Giovanni's Restaurant & Bar at +64 3 365 2886
You can find directions to Giovanni's Restaurant & Bar by following this map link
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