gusto da gianni

i had been to gusto's once before and really enjoyed my meal. so naturally i was very excited to take my partner there and show him how lovely the food was. boy was i wrong... it was nearly the worst dining experience i have had in brisbane.

first we were seated outside (which is no big deal) at a toy-doll sized table. the wind was blowing down the wind tunnel where our table was and it was absolutely freezing. since there was only 2 of us i asked if we could be seated at one of the spare 2 seater tables inside. the waitress talked to the owner who must have said no and then just went on dealing with other customers and left us with no reply.

our first round of drinks came quite quickly and we were able to order our food reasonably fast, but i don't know how or why there was only one waitress looking after the entire outside area (approx 70 people) and it all went down hill from there.

many more tables of 5 or more asked to be moved inside and i guess because they kicked up a bit more of a stink they were quickly ushered inside. this made me fume!

long after our first drinks were gone it took about 20-30 minutes for the waitress to come back and check on us
but to cut to the chase our meals came out and we were so extremely disappointed.

my delicious sounding pasta with wild mushrooms and truffles came out as pasta swimming in a huge pool of butter with a few mushrooms on top. my partners pizza of sicilian sauage, onion and mozarella was absolutely disgusting. the sausage was awful and the whole thing looked terrible as well. we are no chefs or food critics but i would've happily rathered to of stayed home and made our own italian.

$164 later, frozen in the wind tunnel i took my half drunk bottle of wine put it in my bag, paid the bill and left - never ever to return again.

bad front of house service. how do you comment fairly on a dining experience ruined by a grubby goateed maitre d'? first impressions do last, and if a restaurant is fronted by a greasy, rude, crass bloke, even if he does turn out to be the owner, your group's entire mood is ruined by this pathetic excuse for a service industry worker. never mind if the tricolore salad was heaven on a plate, and the rustica pizza was wonderfully simple (much better with the prosciutto picked off), we just couldn't get out of the dungheap fast enough.

slow start with the service but the food was wonderful in its simplicity - beautiful fresh taste

unimpressed. stopped in here to have a meal with friends before a movie at the dendy. granted, we were early and hadn't a booking, but the waitress waved us away. 'come back when the kitchen opens'. 2.5 minutes later we were back (there being little else to do at portside). 'can we have a drink and wait for the kitchen to open in 15 mins?'. affirmative, but please sit in the bar. 'can we sit at a table like those other lucky people?' hand wringing. 'i guess so'. would you like our patronage? is it just too much trouble? well, the pizzas were not worth the trouble i'm sorry to say... soggy, over-cheesed and lacking any form of interest. oven not hot enough, perhaps? a tasty salad with great viniagrette was the highlight, but then how easy is that? perhaps pastas and other mains are their forte, but we're in no hurry to find out.

simply lovely. thoroughly enjoyed our pizza, it was really authentic italian, not too much topping, but quality ingredients. service was good, looking forward to going back.

don't like it!!. dined here sunday for lunch and my partners lasagne was frozen in the middle and my pasta was tasteless!!! honestly don't waste your time and money. i wish we had gone to byblos around the corner. you live and learn!

...lunch at gusto da gianni was so much better than i expected. the highlight of the meal for me – was the selection of entrees that we had laid out to share.

the restaurant is quite large, with both external and internal seating. the external part does not really look onto the river so you need to be seated inside to face that way.

on the plus side, the service from our waitress was pretty good. unfortunately, all the good news ends there. the meals ( pate, mussels, rollata, gnochi) were at best of food court quality. disappointing!

gianni at portside -- little to savour. it may have been a hangover from their xmas day 500+ cover lunch from hell, as our waitress informed us, but for a boxing day, 30th wedding anniversary, gianni at portside was as damp as the weather.

firstly, they had not secured our booking, but a quick shuffle of settings, thankfully secured a table with the fabulous view portside is renowned for.

for entree, three of the four diners chose the moreton bay bugs with tomato & red onion lemon & olive oil dressing, but all that was presented was a sad, empty half shell, and an over dressed salad, with no more than four sparse bug meat pieces to compensate for the $21 price tag.

for mains, my companions faired better, but my tagliatelle all' abruzzeese (slow cooked veal ragout with mushrooms) lacked flavour, sophistication and i must say, mushrooms. the grease that coated the over cooked pasta finished me off, and i just couldn't eat it.

the petto di pollo al gusto (organic oven baked chicken breast with a vegetable ragout) was basic, rustic fare, but tasty, but at $29 the expectations were of something so much higher.

the over cooked, filetto ai frutti di bosco (organic eye fillet, wild mushrooms, truffle mash & red wine jus) was the stand out of the lunch, very tender and very juicy.

after airing a reluctants to pay for the pasta dish which i had not eaten, nor enjoyed, they did remove it from the bill, but not a single word of an apology, or even to inquire as to my reasons. surely a manager's role is to make sure the customer, regardless of their complaint, returns, or considers such an option. sadly, all i'll ever consider returning for is the coffee, which was superb.

3 / 10

gusto da gianni is an italian restaurant, located on the river in the stylish but unpretentious portside wharf precinct. although we chose it more for its location than for its reputation, we were rewarded with a pleasant experience. the first thing we no

gusto da gianni sits along the portside wharf promenade and features a menu of pizza, pasta and tapas style food. its the kind of place where it is a good idea to have at least one or two other people who are happy to share “a bit of everything” with you.

overpriced and tasteless. i had pasta with matriciana sauce and it was maybe the worst meal i've ever paid for.

i've never eaten such a cheaply-made, tasteless, overpriced meal in a restaurant - ever. the sauce tasted like a tin of watery chopped tomatoes with boiled onions thrown in, a few miniscule pieces of pancetta/bacon that i could hardly detect and worst of all it had a dandruff-like garnishing with old school powdered parmesan cheese!

i cannot believe that they are charging $24 for this menu item. the only saving grace was that the portion size was so mean and small that i thankfully didn't have to choke down very much of it.

the ambiance and decor are adequate but this can never make up for poor food made on the cheap.

the service was ok, however most of the meals were of very poor quality. the pancetta in the matricana was not cooked andthe seafood linguini had no taste. overall very poor, would not recommend to anyone.

not so enjoyable. i went there with a few friends when the chocolate festival was on. the service was non-existent. had to call the waiter over three times to order drinks (he kept taking just one order and walking away).

two of us ordered squid with tomato and peas. neither of us ate it. when we complained to the waiter about it not being fresh he said 'i know that is why i don't eat it'. asked to speak to someone else but did not recieve a much better response. deft will not be going back and certainly would not recommend it.