Reviews for Il Giardino Restaurant by John Gambino in Aquebogue, NY

Vintage cottage converted to a restaurant with a warm and cozy atmosphere. Indoor and outdoor dining and a bar. Serving sicilian... Italian fare, a varied menu and detectable specials of the day. They have an extensive wine list featuring lical wines and aspecialty cocktail menu that is very tempting. Waitstaff is attentive, food is ample and delicious. Desserts amazing. Reservations are a must because the place is popular and packed to the hilt. A 6pm reservation doesn't seat for 45 minutes butworth the wait. A lively, lovely dining experience. Parking available on-site. Read more

What a horrible experience. I?ve been here previously and always loved the food and was craving a certain dish. We sat there for... an hour and a half patiently waiting for our dinner. I understand it?s a busy holiday weekend however by an hour and a halflater the server came up to our table telling us that the ingredients for what I ordered was not available. unfortunately thepoor waitress was left with having to come to the table to tell us. No manager ever came over to explain or apologize. We werecharged for two glasses of wine that we patiently sat nurturing for an hour and a half waiting for food. I was shocked. Anyother restaurant would?ve apologized for the inconvenience and comped the drinks. Wound up going home at 10 PM with no food inour bellies. Would never return again. Manager obviously doesn?t care about customer satisfaction . I?m a guest of somebody wholives here as a local and she was embarrassed and horrified about how we were treated Read more

Place could use a good cleaning glasses and silverware we're dirty as well. Food was average, but in our dinner party a complete... meal was missed by the staff. After informing the waitress we waited an additional 30 minutes. Understaffed or overbooked alwaysseemed to be behind. Read more

Very sad that such a talented chef gave way to volume vs quality. When John does the cooking it is an amazing place, but... unfortunately he can't run the business and the kitchen at the same time. Stay away until winter, until then it is just anoverated, high price, poorly staffed restaurant. FYI - Go to Michael Angelo's or Roma's instead, you will get a better mealwith better service for a fraction of the price. Read more

We recently moved to Greenport and been looking for a nice spot for dinner, a good friend recommended Il Giardino to my husband... and we went here last week. We didn?t realized that this place is super busy and we don?t have reservation so we end up seatingin the bar, our bartender/server was amazing. The food was unbelievable. We came back twice after that to bring our friends fordinner, on those days we sat in the garden and it was a great experience. This place is incredible and by judging how busy itgets some people need to be patient considering the shortage of worker in service indusrty. This is a place where you want toenjoy every second, this is not a fast food where people eat and go. It?s where you chat with family, friends, enjoy theappetizer and sip some wine. We also waited long enough for our orders, but guess what? It was worth it. Definitely my favespot now. And would come back again and again especially when my baby arrives! Read more

I?m very skeptical about Italian restaurants (hard to beat someone?s Nonna lol) but I may have had a dinner that I loved. My... partner suggested we go here after Macari. We went as soon as it opened and found ourselves situated outdoors in the?. Garden!It ain?t a Tuscan summer but the atmosphere and food were awesome. Excellent Sicilian fare. I had the scallops over linguinemarried in a sun dried tomato and spinach sauce. Chef?s kiss. Perfect for a date or a post vineyard meal! Read more

I thought maybe we were unlucky but looking at the reviews it seems like our experience is fairly common. Why a restaurant would... have a wait list or take reservations that they do not honor i do not know. When you see their reservation ?system? aka a fewdifferent pieces of paper it becomes clearer why wait times are wildly inaccurate and why other parties are seated randomly. Atime limit on a table would solve these problems but apparently that would be rude. I?d argue it?s rude to leave people waitingfor 2 hours when they?ve been advised a 35 minute wait. We walked out and ate else where as did two other parties I noticed.However the restaurant is always busy so I don?t think they really have an impetus to change their ways, seems the food isfabulous if you end up eating it! The bar prices are very expensive which is interesting as most parties end up waiting close to2 hours for a table and have a few drinks. Finally I will say the young woman working her third shift there on the host standwas very sweet and shouldn?t be faulted. Her colleague however was quite rude. Read more

One of the best meals I've had in a LONG time! Everything they served was excellent. The wine, the appetizers and the main... course were all amazing. Our server Cameron was excellent too! Try the Pasta Alla Nonno, it might have been the best pasta dishI've ever had! Read more